Nielsen Under Fire - Finally
Nielsen is finally under fire per the following link - MLive.com - NewsFlash
If you have followed my blog, you know my opinion on the system - it stinks. Even when I was a teenager, I didn't believe that their sampling system represented the viewing audience - it was skewed toward urbanites and caucasions as far as I was concerned.
Being a techie, I know that there is a much better way. I worked for a Silicone Valley startup that had the right idea before its time. Long story short, we could determine the types and quantities of visitors to a web site and not only report the statistics, but we could also adapt the website, in realtime, based on the individual and how 'like' they were to other visitors. This type of system can be implemented very easily through digital cable boxes, TiVo's, and satellite recievers. You don't HAVE to know exactly who is watching, just some basic information about the people in the household. Treat the T.V. shows as if they are websites, and, BAM! you have a new ratings system that much more accurate.
I argued that we should have taken the technology to Nielsen because we couldn't make money selling the service to .com's. Oh well, they didn't listen, the .com's all died, and eventually so did our company. I wish I could build another system like that for T.V.
posted by Ken Neth @ 11:06 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Maybe it's because I've always lived in Canada, but I never understood the whole Nielsen rating thing. It was eventually explained to me that "some people" have boxes attached to their television and what they watch can be measured in this way. It still didn't make sense; and how could the sample be large enough; and of course, as you point out, these things are always biased. What you've written here about a better way makes total sense. Good luck moving this idea along. Isn't it frustrating to be a genius voice in the wilderness!
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