How many millions of people own Netflix, Hulu and Amazon accounts? How many hours upon hours are they logged daily on these streaming giants, the founders of “binge-watching?” Well, unfortunately, that’s irrelevant. It could not matter less. At least, that’s what a show’s ratings will tell you. Then again, all that a show’s ratings will tell you are what a relatively small sample of people see on TV and want to, remember to, or care to mark down. For this, the TV industry suffers, and consequently, so do their faithful viewers.
Nielsen Holdings' rating system is single-handedly responsible for the life of a show. Its seasonal renewal teeters cautiously before the abyss of cancellation, and all it takes is a little push from Nielsen. Of course, the only shows that are actually worth watching are the ones that get good ratings, right? Well, ratings, in this case, are not a measurement of the quality of a show, but rather how many people, out of the number of households that own TVs in the US, are tuned in to the show. But, if people like something, they’ll watch it, so, obviously, if enough people like something, it will have high ratings! Sadly, that’s not always true. A prime example of that is Arrested Development, which was cancelled due to poor ratings, then only later picked up by Netflix. Despite its low Nielsen ratings, the show was popular, having its own fan sites and forums, and critically acclaimed. So why was it cancelled?
Nielsen ratings are used by advertisers to determine the value of a commercial, depending on how many people will watch it. So, bad ratings lead to no advertisement interest which leads to no revenue which results in a show’s untimely cancellation. This, in practice, is a reasonably sound strategy. The problem is the measurement is flawed. Despite the 2000’s plunging the country into a euphoric state of DVRs, TiVo, On Demand, and ultimately internet streaming, it seems Nielsen has not adapted. None of these prominent sources of content are considered when measuring a show’s ratings. What Nielsen does is send out diaries for people to write down the shows they watch on TV. This is, of course, subject to people’s willingness to fill it out, as well as their ability to remember to write these things down. Nielsen also connects “People Meters” to the TVs of select households, dubbed “Nielsen Families”, to take note of the shows watched. Of course, these are only sent to a small representative group, and even then, the individual members of the family might refuse to share what they’re watching. A child may not want his parents to know he’s watching Game of Thrones, let alone the rest of the world.
With the increasing dependence on internet content, and more and more households “cutting the cord” of their TVs, this method of measurement becomes more outdated and inaccurate with every passing year. "Arrested Development’s" TiVo viewings were never considered, and it’s very possible that this played a powerful factor in its cancellation. Nielsen’s inability to adapt could lead to the cancellation of a show that, despite its apparent internet popularity, failed to fit the frame of a skewed and outdated guideline of measurements.
