It's just like any other TV show. You "kill off" a character that boosted ratings and viewers responded to -- you start thinking about ways to bring him back for another episode.
So it is that this coming Monday through Wednesday, Ken Jennings, Mormon Trivia Robot, will be returning to Jeopardy! for the conclusion of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions they've been running for months now.
And if you think it's a coincidence this is happening in the last week of May, you don't understand how TV and Nielsen ratings work. Well, wait... I'm not sure anyone really understands how Nielsen ratings work, cause they were pretty stupid to begin with, and are getting more antiquated every week. Anyway, not the point I set out to make...
5 comments:
How do Nielsens work? Why are they outdated? Just curious.
Their collection method is outdated, but they are exploring new methods and schedules. For example, my household has volunteered to allow Nielsen to use our TiVo data, but as the company is based in Chicago, we ultimately just want to help a local business.
I have read several articles over the past few years about eliminating the sweeps periods. In other words, dissemination of sample data would be parsed every week of the year rather than a few weeks each year. One would hope this would end ratings stunts.
Long story, but as condensed as possible, here goes:
Though ratings are monitored year round, the only time they "matter" are during the so-called "Sweeps Months" of February, May, and November. Whatever ratings are gathered in a given time slot during those periods become the yard stick by which networks charge advertisers. For example, they tell an advertiser, "on Thursdays from 8:00-8:30, we average a 12 share, so therefore your cost per 30 second ad is X."
Consequently, you'll see ludicrous behavior like pulling off shows during the Sweeps Months so that specials with higher appeal can be run in the given time slot. You see reruns from March to April, so that new episodes can be aired in February and May.
Technology has completely overtaken the Nielsen system. It's now possible to take much more accurate readings of what people are watching than Nielsen can manage. Nielsen takes what they believe to be a representative sample of a few thousand homes, and extrapolates that to all of America. TiVo, on the other hand, can tell you exactly how much of its total subsriber base watches a given program. They can tell you which shows have "Season Pass" orders -- what are the shows people don't want to miss an episode of. And so on.
The Nielsen system is a throwback to a time when technology hadn't come so far, and when there were only three channels on TV. Time to move on.
That all made a lot of sense. Thanks! One last Q: why "sweeps"?
Why "sweeps"? It's obviously a legacy, but I don't know the origin. November is a month or two into any given show's season while May is the most common time for finales. February is a total mystery.
A local news anchor who frequents my favorite radio show says that sweeps can never be mentioned on air even though everyone knows sweeps exist. Yes, an average television network executive or producer thinks the average viewer is stupid enough to ignore anything said of sweeps or not figure out that the most-hyped programming occurs in the same three months.
One reason the sweeps system should be abolished is that recently a major network (I think NBC) had to reimburse advertisers for a considerable chunk of money after a miscalculation. I don't recall if this was tied to upfront money -- payment deals arranged before the next season starts. (The 2005-2006 upfronts occurred just last week.)
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