Television Ratings Powerhouse: The NFL

Ratings vs. Shares: Understanding the differences

     When looking at television ratings that may pop up in a newspaper, magazine, or even on your computer screen, it is important to understand what you are looking at. When the Nielsen company reports ratings, they report them in a two number system that basically informs the audience which shows are popular, and which shows may not have been so popular. A typical format for television ratings are as follows: XX%/XX%. Now, while looking at this simple overview of what the ratings are laid out as, it may be difficult to discern the differences between the two percentages that are given. The first number is the Rating and the second number is the Share. The "rating" percentage that is given first is a number derived from the total number of television equipped households (whether the tv is on or off doesn't matter) that are tuned into the specific show. Since the United States has roughly 116 million households with televisions, in order to receive one "rating point," 1,160,000 televisions must be tuned in to the specific television show. The second aspect in television ratings is referred to as the "share." This too is a percentage. However, this percentage is of the total televisions in use (turned on) and on a specific television show. This is why the first number in the ratings is smaller than the second. If the differences between the two are still foggy, click here to clear things up!

Is it even worth it to compete with football?

     Why shows would even wish to air on sundays boggles my mind. With the NFL being the television superstar, how could a television series think its smart to air during any NFL show. Essentially, Sundays are not the best play for any television show to be running (at least during NFL time). On the list of most watched television broadcasts of all time, NFL games appear 21 times out of the top 46. Although the majority of them are Superbowl games, it definitely says something to the power of sports and its fans.

      Specifically looking at this weeks ratings, it is apparent that NFL games take precedent over regulat tv shows, even season premiers! The NFL night game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC at 8pm raked in a rating of 8.1/19, with an overall 20.56 million viewers. The Good Wife, which premiered at 9pm on CBS, was more than overshadowed with its rating of 1.8/4, with 9.81 million viewers tuning in. It is obvious that sports games attract more attention than normal television broadcasts because of its seamless integration into american society. Too bad, The Good Wife had to take the 9pm on Sunday night shift in the television lineups because it will likely be overshadowed each and every week by the NFL. Take a look at the ratings for this past sunday, and check out what other shows took a hit from the linebackers of the television network.

The mobile device: the second television screen

     With the advancement of smart phones and their capabilities, television has quickly evolved into a multi screen activity. No longer are viewers required to sit down and watch a television show straight through, including the commercials. In a study conducted by Pew Research, 52% of people utilize their phones while watching television. Whether they are talking to friends about the particular show, looking up a detail seen on the show, or just keeping busy during commercials, people are turning the television watching experience into a multi screen event. While, keeping busy is a recent need for people of todays age, it will soon be transforming television as we know it. It is already possible to stream live television shows to a cellular device, allowing an individual to watch two things at once. As well, people can simply check twitter and search for a hashtag about any television show to see what others are saying. The technology is there, however I foresee an addition to the smartphone world in the advancement of television on the cell phone screen. It does not seem out of the realm of possibility for Apple to develop apps for each of the television networks that will allow them to stream whatever shows are playing and allow for a chatroom of some sorts for all the viewers to comment and receive feedback on their comments. Overall, in the future, the smartphone and ones television screen may soon be able to be one, big social media site that is free of the ability to be "bored." After all, to some people, boredom is similar to death.