If in the next few weeks you are wondering why you favourite wrestling programs are underperforming it is because Nielsen has changed the way it measures audiences and determines ratings.
Here is what happened…
Nielsen’s new hybrid method not only includes its own panel results but now the information from cable, satellite set-top boxes and smart TVs across 45 million households and 75 million devices. Those devices will include those from Comcast, Dish, DIRECTV, Roku, and Vizio.
The new approach is called: “Big Data + Panel TV”.
“The accreditation of Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel is a landmark moment for TV ratings, as it will forever change audience measurement,” Nielsen CEO Karthik Rao said in a statement. “I believe Big Data + Panel gives the industry the most accurate measurement in the history of TV. We’re grateful to our clients for helping us innovate once again.”
Nielsen used to only rely on a stand-alone panel-based TV ratings system with selected households submitting diaries of their habits.
Under the old system wrestling fans it seems were “overrepresented” in these sample ratings. One reason is because some wrestling fans are channel-flippers unlike other sports fans who will stick with whatever game they are watching. So now, someone who is bored by a wrestling show and flips to something else instead for a bit before checking back in is considered a “loss” under the new system. Another reason ratings for wrestling programs will drop is because co-viewing with families or in bars and gyms will be undercounted moving forward. This is not because there are fewer fans watching. It is because of how that audience is measured and rated.
The positive of the new system for advertisers a handful of superfans in a household cannot inflate ratings and it captures casual viewers and second-by-second tuning more precisely. This means networks and advertisers get a clearer sense of how wrestling actually performs compared to other live programming.
