Welcome to the blog of Dr. Lisa Burns' Media Studies senior capstone class (2 pm section) at Quinnipiac University. If you're looking for the latest on media industry trends and insightful media analysis, you've come to the right place!
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Audience Metrics & Advertising Blog 2, Question 1 (Feb. 9th)
Given the changes in how audiences consume media, do ratings still
matter? Why or why not? And are there alternative ways to better track media
usage?Limit: 11 responses
Ashley Shankar Part 1 Given the changes in how audiences consume media, I believe ratings still matter. This is because they can help distinguish which platform or content is more popular. If a company wants to improve and cater to their audiences, then they have to learn about audience habits through the ratings. It's similar to a restaurant that mostly sells entrees with meat in a neighborhood whose majority follows a vegan diet. It won't be successful. Also, I believe there might be better ways to track media usage.
The article "Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement" states, "With Nielsen One, we are delivering a single, comparable metric for TV and digital that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services, and devices. For media buyers and sellers, this means better monetizing their assets and maximizing their investments''. This is important because it shows that having a metric to track media consummation is still beneficial. After all, then businesses know where and why to invest their money into certain content. They’ll also know what changes they need to consider to be successful.
The article "What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?" states, “Total viewing time, of course, isn't how the linear TV business is built. It's designed to get as many people watching at the same time as possible, and (networks and media buyers hope) watching the commercials that air during shows. That's why Nielsen measures the average audience for a show at any given minute.” This is important because ratings aren’t only important for the business, but they are also important for investors of platforms like ads. An ad company will want to know if they should put an ad during one show versus the other. They can predict that the ad will be successful if the show and viewership are also successful. The article also states, “Streaming is built on keeping viewers around, paying their monthly subscription fees, for as long as possible. A measure of time spent, then, is a good way to measure the power of a show or movie to keep users on the service.” This is important because it shows there are different ways to measure metrics. The way linear TV would be measured is different from streaming because those are different ways of viewing media and therefore provide different types of data. Just as the article states, on linear TV a company wants to measure who's watching and what time whereas for streaming, they want to know how long viewers are spending on content.
Ashley Shankar Part 2 Lastly, the article, “TV Ratings and What They Mean”, it states “While all these services gain revenue through various means, the main difference is that broadcast networks and cable (TNT, AMC, USA, etc.) profit by selling advertising space during programming while premium cable and streamers rely on subscriptions. All channels use viewer analytics to decide if a TV show is profitable and worth keeping on their schedules, but how the data is gathered and parsed depends on the platform.” This is important because even with the changes in media consummation, ratings are still important. These ratings help determine popular content on a platform, such as TV. With the shift toward streaming, it is just as important but, the ratings are determined, by other ways to find out the most popular content. Since the Nielsen method doesn’t properly represent the entire population, there should be a way to maybe survey or include more people to better track media usage.
Works cited Dubitsky, Meghan. “TV Ratings and What They Mean.” Central Casting, 25 Sept. 2020, www.centralcasting.com/tv-ratings-what-they-mean/.
Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Throughout time, the way people consume media has drastically changed. The big thing that took over is, the world of streaming. Nielson ratings are the TV audience measurement systems, and it has been around since 1950. To think that we still use a rating system that has been around for that long is crazy. In his article for The Hollywood Reporter, Rick Porter states that “Nielsen hasn’t updated its core ratings metric since the mid-2000s”(Porter 1). The updating in the mid-2000s took place due to DVRs becoming more prevalent. We have come a long way since DVRs were created. With streaming, you no longer need to have a DVR. The majority of the content you would want to record on a DVR, can most likely be found on one of the top streaming services. Nielsen has announced their new metric, Nielsen one, which is supposed to come out in late 2022 (Porter 2). The new and improved rating metric will be for TV and digital media “that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services and devices”(Porter 2). I think it is important that companies such as Nielsen are trying to do everything they can to stay up to date with what is going on in the world of media. I think that if a well-established company is taking time and money to create a product to stay relevant, then I think that ratings do still matter. If ratings did not matter, then we would never really watch the “good” shows. We would have to just by chance stumble upon them on the streaming networks or on our TVs. As a society, we take other people’s ideas and suggestions into account when doing something. Even with the rise of social media, there are new ways that word can get out about something.
Social media has definitely aided in the way we consume our media content. Something can be posted on Instagram regarding a new show or a movie can get their actors to promote the content on their social media platforms. With this, the popularity of a movie can increase. It is very different than having to wait for reviews to come out or even the ratings from Nielsen. Having constant access of reviews, critiques, and your friends, social media can give you all the information you need if content is worth your time. Lucy Benton wrote a blog about “How to Use Social Media to Bring in More Customer Reviews.” In her blog she discusses that many people do not realize how much giving an online review means for the company. She states, “…generating positive customer reviews can make or break your business”(Benton). When more reviews are left, it will make others who views those reviews actually want to support the business or steer away. I think this connects perfectly to how the world of streaming works. Do I think people actually use Nielsen as their only way to tell if something is good? No. With this, I definitely believe that there are alternate ways to better track media usage. I think the streaming platforms should be more transparent with the public and publish a list of their top shows, movies, documentaries, etc. This list is similar to the list that Nielsen releases weekly of the “top 10 streaming programs, which is measured by total minutes”(Porter 1). With the release of these transparent lists from the platforms, people can see why that platform is better than the others. If they see a larger amount of content on the list that others like and that they maybe will like, then they will be more prone to choosing to purchase or continue to purchase that platform.
Works Cited
Benton, Lucy. “How to Use Social Media to Bring In More Customer Reviews.” Social Media Low-Cost Social Media Marketing App for Content Curation & Scheduling., Post Planner, 1 June 2018, www.postplanner.com/blog/use-social-media-to-bring-in-more-customer-reviews. (1) Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming. (2) Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Fiona Doull MSS-495 Professor Burns February 7, 2020 Blog 2, Question 1 - Part 1 Although the way that most audiences consume media content has changed, I believe it is still important to analyze media usage rankings. There are many reasons that media consumption rankings are something that should continue to be tracked. One of the most important reasons being that it provides insight into what content is the most popular and is getting the most views. Without this information, it would be difficult to understand what audiences like to watch and therefore what to continue making more of or maybe stop making as much of. The article “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement” by Rick Porter explained the new cross-media measurement solution created by Nielsen that can gather data consumption across all devices and platforms, updating their core metrics for the first time since the mid- 2000s (Porter). Since consumers are now utilizing streaming services in addition to cable television, it seems like a necessary change to track both streaming services and cable television and be able to make comparisons between the two. Both traditional television and streaming provide entertainment, however, they have different goals. According to “TV Long View: What if Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way it Does Streaming” also written by Rick Porter, he identifies the key differences between television and streaming. Television is designed to get as many people as possible watching both the content and commercials at the same time whereas streaming is built on keeping viewers around while paying monthly subscription fees for as long as possible (Porter). Because of these differences, it is difficult to get a good comparison as they are built for different purposes. In the article “Year in Review: Most-Watched Television Networks - Ranking 2020’s Winners and Losers” by Variety, Michael Schnider was able to analyze all different types of television networks which I found to be very interesting. He noted that 2020 was a “tipping point for traditional television”, and the pandemic only accelerated its decline (Schnider). Interestingly enough, the winners include cable news, most likely due to the constant news surrounding the pandemic and the election, as well as what they call “Pop TV” which includes titles such as “Schitt’s Creek” whereas the losers were premium networks such as Starz or Showtime (Schnider). Having these statistics allows those working in the industry to comprehend what is working and what needs to be changed. Incorporating Nielsen’s media measurement should allow for just that as well as the ability to track changes in viewing across all platforms.
- Part 2 Media ratings do matter, but there may be better or alternative ways to track media usage to gain a better understanding between regular television and content from streaming services. Shawn Robbins, the Chief Analyst for Boxoffice Pro explained in the article “Why Video on Demand Data Won’t Be Public Any Time Soon” by Pamela McClintock and Rick Porter”, that when it comes to tracking, there needs to be a way to standardize across all platforms to get a more realistic result (McClintock, Porter). Robbins also explains that he believes we will begin to see a “marriage of streaming and theatrical and find a happy medium for it” (McClintock, Porter). If this were to happen and media measurement tracking could become more accurate across all platforms it would provide a new sense of accuracy to how audiences consume media and proper insight to those in the field.
Work Cited: Porter, Rick, and Pamela McClintock. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon. Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming. Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement. Schneider, Michael. “Year in Review: Most-Watched Television Networks - Ranking 2020's Winners and Losers.” Variety, Variety, 28 Dec. 2020, variety.com/2020/tv/news/network-ratings-2020-top-channels-fox-news-cnn-msnbc-cbs-1234866801/.
Despite the changes in how audiences consume media, I feel that ratings do still matter. Television ratings have been and still are a great way to determine which shows are popular and how networks can cater content to their audiences based on this data. Additionally, television ratings can be used to help brands determine their ad spend to maximize their investments. Without ratings, networks and brands would have to guess where to spend their time and money because it would be generally unclear what audiences want to see. Josef Adalian explains this idea in “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter Anymore?” by saying, “As long as revenue from advertisers remains part of the network TV business model, ratings will matter.” Although ratings have been down, advertisers will still pay plenty to get a spot on a successful show and it would be virtually impossible to determine success without ratings (Adalian). However, as streaming becomes more popular, there are some necessary changes to be made in regard to how we track media usage.
Rick Porter explains a new way of measuring television ratings in “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The new system, Nielsen One, will roll out in late 2022 and, as Porter states, “will encompass consumption across platforms and devices.” Chief Operating Officer of Nielsen Global Media, Karthik Rao, explains that Nielsen One will deliver a “single, comparable metric for TV and digital that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services, and devices” (Porter). Personally, I think Nielson One is a great idea because it will track both streaming and traditional media usage which will allow networks and brands to compare and contrast both ways that audiences consume media. It is especially important nowadays with streaming becoming such a staple in media users’ lives. Since Nielsen has not included viewing away from a television screen, like streaming on other devices, in past media usage measurements, they have been “undercounting a segment of the audience” (Porter). It is extremely important to count streaming and media consumption away from the television as U.S. consumers spend a combined 15 trillion minutes of time between March and August of 2020 using nonlinear viewing methods while spending 11.1 trillion minutes on linear television (Porter).
As explained in “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?” by Rick Porter, Nielsen measures streaming programs by total minutes watched when they release a weekly list of top 10 streaming programs. However, traditional television is not built to compete based on total viewing time, which makes it difficult to compare linear and nonlinear viewing (Porter). As Porter explains, traditional television is designed to get as many people watching at the same time as possible while streaming is built to keep viewers around to pay their monthly subscription fees. That being said, it is extremely hard to compare the two ways of consuming media, but I feel that Nielson One could change the way that media usage is tracked by measuring both streaming and traditional usage across all platforms and devices. As a result, media consumption through streaming will no longer be left out of the equation when tracking media usage. As stated in Vulture, “As the networks begin rolling out a whole new crop of comedies and dramas, there’ll still be plenty of talk about ratings and lots of hope among execs that they’ve found the next Empire or This Is Us” (Adalian).
Works Cited
Adalian, Josef. “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter?” Vulture, Vulture, 15 May 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/05/tv-ratings-are-way-down-but-does-it-even-matter.html.
Porter, Rick. “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Media ratings have always been the primary focus of just about any series ever made. It doesn’t really matter if your show is the greatest thing ever written, if nobody is watching it then the network will never hesitate to take it off the air. In the modern era, it can become more complicated to really understand how well shows are doing. Things like series produced by Netflix or Hulu aren’t shown on television, and therefore don’t have the same type of exposure. When a show appears on primetime television, it’s easy for Nielsen to say how many people are watching it right at that moment in time. With a show that is streamed, people will watch at all different times on different days; there is no centralized viewership. Recently, Nielsen has come out saying that they’re releasing a new form of measuring media ratings in the form of ‘Nielsen One.’ As Nielsen’s COO, Karthik Rao, stated: “With Nielsen One, we are delivering a single, comparable metric for TV and digital that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services and devices” (Porter). With streaming, some metrics need to be updated, like paying greater attention to minutes or hours watched, rather than overall viewership. Advertisements, which are also monitored by Nielsen, do not appear on services like Netflix and Hulu, which adds more to the new rating paradigm. Television cares far more about how many people are watching at once, and not so much how much time people spend actually watching (Porter).
Does the increase in popularity of streaming services and their exclusive content mean that ratings don’t matter anymore, though? When you have a TV show like Seinfeld, for example, the cost of running an ad mid-way through the episode in the first season isn’t going to cost as much as it would once the show rockets to being one of the most popular TV shows of all time. The more people that watch your show, the more money you can make off advertisers. But, Netflix doesn’t have ads. If Netflix produces a mediocre show, then makes a second season that is even worse, they aren’t likely to see much of a change in income, since viewers are paying a monthly subscription. Even if 90% of the content on Netflix was never watched, those shows aren’t necessarily making or losing money because one subscription price pays for the whole site. To put it more simply, if I pay for Netflix just to watch one specific thing, I’m giving just as much money as someone who will watch every piece of media they have. You might think that this means ratings don’t mean as much, and they can scale back things like budgets for their series, but that isn’t the case. Streaming services are investing a lot of money into their series right now. Disney+ alone spent about $100 million just on The Mandalorian season one, and WandaVision, Hawkeye, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could cost as much as 25 Million dollars PER EPISODE (Clark). That is an insane amount of money to spend on a show compared to television, and that’s without advertisements. I don’t really know if ratings still matter to these streaming services, but they’re sure acting like they do.
Porter, R. (2020, December 8). Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement. The Hollywood Reporter; https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement
Porter, R. (2020, November 7). TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming? The Hollywood Reporter; https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming
Clark, T. (2019, October 23). Disney and Apple TV shows have bigger budgets than “Game of Thrones” - Business Insider. Business Insider; Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-apple-tv-shows-bigger-budgets-than-game-of-thrones-2019-10#marvel-tv-shows-disney-plus-4
At a first glance, one could argue that ratings no longer matter in a world of streaming services and cord cutters. However, I still believe ratings matter in the grand scheme of determining which channels, shows, or streaming content are successful. Ratings also help compare different content against one another in order to conclude which is most popular at the time. The ratings system should be altered in a way that streaming and cable can coexist on the same ratings chart.
Amongst the COVID-19 pandemic, VOD and streaming has replaced theater releases as the standard for how new content is released. Despite this development, there is still a lack of knowledge about VOD data, leaving audiences in the dark about how these releases are performing against other competition. As highlighted in “Why Video on Demand Data Won’t Be Public Any Time Soon”, Nielsen has begun to measure releases on SVOD platforms and films available to rent online in order to reach a greater understanding about how different titles are actually performing on streaming (McClintock & Porter). The article describes this research as a “potential treasure trove”, as streaming services have hidden these ratings instead of releasing them like box office numbers (McClintock & Porter). During the pandemic, providing ratings for VOD and streaming releases would be important as they would help determine which content was successful and which wasn’t.
An interesting read about the way linear and streaming ratings can be compared is “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?”. The Hollywood Reporter was able to roughly calculate “minutes viewed” using Nielson’s seven-day ratings and multiplying them by the length of each program (Porter). The top ratings list actually shows that cable and broadcast has some of the most watched programming, even in comparison to streaming content (Porter). Surprisingly, only two out of ten programs were from Netflix, with the other eight being from channels such as ABC, Fox, CBS, and ESPN (Porter). Porter’s article exemplified why ratings are important, and why in the world of streaming there needs to be a way to evaluate all programming using the same measurement.
Katie Dansereau - PART TWO Although The Hollywood Reporter’s “minutes viewed” concept is a possible way to better track media usage, there are still some adjustments that need to be made. For example, Nielsen’s streaming ratings account for an entire series, whereas linear TV ratings only follow the seven-day ratings (Porter). Also, Nielsen currently doesn’t always include all devices, and only tracks ratings for the United States (Porter). One of Nielsen’s past issues was described in “Live TV Ratings Aren’t Fully Accounting for Streaming Viewers”, as they had not been counting viewers who watch live events through streaming services (Flint). At the time this especially impacted sporting events, as 166,000 viewers were not accounted for during a Cowboys and Eagles football game (Flint). Because of these recent problems with traditional media tracking, Nielsen is currently developing a new ratings system by the end of 2022, as reported in “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement”. Titled Nielsen One, this updated media measurement will track TV and digital audiences from all services and devices (Porter). If Nielsen can work out their previous problems with tracking ratings, their new measurement could successfully merge ratings for linear TV and streaming content. As Shawn Robbins, chief analyst for Boxoffice Pro, stated, the goal is “ to get closer to standardizing a view across every platform” so in the future all ratings can be compared to one another (McClintock & Porter). Nielsen One opens the future for a more accurate, all encompassing form of media measurement that could potentially put digital and TV ratings on a level playing field.
Flint, Joe. “Live TV Ratings Aren't Fully Accounting for Streaming Viewers.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 6 Dec. 2017, www.wsj.com/articles/live-tv-ratings-arent-fully-accounting-for-streaming-viewers-1512588868. Pamela McClintock, Rick Porter. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon. Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does- streaming. Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Roberto Casillas Part 1 The future is now. We’re living in a new era, with the rapid technological advances of the present day, things are quickly started to become outdated. Nielsen T.V. ratings are a perfect example of it. Honestly, I truly believe traditional T.V. ratings will no longer be relevant in the near future. To say that Nielsen T.V. ratings are outdated is an understatement, “Nielsen hasn't updated its core ratings metric since the mid-2000s” (Porter). The company is expected to rollout a new version of its measurement “Nielsen 1,” which is takes digital content into consideration (Porter). But does this really matter? Is measuring ratings still going to be as valuable? We are transitioning to a world of streaming, where the majority of the things we are watching are no longer in major T.V. networks, they’re on digital platforms. Television is slowly following the path of radio in that I believe that the days of live cable and national T.V. having big viewership are counted. People are on Netflix, not watching television anymore, “compared with September 2019, total viewership across all television was down 9 percent in September 2020, and 10 percent during prime time” (Draper). Traditionally, ratings have mattered because they are used by companies to decide the prices for advertisements during the show is live. However, the money in advertising is becoming less and less important for networks. Ratings are of so little importance right now that according to an article in Volture.com “how a show does in the ratings is often no longer the deciding factor in determining whether it lives or dies” (Adalian). This all connects back to the fact that people aren’t watching T.V. anymore. Everything is on streaming platforms now. It’s the new way of consuming content, and if you see the way younger people are behaving, it’s a trend that won’t change anytime soon. Streaming platforms don’t have any ads, you have to pay for the service, and that’s how they get most of their revenue, something completely different than how it was at the start of the century. This revenue model doesn’t require any type of ratings measurement because there’s no add space needed to get sold.
Roberto Casillas Part 2 Another thing that I think is another indicator that shows ratings are on their way out is that if networks/platforms really needed them then they would make sure to share and track how they are performing on digital streaming, “unlike box office tallies, which are available to the public every week, numbers for movies on streaming platforms and for rental or purchase on demand remain largely hidden from view” (McLintock & Porter). There’s no incentive for them to do so, and I don’t see that changing. I believe that in the future ratings will become obsolete, and the only measurement we’ll have to track the performance of shows in streaming platforms will be similar to the way it’s done by music streaming service platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
Works Cited Adalian, Josef. “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter?” Vulture, Vulture, 15 May 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/05/tv-ratings-are-way-down-but-does-it-even-matter.html. Draper, Kevin. “TV Ratings for Many Sports Are Down. Don't Read Too Much Into It Yet.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/sports/tv-ratings-sports.html. McClintock, Pamela, and Rick Porter. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon. Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Emma Frisbie Part One The way audiences consume media has been slowly changing over the past decade and the pandemic is only speeding up the process. I believe that ratings still play a major role in the way we consume media today, but they are quickly becoming outdated. This shift in audience consumption is interesting to investigate as we see an adjustment from rating companies. Ratings give media companies a framework on how to create new content. Without them, it would be extremely difficult to differentiate which shows do well and which don’t. Streaming is a major player in our media consumption. Along with this comes a different way of ratings than cable television. In the article “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?” from The Hollywood Reporter, Rick Porter discusses the difference in ratings between streaming programs and linear TV. “Total viewing time, of course, isn't how the linear TV business is built. It's designed to get as many people watching at the same time as possible, and (networks and media buyers hope) watching the commercials that air during shows” (Porter). This can pose an issue for rating companies like Nielsen. Streaming programs and linear TV do not share the same objectives. Streaming wants to keep the user engaged enough to continue their subscription; linear wants as many people as possible to watch their shows at the same time. How can they be measured on the same playing field? According to the article “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement” from The Hollywood Reporter, Nielsen will be releasing a solution called Nielsen One in 2022. “The company on Tuesday announced plans to roll out a cross-media measurement solution that will encompass consumption across platforms and devices” (Porter). I think this is a long-overdue move on Nielsen’s part. In the same article, they state that Nielsen hasn’t updated its core metric system since the mid-2000’s” (Porter). This is important because of the huge shift in digital streaming in media consumers in the United States. With Nielsen One, it will be interesting to see how linear and streaming battle against each other. In the article “Why Netflix Doesn’t Release Its Ratings”, from The Atlantic it seems that NBC and Netflix already are comparing each other. As we saw in a previous article, “Netflix, meanwhile, doesn’t care about viewers, only subscribers” (Mittell). This supports the idea that to streaming platforms, like Netflix, ratings don’t mean much and could be fading away. The pandemic has boosted streaming services drastically. Another article from The Hollywood Reporter, “Why Video on Demand Data Won’t Be Public Any Time Soon” states “[The business is] going to come out of this [pandemic] evolving in some way — it’s not going to go back just like it was before (Porter, McClintock). I think with the rollout of Nielsen One and other metrics like it we are seeing a huge shift. Even though linear TV numbers are declining, they are still present. This means that ratings are still important. If linear TV were to become completely obsolete, then I think we would slowly see ratings fade. Streaming platforms don’t need good ratings to force people to keep memberships.
At this point, I don’t see any new and upcoming ways to track audience media usage. I think companies always look to social media for reviews, but it isn’t as consistent, reliable, and accurate as a media metrics company like Nielsen. I do believe that if linear TV went extinct, then media analytics companies would have to work on creating a whole new system for streaming platforms or any other new media. It’s very fascinating to look at the role of ratings in audience consumption. Ratings seem so essential to the success of linear TV but not to streaming. The way data are both collected poses an important question for ratings. Would media measurement companies, like Nielsen, and ratings survive if linear TV wasn’t present?
Works Cited McClintock, Pamela, and Rick Porter. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon. Mittell, Jason. “Why Netflix Doesn't Release Its Ratings.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 23 Feb. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/netflix-ratings/462447/. Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming. Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Gianna Petruccelli Part 1 It is not secret that over the past couple years, audiences are not all consuming media the same way. While some have completely cut the cord and turned fully to streaming services, others are still a little bit connected to cable. With this being said, even though audiences are watching television differently I do believe that ratings still matter. No matter how you are accessing a certain type of media, the audience is still watching that specific show whether it be on Hulu or Showtime, the show itself does not change. It is important that streaming services are receiving feedback from their audience. This is how they can compare and contrast themself to other streaming services, since there are so many. The streaming service industry is an extremely competitive one, especially recently. Without ratings, no one would really be sure of which streaming service works best for them. According to Vulture journalist Josef Adalian, "As long as revenue from advertisers remains part of the network TV business model, ratings will matter", further explaining why we should stop saying that ratings do not matter anymore.
Part 2 For years, since the mid 1900's we have been using the same TV audience measurement system: the Nielsen. Clearly, things have changed drastically since then. Although ratings do still matter, we need an updated scale. The Hollywood Reporter said "The new metric, Nielsen One, is slated to begin rolling out in late 2022, and Nielsen says its expects that measurement to become the industry standard for buying and selling ad inventory" (Rick Porter 1). Luckily, Nielsen is becoming more comprehensive which is so important especially after using the same scale for over 50 years. Being that there is going to be a significant update in the TV audience measurement system leads me to believe that this could be the most effective measurement system. This new measurement system is projected to "provide video consumption across all platforms, services and devices" (Porter 2). This means that this measurement is shifting from focusing on cable to a more cross-media version.
With all this being said, the main alternative way to track media would be social media. Social media has taken over what feels like the whole world in the past decade, and is constantly used as a way to pull ratings and statistics. Social media is instant, you can find out what people are thinking right as they are thinking it which would be more effective than waiting for Nielsen to release ratings. Although Nielsen is updating its system, social media is something that so many more people are aware about and use daily. works cited Adalian, Josef. “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter?” Vulture, Vulture, 15 May 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/05/tv-ratings-are-way-down-but-does-it-even-matter.html. Hurd, Gale Anne, and Ruth Vitale. “Adopting a Ratings System for Social Media like the Ones Used for Film and TV Won't Work.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 30 June 2019, techcrunch.com/2019/06/30/adopting-a-ratings-system-for-social-media-like-the-ones-used-for-film-and-tv-wont-work/. Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Ashley Shankar Part 1
ReplyDeleteGiven the changes in how audiences consume media, I believe ratings still matter. This is because they can help distinguish which platform or content is more popular. If a company wants to improve and cater to their audiences, then they have to learn about audience habits through the ratings. It's similar to a restaurant that mostly sells entrees with meat in a neighborhood whose majority follows a vegan diet. It won't be successful. Also, I believe there might be better ways to track media usage.
The article "Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement" states, "With Nielsen One, we are delivering a single, comparable metric for TV and digital that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services, and devices. For media buyers and sellers, this means better monetizing their assets and maximizing their investments''. This is important because it shows that having a metric to track media consummation is still beneficial. After all, then businesses know where and why to invest their money into certain content. They’ll also know what changes they need to consider to be successful.
The article "What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?" states, “Total viewing time, of course, isn't how the linear TV business is built. It's designed to get as many people watching at the same time as possible, and (networks and media buyers hope) watching the commercials that air during shows. That's why Nielsen measures the average audience for a show at any given minute.” This is important because ratings aren’t only important for the business, but they are also important for investors of platforms like ads. An ad company will want to know if they should put an ad during one show versus the other. They can predict that the ad will be successful if the show and viewership are also successful. The article also states, “Streaming is built on keeping viewers around, paying their monthly subscription fees, for as long as possible. A measure of time spent, then, is a good way to measure the power of a show or movie to keep users on the service.” This is important because it shows there are different ways to measure metrics. The way linear TV would be measured is different from streaming because those are different ways of viewing media and therefore provide different types of data. Just as the article states, on linear TV a company wants to measure who's watching and what time whereas for streaming, they want to know how long viewers are spending on content.
Ashley Shankar Part 2
ReplyDeleteLastly, the article, “TV Ratings and What They Mean”, it states “While all these services gain revenue through various means, the main difference is that broadcast networks and cable (TNT, AMC, USA, etc.) profit by selling advertising space during programming while premium cable and streamers rely on subscriptions. All channels use viewer analytics to decide if a TV show is profitable and worth keeping on their schedules, but how the data is gathered and parsed depends on the platform.” This is important because even with the changes in media consummation, ratings are still important. These ratings help determine popular content on a platform, such as TV. With the shift toward streaming, it is just as important but, the ratings are determined, by other ways to find out the most popular content. Since the Nielsen method doesn’t properly represent the entire population, there should be a way to maybe survey or include more people to better track media usage.
Works cited
Dubitsky, Meghan. “TV Ratings and What They Mean.” Central Casting, 25 Sept. 2020, www.centralcasting.com/tv-ratings-what-they-mean/.
Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Nicole Bruder- Part 1
ReplyDeleteThroughout time, the way people consume media has drastically changed. The big thing that took over is, the world of streaming. Nielson ratings are the TV audience measurement systems, and it has been around since 1950. To think that we still use a rating system that has been around for that long is crazy. In his article for The Hollywood Reporter, Rick Porter states that “Nielsen hasn’t updated its core ratings metric since the mid-2000s”(Porter 1). The updating in the mid-2000s took place due to DVRs becoming more prevalent. We have come a long way since DVRs were created. With streaming, you no longer need to have a DVR. The majority of the content you would want to record on a DVR, can most likely be found on one of the top streaming services. Nielsen has announced their new metric, Nielsen one, which is supposed to come out in late 2022 (Porter 2). The new and improved rating metric will be for TV and digital media “that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services and devices”(Porter 2). I think it is important that companies such as Nielsen are trying to do everything they can to stay up to date with what is going on in the world of media. I think that if a well-established company is taking time and money to create a product to stay relevant, then I think that ratings do still matter. If ratings did not matter, then we would never really watch the “good” shows. We would have to just by chance stumble upon them on the streaming networks or on our TVs. As a society, we take other people’s ideas and suggestions into account when doing something. Even with the rise of social media, there are new ways that word can get out about something.
Nicole Bruder- Part 2
ReplyDeleteSocial media has definitely aided in the way we consume our media content. Something can be posted on Instagram regarding a new show or a movie can get their actors to promote the content on their social media platforms. With this, the popularity of a movie can increase. It is very different than having to wait for reviews to come out or even the ratings from Nielsen. Having constant access of reviews, critiques, and your friends, social media can give you all the information you need if content is worth your time. Lucy Benton wrote a blog about “How to Use Social Media to Bring in More Customer Reviews.” In her blog she discusses that many people do not realize how much giving an online review means for the company. She states, “…generating positive customer reviews can make or break your business”(Benton). When more reviews are left, it will make others who views those reviews actually want to support the business or steer away. I think this connects perfectly to how the world of streaming works. Do I think people actually use Nielsen as their only way to tell if something is good? No. With this, I definitely believe that there are alternate ways to better track media usage. I think the streaming platforms should be more transparent with the public and publish a list of their top shows, movies, documentaries, etc. This list is similar to the list that Nielsen releases weekly of the “top 10 streaming programs, which is measured by total minutes”(Porter 1). With the release of these transparent lists from the platforms, people can see why that platform is better than the others. If they see a larger amount of content on the list that others like and that they maybe will like, then they will be more prone to choosing to purchase or continue to purchase that platform.
Works Cited
Benton, Lucy. “How to Use Social Media to Bring In More Customer Reviews.” Social Media Low-Cost Social Media Marketing App for Content Curation & Scheduling., Post Planner, 1 June 2018, www.postplanner.com/blog/use-social-media-to-bring-in-more-customer-reviews.
(1) Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
(2) Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Fiona Doull
ReplyDeleteMSS-495
Professor Burns
February 7, 2020
Blog 2, Question 1 - Part 1
Although the way that most audiences consume media content has changed, I believe it is still important to analyze media usage rankings. There are many reasons that media consumption rankings are something that should continue to be tracked. One of the most important reasons being that it provides insight into what content is the most popular and is getting the most views. Without this information, it would be difficult to understand what audiences like to watch and therefore what to continue making more of or maybe stop making as much of. The article “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement” by Rick Porter explained the new cross-media measurement solution created by Nielsen that can gather data consumption across all devices and platforms, updating their core metrics for the first time since the mid- 2000s (Porter). Since consumers are now utilizing streaming services in addition to cable television, it seems like a necessary change to track both streaming services and cable television and be able to make comparisons between the two.
Both traditional television and streaming provide entertainment, however, they have different goals. According to “TV Long View: What if Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way it Does Streaming” also written by Rick Porter, he identifies the key differences between television and streaming. Television is designed to get as many people as possible watching both the content and commercials at the same time whereas streaming is built on keeping viewers around while paying monthly subscription fees for as long as possible (Porter). Because of these differences, it is difficult to get a good comparison as they are built for different purposes. In the article “Year in Review: Most-Watched Television Networks - Ranking 2020’s Winners and Losers” by Variety, Michael Schnider was able to analyze all different types of television networks which I found to be very interesting. He noted that 2020 was a “tipping point for traditional television”, and the pandemic only accelerated its decline (Schnider). Interestingly enough, the winners include cable news, most likely due to the constant news surrounding the pandemic and the election, as well as what they call “Pop TV” which includes titles such as “Schitt’s Creek” whereas the losers were premium networks such as Starz or Showtime (Schnider). Having these statistics allows those working in the industry to comprehend what is working and what needs to be changed. Incorporating Nielsen’s media measurement should allow for just that as well as the ability to track changes in viewing across all platforms.
- Part 2
ReplyDeleteMedia ratings do matter, but there may be better or alternative ways to track media usage to gain a better understanding between regular television and content from streaming services. Shawn Robbins, the Chief Analyst for Boxoffice Pro explained in the article “Why Video on Demand Data Won’t Be Public Any Time Soon” by Pamela McClintock and Rick Porter”, that when it comes to tracking, there needs to be a way to standardize across all platforms to get a more realistic result (McClintock, Porter). Robbins also explains that he believes we will begin to see a “marriage of streaming and theatrical and find a happy medium for it” (McClintock, Porter). If this were to happen and media measurement tracking could become more accurate across all platforms it would provide a new sense of accuracy to how audiences consume media and proper insight to those in the field.
Work Cited:
Porter, Rick, and Pamela McClintock. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon.
Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Schneider, Michael. “Year in Review: Most-Watched Television Networks - Ranking 2020's Winners and Losers.” Variety, Variety, 28 Dec. 2020, variety.com/2020/tv/news/network-ratings-2020-top-channels-fox-news-cnn-msnbc-cbs-1234866801/.
Gina Auletta
ReplyDeletePart 1
Despite the changes in how audiences consume media, I feel that ratings do still matter. Television ratings have been and still are a great way to determine which shows are popular and how networks can cater content to their audiences based on this data. Additionally, television ratings can be used to help brands determine their ad spend to maximize their investments. Without ratings, networks and brands would have to guess where to spend their time and money because it would be generally unclear what audiences want to see. Josef Adalian explains this idea in “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter Anymore?” by saying, “As long as revenue from advertisers remains part of the network TV business model, ratings will matter.” Although ratings have been down, advertisers will still pay plenty to get a spot on a successful show and it would be virtually impossible to determine success without ratings (Adalian). However, as streaming becomes more popular, there are some necessary changes to be made in regard to how we track media usage.
Rick Porter explains a new way of measuring television ratings in “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The new system, Nielsen One, will roll out in late 2022 and, as Porter states, “will encompass consumption across platforms and devices.” Chief Operating Officer of Nielsen Global Media, Karthik Rao, explains that Nielsen One will deliver a “single, comparable metric for TV and digital that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services, and devices” (Porter). Personally, I think Nielson One is a great idea because it will track both streaming and traditional media usage which will allow networks and brands to compare and contrast both ways that audiences consume media. It is especially important nowadays with streaming becoming such a staple in media users’ lives. Since Nielsen has not included viewing away from a television screen, like streaming on other devices, in past media usage measurements, they have been “undercounting a segment of the audience” (Porter). It is extremely important to count streaming and media consumption away from the television as U.S. consumers spend a combined 15 trillion minutes of time between March and August of 2020 using nonlinear viewing methods while spending 11.1 trillion minutes on linear television (Porter).
Gina Auletta
ReplyDeletePart 2
As explained in “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?” by Rick Porter, Nielsen measures streaming programs by total minutes watched when they release a weekly list of top 10 streaming programs. However, traditional television is not built to compete based on total viewing time, which makes it difficult to compare linear and nonlinear viewing (Porter). As Porter explains, traditional television is designed to get as many people watching at the same time as possible while streaming is built to keep viewers around to pay their monthly subscription fees. That being said, it is extremely hard to compare the two ways of consuming media, but I feel that Nielson One could change the way that media usage is tracked by measuring both streaming and traditional usage across all platforms and devices. As a result, media consumption through streaming will no longer be left out of the equation when tracking media usage. As stated in Vulture, “As the networks begin rolling out a whole new crop of comedies and dramas, there’ll still be plenty of talk about ratings and lots of hope among execs that they’ve found the next Empire or This Is Us” (Adalian).
Works Cited
Adalian, Josef. “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter?” Vulture, Vulture, 15 May 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/05/tv-ratings-are-way-down-but-does-it-even-matter.html.
Porter, Rick. “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Brendan McDonald
ReplyDeleteMedia ratings have always been the primary focus of just about any series ever made. It doesn’t really matter if your show is the greatest thing ever written, if nobody is watching it then the network will never hesitate to take it off the air. In the modern era, it can become more complicated to really understand how well shows are doing. Things like series produced by Netflix or Hulu aren’t shown on television, and therefore don’t have the same type of exposure. When a show appears on primetime television, it’s easy for Nielsen to say how many people are watching it right at that moment in time. With a show that is streamed, people will watch at all different times on different days; there is no centralized viewership. Recently, Nielsen has come out saying that they’re releasing a new form of measuring media ratings in the form of ‘Nielsen One.’ As Nielsen’s COO, Karthik Rao, stated: “With Nielsen One, we are delivering a single, comparable metric for TV and digital that will provide video consumption across all platforms, services and devices” (Porter). With streaming, some metrics need to be updated, like paying greater attention to minutes or hours watched, rather than overall viewership. Advertisements, which are also monitored by Nielsen, do not appear on services like Netflix and Hulu, which adds more to the new rating paradigm. Television cares far more about how many people are watching at once, and not so much how much time people spend actually watching (Porter).
Does the increase in popularity of streaming services and their exclusive content mean that ratings don’t matter anymore, though? When you have a TV show like Seinfeld, for example, the cost of running an ad mid-way through the episode in the first season isn’t going to cost as much as it would once the show rockets to being one of the most popular TV shows of all time. The more people that watch your show, the more money you can make off advertisers. But, Netflix doesn’t have ads. If Netflix produces a mediocre show, then makes a second season that is even worse, they aren’t likely to see much of a change in income, since viewers are paying a monthly subscription. Even if 90% of the content on Netflix was never watched, those shows aren’t necessarily making or losing money because one subscription price pays for the whole site. To put it more simply, if I pay for Netflix just to watch one specific thing, I’m giving just as much money as someone who will watch every piece of media they have. You might think that this means ratings don’t mean as much, and they can scale back things like budgets for their series, but that isn’t the case. Streaming services are investing a lot of money into their series right now. Disney+ alone spent about $100 million just on The Mandalorian season one, and WandaVision, Hawkeye, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could cost as much as 25 Million dollars PER EPISODE (Clark). That is an insane amount of money to spend on a show compared to television, and that’s without advertisements. I don’t really know if ratings still matter to these streaming services, but they’re sure acting like they do.
Porter, R. (2020, December 8). Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement. The Hollywood Reporter; https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement
Porter, R. (2020, November 7). TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming? The Hollywood Reporter; https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming
Clark, T. (2019, October 23). Disney and Apple TV shows have bigger budgets than “Game of Thrones” - Business Insider. Business Insider; Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-apple-tv-shows-bigger-budgets-than-game-of-thrones-2019-10#marvel-tv-shows-disney-plus-4
Katie Dansereau - PART ONE
ReplyDeleteAt a first glance, one could argue that ratings no longer matter in a world of streaming services and cord cutters. However, I still believe ratings matter in the grand scheme of determining which channels, shows, or streaming content are successful. Ratings also help compare different content against one another in order to conclude which is most popular at the time. The ratings system should be altered in a way that streaming and cable can coexist on the same ratings chart.
Amongst the COVID-19 pandemic, VOD and streaming has replaced theater releases as the standard for how new content is released. Despite this development, there is still a lack of knowledge about VOD data, leaving audiences in the dark about how these releases are performing against other competition. As highlighted in “Why Video on Demand Data Won’t Be Public Any Time Soon”, Nielsen has begun to measure releases on SVOD platforms and films available to rent online in order to reach a greater understanding about how different titles are actually performing on streaming (McClintock & Porter). The article describes this research as a “potential treasure trove”, as streaming services have hidden these ratings instead of releasing them like box office numbers (McClintock & Porter). During the pandemic, providing ratings for VOD and streaming releases would be important as they would help determine which content was successful and which wasn’t.
An interesting read about the way linear and streaming ratings can be compared is “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?”. The Hollywood Reporter was able to roughly calculate “minutes viewed” using Nielson’s seven-day ratings and multiplying them by the length of each program (Porter). The top ratings list actually shows that cable and broadcast has some of the most watched programming, even in comparison to streaming content (Porter). Surprisingly, only two out of ten programs were from Netflix, with the other eight being from channels such as ABC, Fox, CBS, and ESPN (Porter). Porter’s article exemplified why ratings are important, and why in the world of streaming there needs to be a way to evaluate all programming using the same measurement.
Katie Dansereau - PART TWO
DeleteAlthough The Hollywood Reporter’s “minutes viewed” concept is a possible way to better track media usage, there are still some adjustments that need to be made. For example, Nielsen’s streaming ratings account for an entire series, whereas linear TV ratings only follow the seven-day ratings (Porter). Also, Nielsen currently doesn’t always include all devices, and only tracks ratings for the United States (Porter). One of Nielsen’s past issues was described in “Live TV Ratings Aren’t Fully Accounting for Streaming Viewers”, as they had not been counting viewers who watch live events through streaming services (Flint). At the time this especially impacted sporting events, as 166,000 viewers were not accounted for during a Cowboys and Eagles football game (Flint). Because of these recent problems with traditional media tracking, Nielsen is currently developing a new ratings system by the end of 2022, as reported in “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement”. Titled Nielsen One, this updated media measurement will track TV and digital audiences from all services and devices (Porter). If Nielsen can work out their previous problems with tracking ratings, their new measurement could successfully merge ratings for linear TV and streaming content. As Shawn Robbins, chief analyst for Boxoffice Pro, stated, the goal is “ to get closer to standardizing a view across every platform” so in the future all ratings can be compared to one another (McClintock & Porter). Nielsen One opens the future for a more accurate, all encompassing form of media measurement that could potentially put digital and TV ratings on a level playing field.
Flint, Joe. “Live TV Ratings Aren't Fully Accounting for Streaming Viewers.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 6 Dec. 2017, www.wsj.com/articles/live-tv-ratings-arent-fully-accounting-for-streaming-viewers-1512588868.
Pamela McClintock, Rick Porter. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon.
Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does- streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Roberto Casillas
ReplyDeletePart 1
The future is now. We’re living in a new era, with the rapid technological advances of the present day, things are quickly started to become outdated. Nielsen T.V. ratings are a perfect example of it. Honestly, I truly believe traditional T.V. ratings will no longer be relevant in the near future. To say that Nielsen T.V. ratings are outdated is an understatement, “Nielsen hasn't updated its core ratings metric since the mid-2000s” (Porter). The company is expected to rollout a new version of its measurement “Nielsen 1,” which is takes digital content into consideration (Porter). But does this really matter? Is measuring ratings still going to be as valuable? We are transitioning to a world of streaming, where the majority of the things we are watching are no longer in major T.V. networks, they’re on digital platforms. Television is slowly following the path of radio in that I believe that the days of live cable and national T.V. having big viewership are counted. People are on Netflix, not watching television anymore, “compared with September 2019, total viewership across all television was down 9 percent in September 2020, and 10 percent during prime time” (Draper).
Traditionally, ratings have mattered because they are used by companies to decide the prices for advertisements during the show is live. However, the money in advertising is becoming less and less important for networks. Ratings are of so little importance right now that according to an article in Volture.com “how a show does in the ratings is often no longer the deciding factor in determining whether it lives or dies” (Adalian). This all connects back to the fact that people aren’t watching T.V. anymore. Everything is on streaming platforms now. It’s the new way of consuming content, and if you see the way younger people are behaving, it’s a trend that won’t change anytime soon. Streaming platforms don’t have any ads, you have to pay for the service, and that’s how they get most of their revenue, something completely different than how it was at the start of the century. This revenue model doesn’t require any type of ratings measurement because there’s no add space needed to get sold.
Roberto Casillas
DeletePart 2
Another thing that I think is another indicator that shows ratings are on their way out is that if networks/platforms really needed them then they would make sure to share and track how they are performing on digital streaming, “unlike box office tallies, which are available to the public every week, numbers for movies on streaming platforms and for rental or purchase on demand remain largely hidden from view” (McLintock & Porter). There’s no incentive for them to do so, and I don’t see that changing.
I believe that in the future ratings will become obsolete, and the only measurement we’ll have to track the performance of shows in streaming platforms will be similar to the way it’s done by music streaming service platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
Works Cited
Adalian, Josef. “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter?” Vulture, Vulture, 15 May
2017, www.vulture.com/2017/05/tv-ratings-are-way-down-but-does-it-even-matter.html.
Draper, Kevin. “TV Ratings for Many Sports Are Down. Don't Read Too Much Into It Yet.” The
New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Oct. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/sports/tv-ratings-sports.html.
McClintock, Pamela, and Rick Porter. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time
Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood
Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Emma Frisbie
ReplyDeletePart One
The way audiences consume media has been slowly changing over the past decade and the pandemic is only speeding up the process. I believe that ratings still play a major role in the way we consume media today, but they are quickly becoming outdated. This shift in audience consumption is interesting to investigate as we see an adjustment from rating companies.
Ratings give media companies a framework on how to create new content. Without them, it would be extremely difficult to differentiate which shows do well and which don’t. Streaming is a major player in our media consumption. Along with this comes a different way of ratings than cable television. In the article “TV Long View: What If Nielsen Measured Linear TV the Way It Does Streaming?” from The Hollywood Reporter, Rick Porter discusses the difference in ratings between streaming programs and linear TV. “Total viewing time, of course, isn't how the linear TV business is built. It's designed to get as many people watching at the same time as possible, and (networks and media buyers hope) watching the commercials that air during shows” (Porter). This can pose an issue for rating companies like Nielsen. Streaming programs and linear TV do not share the same objectives. Streaming wants to keep the user engaged enough to continue their subscription; linear wants as many people as possible to watch their shows at the same time. How can they be measured on the same playing field?
According to the article “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement” from The Hollywood Reporter, Nielsen will be releasing a solution called Nielsen One in 2022. “The company on Tuesday announced plans to roll out a cross-media measurement solution that will encompass consumption across platforms and devices” (Porter). I think this is a long-overdue move on Nielsen’s part. In the same article, they state that Nielsen hasn’t updated its core metric system since the mid-2000’s” (Porter). This is important because of the huge shift in digital streaming in media consumers in the United States.
With Nielsen One, it will be interesting to see how linear and streaming battle against each other. In the article “Why Netflix Doesn’t Release Its Ratings”, from The Atlantic it seems that NBC and Netflix already are comparing each other. As we saw in a previous article, “Netflix, meanwhile, doesn’t care about viewers, only subscribers” (Mittell). This supports the idea that to streaming platforms, like Netflix, ratings don’t mean much and could be fading away.
The pandemic has boosted streaming services drastically. Another article from The Hollywood Reporter, “Why Video on Demand Data Won’t Be Public Any Time Soon” states “[The business is] going to come out of this [pandemic] evolving in some way — it’s not going to go back just like it was before (Porter, McClintock). I think with the rollout of Nielsen One and other metrics like it we are seeing a huge shift. Even though linear TV numbers are declining, they are still present. This means that ratings are still important. If linear TV were to become completely obsolete, then I think we would slowly see ratings fade. Streaming platforms don’t need good ratings to force people to keep memberships.
Part Two
DeleteAt this point, I don’t see any new and upcoming ways to track audience media usage. I think companies always look to social media for reviews, but it isn’t as consistent, reliable, and accurate as a media metrics company like Nielsen. I do believe that if linear TV went extinct, then media analytics companies would have to work on creating a whole new system for streaming platforms or any other new media.
It’s very fascinating to look at the role of ratings in audience consumption. Ratings seem so essential to the success of linear TV but not to streaming. The way data are both collected poses an important question for ratings. Would media measurement companies, like Nielsen, and ratings survive if linear TV wasn’t present?
Works Cited
McClintock, Pamela, and Rick Porter. “Why Video on Demand Data Won't Be Public Any Time Soon.” The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2021, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-video-on-demand-data-wont-be-public-any-time-soon.
Mittell, Jason. “Why Netflix Doesn't Release Its Ratings.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 23 Feb. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/02/netflix-ratings/462447/.
Porter, Rick. “If Nielsen Measured Linear TV and Streaming the Same Way.” The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-long-view-what-if-nielsen-measured-linear-tv-the-way-it-does-streaming.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.
Gianna Petruccelli
ReplyDeletePart 1
It is not secret that over the past couple years, audiences are not all consuming media the same way. While some have completely cut the cord and turned fully to streaming services, others are still a little bit connected to cable. With this being said, even though audiences are watching television differently I do believe that ratings still matter. No matter how you are accessing a certain type of media, the audience is still watching that specific show whether it be on Hulu or Showtime, the show itself does not change. It is important that streaming services are receiving feedback from their audience. This is how they can compare and contrast themself to other streaming services, since there are so many. The streaming service industry is an extremely competitive one, especially recently. Without ratings, no one would really be sure of which streaming service works best for them. According to Vulture journalist Josef Adalian, "As long as revenue from advertisers remains part of the network TV business model, ratings will matter", further explaining why we should stop saying that ratings do not matter anymore.
Part 2
DeleteFor years, since the mid 1900's we have been using the same TV audience measurement system: the Nielsen. Clearly, things have changed drastically since then. Although ratings do still matter, we need an updated scale. The Hollywood Reporter said "The new metric, Nielsen One, is slated to begin rolling out in late 2022, and Nielsen says its expects that measurement to become the industry standard for buying and selling ad inventory" (Rick Porter 1). Luckily, Nielsen is becoming more comprehensive which is so important especially after using the same scale for over 50 years. Being that there is going to be a significant update in the TV audience measurement system leads me to believe that this could be the most effective measurement system. This new measurement system is projected to "provide video consumption across all platforms, services and devices" (Porter 2). This means that this measurement is shifting from focusing on cable to a more cross-media version.
With all this being said, the main alternative way to track media would be social media. Social media has taken over what feels like the whole world in the past decade, and is constantly used as a way to pull ratings and statistics. Social media is instant, you can find out what people are thinking right as they are thinking it which would be more effective than waiting for Nielsen to release ratings. Although Nielsen is updating its system, social media is something that so many more people are aware about and use daily.
works cited
Adalian, Josef. “TV Ratings Are Way Down, But Does It Even Matter?” Vulture, Vulture, 15 May 2017, www.vulture.com/2017/05/tv-ratings-are-way-down-but-does-it-even-matter.html.
Hurd, Gale Anne, and Ruth Vitale. “Adopting a Ratings System for Social Media like the Ones Used for Film and TV Won't Work.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 30 June 2019, techcrunch.com/2019/06/30/adopting-a-ratings-system-for-social-media-like-the-ones-used-for-film-and-tv-wont-work/.
Porter, Rick. “Nielsen Sets Timetable for Cross-Platform Media Measurement.” The Hollywood Reporter, 8 Dec. 2020, www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/nielsen-sets-timetable-for-cross-platform-media-measurement.