The average casual viewer of television programming may not
know it, but the shows they watch are being tracked and counted, and that
information is being reported. Now, this isn't cause for alarm; an individual’s actions are not posted for everyone to
see, but their viewing habits are added into a rating and share count provided
by the Nielsen Company. Nielsen publishes a rating, which is the percentage of total households that have a TV
that tuned in to a particular show, and a share, which is the percentage of
television that were in use that were watching that show. These ratings allow television companies to
analyze its successes and failures, and try to adjust their material to stay
competitive.
The Office Has Fallen in Ratings Recently
Of the many shows that college
students enjoy, The Office, a comedy on NBC, is an interesting case study of
the Neilsen Ratings. The show has been in the news in the last year
because Steve Carell decided to leave the cast to pursue other interests. His character,
Michael Scott, left his job in the office at the end of Season 7; in that
season, the second episode (September 30, 2010) received a rating of 3.7/10 for
the 18-49 age group, meaning that 3.7% of people in that age group with TVs were watching the
show that day. Now in its 9th season,
with an entire season without one its main stars in the books, the second
episode (September 27, 2012) was rated at 2.4/7 in the same age group.
Over the last two years since Carell left the show, the show has lost 1.3% of
its live viewership on comparable episodes in each season. While that
difference could be attributed to any number of factors such as sporting events
or even the weather, many commentators suggest that the show is simply getting stale, and that Steve
Carell saw it going south and jumped ship right on time. In any case, the ratings and viewers tend to
agree that, while the show was at one point the King of the 9 PM slot, it may
be time to put the show to rest; NBC realizes that and has announced that the
current season will be the show’s last.
Young Adults Embrace Cell Usage While Watching Television
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| Watching TV: Now a Multimedia Experience |
According to a Pew Internet survey, 52% of all adult cell
owners, while watching a television show, used their cell phone to interact
with others about the program. That percentage
jumps to 81% in the 18-24 age bracket. This
survey shows how connected television viewers are these days; from voting for contestants on singing shows and discussing the show with friends to getting more
information about news stories or advertisements, viewers are utilizing the
technology presented to them and connecting with others with similar interests.
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