Nielsen, the organization that tracks and measures television ratings, has announced a screw up: since March, Nielsen's ratings haven't been entirely accurate.
It's all because of a software glitch that started in March and was finally noticed on Oct. 6. Higher than normal ratings for newly debuted shows, in particular on ABC, alerted Nielsen to the error.
The glitch kicked in on March 2 and remained "generally imperceptible" until high levels of viewership were registered for the premiere week for fall.
"As a result, small amounts of viewing for some national broadcast networks and syndicators were misattributed. Cable networks and local TV ratings were not affected by this error," Nielsen stated.
The error was corrected on Oct. 9; all future ratings moving forward should be accurate. Nielsen will be reprocessing the inaccurate data and looks to reissue the ratings before the end of the month.
"This issue has to do with difficult-to-attribute content called 'all other tuning with code' (AOT with code)," Nielsen said. "This data represents between 0.1% and 0.25% of all viewing minutes that we credit nationally. In the vast majority of cases, the impact is small; in a handful of cases, the impact is more significant."
During their investigation into the matter, Nielsen said there were no problems found with its other methods for rating shows during the affected period of skewed ratings.
It looks like of all the networks effected, ABC may have benefited the most from the ratings slip up. More than 20 of the network's programs saw upward ratings adjustments without a single downward adjustment, including the fall premiere of numerous shows, such as Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Selfie and Modern Family. Compare that to the 15 combined adjustments of the three other major networks, which included six downward adjustments, and it's easy to see how ABC got a boost from the error.
While the adjustments are small, there is a lot riding on Nielsen ratings. Good ratings can mean the renewal of a show, while poor ratings can result in a series cancellation and hundreds of people losing their jobs. Nielsen so far has declined to comment on whether or not ABC benefited from the error, but did say ABC is entitled to review the new numbers before they are released.
Photo: Chris Brown
