49 News and the Television Ratings System
Okay, we’ll admit it. We are not number one. The good news: We just launched our news in February 2006, and we have no where to go but up. And that’s our plan. At 49 News striving to be the best means presenting balanced, high-quality journalism and useful information in a timely and accurate manner.
But how do we know who’s watching? Your phone calls, letters and emails are a great indication, and we always welcome your comments. If you would like to stay anonymous, register on this web site and post anonymous comments on individual stories.
As far as ratings - every channel gets measured as far as how many people are watching it. The channel has to reach a certain percentage of viewers to get reported. And because the average citizen has more than 100 channels to choose from, some channels are not reported and rated. Lucky for us, ABC has loyal viewers.
Nielsen Media Research does the data collection, number crunching and tallying. In November 2005, for example, Nielsen paid 448 Topeka households to fill out diaries of their television usage. In February 2006, viewers in the Topeka market will again be participating in Nielsen research. There are four times a year that Nielsen’s randomly-selected participants keep diaries of what they are watching on the TV. The four measurement periods for 2008 are:
- 1/31 to 2/27
- 4/24 - 5/21
- 7/3 - 7/30
- 10/30 - 11/26
Diaries are kept for one week during each of these periods, which are sometimes called sweeps months or sweeps weeks. When Nielsen participants are watching TV, they write down what they view every 15 minutes. As journalists, we hope they are viewing the news, preferably our news program – we do have a selfish interest in keeping our jobs. At the end of the sweeps period, Nielsen collects the diaries, compiles the data and provides the information to television stations and advertising agencies. Cost for commercials are based in large part of the information provided by Nielsen.
The number of participating Nielsen households varies with every sweeps period. Using Census data, Nielsen tries to recruit participants who represent the entire population, just as we try to interview individuals from all backgrounds and walks of life.
In television, a rating point is one percent of all the TV households in the Topeka market who are viewing a particular station at a given time.
So, what are ratings? In television, a rating point is one percent of all the TV households in the Topeka market who are viewing a particular station at a given time. The higher the rating, the more people are watching. The Super Bowl is a good example. A majority of sets are turned on that night. So, the rating soars. A large percentage of that rating will be watching the network that broadcasts the Super Bowl. That is called a share of the market, and it is also why businesses pay millions to advertise during the Super Bowl.
So, let’s do the math. Say there are 100 households with televisions. Those televisions are almost never on at the same time, but say 50 percent are on at 6 p.m. Of those 50, say 15 are turned to 49 News. So, 49 News would have a 15 rating. The share of viewing using that same example would be 30, 15 divided by 50.
Why do we want to be rated? Nielsen ratings let us know who is watching our newscast. Nielsen collects demographic information, including race, gender and age, which allows us to tailor our news to those who like to watch us, which in the end, better serves you the viewer. Nielsen provides a measure of all the commercial television stations in a given market.
Information provided by Audra Florea, Nielsen Media Research marketing and support associate, and www.nielsenmedia.com
