How does the networks know how many people are watching their Television show or radio show?

Answer 1

In reality less than 37,000 households in the entire United States are "Nielson Families," this is according to the company, itself. Assertions that over a million people have boxes or diaries is a misnomer.

When a household is chosen, and you agree to do it, the television sets in the house get a box to monitor your viewing. You also get remote controls with a button for each person in the house. When family members start watching a show, they press the buttons that represents each of the viewers. If someone in the house isn't watching that show, their button isn't pressed. Every 15 minutes, for as long as they are watching TV, they have to press their button (which is why TV ratings can be broken into 15 minute increments and the networks will be able to see when people are tuning into a show and when they are tuning out. The DVR you are given (along with a small stipend) is also monitored so they can get the SD (same day) and SD+7 (watching up to one week from broadcast) time-shifting viewers. You also may get a diary although they have been phasing this out as the immediate monitoring is more accurate.

After midnight each night, your box sends signals to Nielson where they figure out preliminary numbers to report to their subscribers in the morning. These numbers are not always 100% accurate as not all of the information is in by the time they release the report so another report is released the following day with the final numbers.

The Nielson ratings is not always accurate as a way to tell who is watching. This was proven with the TV show "Chuck" when two years ago, the star, Zach Levi, asked that all of the fans buy a "$5 footlong" sandwich from Subway on the evening of the last episode of the show in 2008 and to fill out on the Subway comment card that you love "Chuck." The response was overwhelming and showed many more people watched the show than the Nielson ratings indicated - and the show was renewed for another season. Nielson is trying to find a better way to get more accurate ratings for shows.

AnswerMillions of households are chosen at random to receive a "Neilson Box" hence "Neilson ratings". Its like a cable box that monitors what shows you watch and how long you watch them. Every night the Neilson Company records the data and sends it to the television networks. I don't know the website, but if you Google Neilson ratings, you can apply to get a box. However there is a test. You have to watch television for at least 4 hours per day to qualify. Answer

I was a Nielsen family for 2 years, 1999-2001. Part of the reason many people think they've never met a Nielsen family is that the Nielsen Media Research company is very clear on the fact that if they discover you've told people you're participating, your meter will be removed or your diary entries will be scrapped. There are about 1.5 million people each year who fill out a written diary of their tv watching habits for a short period of time (7 days, or 8 if you have a DVR), and tens of thousands of the better known metered families, which is longer-term and involves equipment attached to the TVs in your home to automatically record what you watch. If you are a metered Nielsen family, you receive a (very small) monetary compensation (at the time I did it, it was a couple dollars per tv, vcr, and DVD player. Less than $10 per month). You cannot volunteer or sign up to be a Nielsen family, it is entirely random. The only way to become a Nielsen family is to be lucky enough to receive one of their postcards or phone calls inviting you to participate. There is no requirement for the amount of time you must spend watching tv, and they monitor all household sizes, types, and backgrounds.

Answer 2

Random consumers are selected by the ratings people to voluntarily keep a monitoring device on their tv. This tracks what stations and programs are watched. The consumers are picked randomly from different areas of the country and different Demographics. Who has a device on their tv is kept secret from anyone in showbusiness to prevent influencing or payoffs to these consumers. As for radio, I can't help you there, sorry.

Answer

Nielsen Media Research selects people to participate in their studies, which determine what samples of the US population are watching at any given time. Originally, people would fill out paper diaries of what they watched during the week. This method is still used, but now Set Meters are also used, which are electronic devices that connect to the TV that monitor what programs are being watched. People Meters also allow the company to separate household viewing data amongst individuals. About 25,000 households participate in the daily metered system, and this data is mathematically expanded to predict what the entire country of 115.9 million TV households was watching.

Radio listening habits are surveyed by Arbitron. They traditionally also use a diary system, where participants record what stations they listened to during the week. Radio ratings are released quarterly (four times a year.) But in recent years the Portable People Meter (PPM) has become more popular, which is a wearable electronic device that gathers codes sent through the radio waves that identify a radio station that is being listened to. These devices can report back to Arbitron daily.