Nielsen Company has an unenviable job: measure the audience of broadcasts and report those numbers to advertisers. How do they do that? One big problem with Nielsen is the fact that no one has any idea if the ratings are accurate, especially in an era where hundreds of channels are the norm. Another problem is that the sample size is tiny (basically people who agree to report their viewing habits to Nielsen) and it tends to ignore anything that isn't a traditional household (college dorms, watching shows on anything but a TV, etc...). And when ratings are more or less responsible for shows staying on the air or getting the axe, the networks (and fans) understandably want the most accurate numbers possible. So towards at the end of 2013, Nielsen decided to use Twitter to measure a show's social media impact. The problem is that no one knows how to use them. As much as having more data is useful to networks and advertisers, that information is utterly useless if they don't how to use it. And Nielsen is probably going to come up with the solution to the Twitter metric problem, otherwise there's little point to having a standardized ratings collection service in the first place. While it's hard to say whether they'll do it sooner, rather than later, it's safe to say that everyone will feel better once this is all sorted out.
Living in Florida, enjoying the weather when its good, writing for a living. TV, Film, Animation, and Games are my life blood. Follow me on Twitter @xbsaint. Just try not to get too mad when I live tweet during Toonami.
