The ink isn't even dry on the new ratings gambit, and Nielsen's already reconsidering it.
At a minimum, I'd look for a change so that any re-airings do count in the averages for the week and for the averages on the night they air. But if I had to wager, I'd say the entire scheme gets abandoned entirely. It's too much of an advantage for certain networks/shows that air highly rated shows early in the weekand have really weak Saturdays [i.e. NBC, Heroes, Monday], and a disadvantage for those that air their highly rated shows late in the week [ABC, Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters].
I think this was the case of paper pushers at the networks and/or ad agencies agreeing to these things last year without understanding the implications. Once put into effect, the programmers, first at NBC, saw the obvious opportunity and are using it in a way that was not anticipated.
It's effectively the same way that syndicated ratings have been calculated for a long time, accumulating ratings across multiple airings each week. However, since most syndicated shows air M-F, there wasn't any "gaming" opportunity there.
We’ll see if the “rival networks” are really up in arms over this. It comes down to something fairly simple I believe. If one man is ok with this, it will stick. If he isn’t, it won’t. That man is Leslie Moonves.
We'll see if the “rival networks” are really up in arms over this. It comes down to something fairly simple I believe. If one man is ok with this, it will stick. If he isn't, it won't. That man is Leslie Moonves.
The broadcastingcable.com article is not visible to mere mortals — it asks for a password. Care to link to an article that’s not password protected?
The broadcastingcable.com article is not visible to mere mortals — it asks for a password. Care to link to an article that's not password protected?
My bad, link moved to a non-passworded site!
My bad, link moved to a non-passworded site!