Growing up, I spent hours watching every television show possible. I think I was the only kid in our small, provincial town watching Sunset Beach and Days of Our Lives with my mother, after watching Rosalinda with my grandmother and Daimos with my cousin. Now, years later, even without my own television set, I am still a TV addict - thanks to first world internet. I can download or stream any show in less than 5 minutes. I can watch Project Runway or The Amazing Race on my phone while doing ellipticals in the gym.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that I am also obsessed with TV ratings. So allow me to prattle on about how it works here in the US. Nielsen Media Research has been measuring the number of people watching TV shows for decades now. Nielsen uses statistical sampling and extrapolates total viewers from this sample, just like survey companies do during election time. Ratings are usually reported as "ratings/share." Let's say The Voice gets an 8/11, this means that 8 percent of total televisions turned on were tuned in to The Voice.
TV ratings are important to networks, because advertisers base their decision to advertise on one show over another on the ratings number. But this gets a bit more complicated than you think.
You'd think that the total number of viewers would be enough to determine a show's profitability, but this is not the case. Let's say, at some point last fall, Dancing with the Stars had 15 million total viewers and The Voice had 13 million for the same night. By these numbers alone, DWTS should be considered more profitable and the number one network for the night, but this is not so. This is because advertisers do not really care much about the total number of eyeballs that watch the program. What they care care about is the all important 18-49 demographic. Advertisers believe that people within this particular age range have the financial power to spend on the products being advertised on their screen.
Thus, going back to our previous example, even though The Voice had a lower number of Total Viewers, it had a higher 18-49 ratings compared to DWTS. In this case, The Voice is considered the more successful, more profitable and is the number one program of the night.
Let's look at last night's TV ratings for the major networks:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Sh | Viewers (Millions) |
| 8:00 | NBC | The Voice | 4.5/14 | 13.78 |
| FOX | Hell's Kitchen | 1.9/6 | 4.58 | |
| CBS | NCIS: Los Angeles - R | 1.3/4 | 9.23 | |
| ABC | Splash | 1.1/3 | 5.20 | |
| CW | Hart of Dixie | 0.5/2 | 1.32 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | DWTS | 2.1/6 | 12.45 |
| CBS | NCIS - R | 2.1/6 | 12.28 | |
| NBC | Ready for Love(9-11PM) | 1.3/4 | 3.37 | |
| FOX | New Girl - R | 1.2/3 | 2.36 | |
| CW | ANTM - R | 0.2/1 | 0.66 | |
| 9:30 | FOX | The Mindy Project- R | 1.0/3 | 1.96 |
| 10:00 | CBS | Golden Boy | 1.5/4 | 7.93 |
| ABC | Body of Proof | 1.4/4 | 8.99 |
(ratings are taken from: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2013/04/17/tv-ratings-tuesday-the-voice-dancing-with-the-stars-rise-hart-of-dixie-down-ready-for-love-sinks/178307/)
Here, we see that The Voice was the number one program of the night and NBC, the number one network for the night. In the coming days, I'll be ranting more about the ratings. Why is this important to me? While I'm not an advertiser who can invest billions on a TV show, I do harbor a very irrational attachment to several programs. I want to know if a show I love is about to get axed anytime soon. Also, I have a special love for NBC because of Friends and Cheers, and now that they're network number 3, I can't help but root for the underdog.
Now you know.
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