OWN (Oprah) Cheated with Ratings and Ticked Off Nielsen.

Oprah cheats. That's what I'd call it. You may see it differently. Nielsen is supposed to track viewers and a lot of Hollywood and TV entertainment industry money is riding on the ratings. It goes against the purpose and integrity of Nielsen to appeal to Nielsen viewers directly or attempt to influence their viewing habits. Both of which Oprah did.


Oprah Winfrey issues apology for 'begging' viewers to watch OWN instead of Grammys Sunday

Oprah Winfrey found herself embroiled in a Twitter furor and offered an apology Monday after she took to the microblogging site a day earlier urging her fans -- especially Nielsen households -- to watch her struggling cable channel OWN instead of the Grammy Awards. Ratings are currency in 'the biz'.

"Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box," the former talk show host tweeted to more than nine million followers Sunday, just before her new interview show "Oprah's Next Chapter" started, Entertainment Weekly reported.

While some tweeted their thanks to Winfrey for the reminder, the overwhelming response was negative, with readers criticizing Oprah for "begging for viewers" and being "desperate."

PBS - How the Nielsen Ratings Work

television rating is simply the number of households or persons tuned into a particular television program at a given point in time. This number is calculated by gathering a sample of households that represent the total television-viewing population, and monitoring their viewing behaviors and habits. Advertisers and those in the television industry rely on ratings information compiled by Nielsen Media Research, a provider of general media statistics, including those of television information services.

The Nielsen Media system gathers a random sample of 5,000 households (about 11,000 people) that reflect demographic and racial distribution nationwide. To be representative of the general public, these homes correspond to census population distribution. Using census data, Nielsen Media Research randomly selects over 6,000 small geographic areas or blocks in urban areas and their equivalent in rural areas, and sends out surveyors to count and list housing units. The housing units are then randomly selected for the sample from that area.

and this is from the same article -

The more a show is watched, the more and higher-paid advertising is programmed into that time segment. In addition, whole populations can be targeted for specific advertisements, just by the demographic information provided by Nielsen. Nielsen says industry leaders and advertisers use this television audience research information to buy and sell television time as well as to increase the effectiveness of television advertising and programming.

With all that money on the line, I'm wondering how much cheating goes on with Nielsen and the entertainment business.

Anyways ... OWN sucks.

Why would anyone care about this?

If you had your own TV station you'd want people to watch it and have good ratings as well. Generally anyone that runs a business wants it to be successful regardless how successful you already are.

Anyway, what did she cheat? She advertised her show on twitter. If a bunch of people tune in because she advertised it on a social networking site.....what exactly is wrong with that? She didn't pay anyone, she didn't falsify data....

She advertised, people tuned in.... OMGZ EVIL@#!#@R$!

People that tuned in that happen to have Neilson boxes did it on THEIR OWN FREE WILL.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
Why would anyone care about this?

You do realize this is a discussion site and that this is the television forum, right?
She's a big star. People talk about big stars. People talk about what's on TV.

Anyway, what did she cheat? She advertised her show on twitter.

Did you even read the article? Nielsen does not allow TV shows to influence
viewers with Nielsen boxes. That's EXACTLY what oprah did. She told people to
watch her network ... ESPECIALLY IF THEY HAVE THE NIELSEN BOX.
Her ratings are so 'in the basement' that she wanted the Nielsen ratings up so she
broke the rules.

reply to post by FlyersFan

With all that money on the line, I'm wondering how much cheating goes on with Nielsen and the entertainment business.

I have a friend who has a Nielsen box, but he doesn't really watch TV all that much. Wish I had one, as a lot of my favorite shows never seem to be very mainstream.

I don't know how someone gets picked to have a Nielsen box on their TV. I know it's supposedly supposed to be balanced gender wise and ethnic wise and income wise ... but considering what is considered 'good tv' in this country ... I've gotta' think that the people they are picking are really classless ... either that or America really has slid into the toilet.

TV shows nowadays are sucky