::Season 3 Ratings - DISCUSSION THREAD::

[TVFan]

I think the difference between what you read as second and what I read as first has to do with what they're taking into account. Zap2it uses Nielsen's way of determining - by using households, not viewers. Although, they usually say when one show got the most viewers. I believe Extreme Makeover: HE was a 2-hour episode, so it's very possible that the average between the 2 hours was higher than CC, but the actual 8 pm hour was higher for CC. I don't know. Very interesting, though. We'll have to see tomorrow when the final numbers comes in. I hope your 17 mil figure is accurate. That would be great!!

[TVFan]

Final numbers are IN for "The Hen House."

[TVFan]

Overnights are POSTED for The River.

[TVFan]

Final numbers are IN for The River.

[Naj]

tvfan said:

Final numbers are IN for The River.

Those are season 1 figures.

[the one who's name we shall not say"Josie chippy"fan]

I only watched DHs first season, it went downhill from there,much like Dawson´s Creek,Felicity and The O.C. which is a snoore.I hung in there for a seson to watch Julie the B, but I can´t take it anymore.Melinda Clarke is soooo good.

[ecooper516]

Did everyone see that next season COLD CASE has changed time slots. It will be up against Desperate Housewifes at 9:00 on Sundays.

[TVFan]

Overnights are IN for "Joseph."

[koufax]

Does anyone know what season one's finale was? I am curious because I want to compare it to the "George" episode as well as the disappointing finale of season 3.

[TVFan]

The overnights are posted at the link in my previous post. The total viewers number comes in with the final numbers, and those aren't usually posted until Tuesday afternoon late. But preliminary estimates have CC getting around 13.1 million viewers.

[Naj]

Any insights, TVFan, as to how the CC camp will determine the significant erratic viewership for Season 3? How many of those are fans who possibly left watching the show? The numbers have been all over the board this season. How many tuned into the first few eps only to have a new detective? How many even cared. How many left due to that, how many stayed. How many left because they didn't build on their successful Season 2?

[TVFan]

I can't figure out the ratings this season. It does seem to do better when football runs over, ironically enough. In fact, CC's best numbers came last fall when football delayed the show. The odd start time makes it impossible for people to change the channel and watch something else. As far as the spring goes, I think it might have to do with CBS' decision to hold the show for over a month last winter. It's a proven fact that when networks take shows off the air for extended periods of time, the shows lose viewers because most people are simply casual viewers. They turn on their TV when they expect a show to air, and when it's not on, in reruns or anything else, they assume it's off the air, so they find an alternative show to watch. In the fall, CC was handedly kicking EM:HE's butt, but it barely won the hour the other night (and EM actually had more total viewers according to overnights). I don't know, the taking the show off the air thing is more of a problem with character-driven shows because people lose the flow of the story lines, but it can be harmful for procedurals as well. That's my best guess anyway.

[koufax]

RE: SEASON 3 RATINGS
Cold Case got a 21 rating for the season finale. This was one of the worst ratings this season, although it did go down in the ratings from the previous season. Maybe, the writers should look at this and change back to the original form if Cold Case is to be competiitve with Desperate Housewifes.

[TVFan]

Final numbers are IN for "Joseph."

[Naj]

They aren't the greatest but I don't think it's the worst or is it? But it's still in their range.

[frenchfan]

Summary:

Ep 3X9 = 19,4 million viewers
Ep 3X7 =17,4 million viewers
Ep 3X8 = 17,1 million viewers
Ep 3X13 = 17 million viewers
Ep 3X2 = 16,7 million viewers
Ep 3X6= 16,6 million viewers
Ep 3X11 = 16 million viewers
Ep 3X3 = 15,9 million viewers
Ep 3X10= 15,2 million viewers
Ep 3X15 = 15 million viewers
Ep 3X5 = 14,9 million viewers
Ep 3X16 = 14,6 million viewers
Ep 3X17 = 14,6 million viewers
Ep 3X22 = 14,6 million viewers
Ep 3X14 = 14,6 million viewers
Ep 3X12 = 14,6 million viewers
Ep 3X4 = 14,2 million viewers
Ep 3X21= 14,1 million viewers
Ep 3X1 = 13,7 million viewers
Ep 3X20 = 13,6 million viewers
Ep 3X19 = 13,2 million viewers
Ep 3X23 = 13,1 million viewers
Ep 3X18= 12,3 million viewers

[Naj]

I thought that was odd too but if football runs over and other shows are already in progress....



That's a very good point about

They turn on their TV when they expect a show to air, and when it's not on, in reruns or anything else, they assume it's off the air, so they find an alternative show to watch.

I'm the same way. But I was wondering if you know how they go about determining this stuff specifically with figures? I don't know the business lingo.

tvfan said:

I can't figure out the ratings this season. It does seem to do better when football runs over, ironically enough. In fact, CC's best numbers came last fall when football delayed the show. The odd start time makes it impossible for people to change the channel and watch something else. As far as the spring goes, I think it might have to do with CBS' decision to hold the show for over a month last winter. It's a proven fact that when networks take shows off the air for extended periods of time, the shows lose viewers because most people are simply casual viewers. They turn on their TV when they expect a show to air, and when it's not on, in reruns or anything else, they assume it's off the air, so they find an alternative show to watch. In the fall, CC was handedly kicking EM:HE's butt, but it barely won the hour the other night (and EM actually had more total viewers according to overnights). I don't know, the taking the show off the air thing is more of a problem with character-driven shows because people lose the flow of the story lines, but it can be harmful for procedurals as well. That's my best guess anyway.

[TVFan]

It's all very complicated, but here's a breadown from Wikipedia (they can explain it better than I can):

Nielsen's ratings calculation, also called Cume Rating (or "Reach"), measures the number of unique viewers or households tuned to a television program in a particular time period during a week. The Cume itself is calculated by dividing the number of unique viewers or households by the total number of estimated available households/viewers/listeners possible. This gives a percentage Cume rating

In other words, the media research company takes the number of people actually watching, for instance Cold Case, and divides that number by the total number of possible viewers (basically, an estimate of the population). That number gives them the ratings point. The share, is determined by dividing that same number of viewers by the number of people actually watching TV during Cold Case (I think the share is a lot more accurate). From Wikipedia:

Nielsen Television Ratings are reported by ranking the percentage for each show of all viewers watching television at a given time. As of 2005, there are an estimated 110.2 million television households in the USA. A single national ratings point represents 1%, or 1,102,000 households for the 2005-06 season. Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to a specific program. These numbers are usually reported as (ratings points/share). For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 9.2/15 during its broadcast, meaning 9.2%, or 10,138,400 households on average were tuned in at any given moment. Additionally, 15% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into this program. Nielsen re-estimates the number of households each August for the upcoming television season.

So, how does Nielsen Media aquire its data? Again, from Wikipedia:

Nielsen Television Ratings statistics are gathered in two ways: one is by extensive use of surveys, where viewers in various demographics are asked to keep a written record (called a diary) of the television programming they watch throughout the day and evening. The other is by the use of a limited number of Set Meters, which are small devices connected to all the televisions in a home. These devices electronically transmit the viewing activities of panelists and transmit these records nightly to Nielsen through a collection unit placed in the home. These Set Meters allow market researchers to study television viewing habits on a minute to minute basis, seeing the exact moment viewers change channels or turn off their TV. Additional use of direct reporting devices (called People meters) allow the company to break out household viewing information into various demographic groups.

Of course, the system is flawed. When I was studying all of this in college, we were told over and over again that ratings are basically fiction, but they're the closest thing to the truth that the TV industry has, so they continue to use them. Also, it's interesting to note that Nielsen has begun counting TiVo and other DVRs in their totals. They monitor whether Nielsen viewers watch a program that they TiVoed the night it airs, 24 hours later, or greater than 24 hours later and factor that into the ratings. The new system is only being used selectively now, but will be more reflective of the actual TiVo/DVR owning population by the end of the summer. This means that shows that conflict with other shows (such as Lost/Criminal Minds) will both get the viewership under the new system. That could help CC a lot in the fall if a decent amount of people watch DH live, but TiVo/DVR CC and watch it later that night or the next day.

[soccerulz]

Thanks so much TVFan!

I never really understood how rating work. I actually used to think there was a chip or something in everyone's TV that people can use to figure out what shows were watched.

Haha, crazy I know.

Anyways - thanks!

[Icz Queen]

soccerulz said:

Thanks so much TVFan!

I never really understood how rating work. I actually used to think there was a chip or something in everyone's TV that people can use to figure out what shows were watched.

Haha, crazy I know.

Anyways - thanks!

Same here, soccerulz LOL
So, thanks TVFan for the info.