Subject: Re: Unfair TV Ratings - Ron Reagan show (TP/30Something)
From: spira@panix.com (Greg Spira)
Date: 1991-08-28, 12:06
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv,alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <1991Aug28.054403.7162@risky.ecs.umass.edu> giovin@risky.ecs.umass.edu (Rocky J Giovinazzo) writes:
> >Did anyone see the recent Ron Reagan talk show featuring 
> >Bob Iger of ABC, Steven Bocchco, Diane English and some other
> >tv people?  Apparently, there are only 4000 Nielson households in the
> >country (USA)!  I thought it was 1/1000 households but its only 1/23000 !!!
> >Holy Cow!  (The guests admitted that this representation was extremely
> >low but didn't seem to really care much -- except maybe Diane English,
> >creator of Murphy Brown).  
> >
Statistically speaking, such a small sample is really not much of a
problem.  You'd be surprised how little the accuracy would be improved
by adding lots of homes.  The problem with the ratings is more how the
homes are selected, how Neilsen measures whos watching what program, and
the absence of any measuring of non-traditional places where tv is watched.
(Bars, College Dorms, etc.)