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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whodat" data-source="post: 621033" data-attributes="member: 7386">Ah, but the networks DON'T spend a lot of time, effort, or money trying to find out what their viewers watch. Years ago they thought it would be better to enlist a non-partisan third party to collect that information for them. This way each “ratings point” would be standardized for all networks. That is what AC Nielsen does for them, and has been doing (wrongly, in my opinion) for years.It may have had an acceptable margin of error back in the days of Sanford & Son, but today we're talking millions of dollars! Now, in order to fix a system which has been the accepted industry standard for generations, you are talking about doing some major changes – and getting the networks to agree on how to fix them. So the networks either continue to use a system which they’ve become dependent on (even tough it doesn't accurately represent their viewing audience), or close their eyes and “use the Force”. Perhaps I wasn’t being clear in my previous post. This was the point that I wanted to emphasize. Regardless of our misunderstanding, I don’t believe we are in disagreement.In any case, I hope that the days of Nielsen Media Research and AC Nielsen are over. Thanks to the miracles of technology, we (the average fan) have short-circuited the system. Now, with the advent of the internet, fans can rally together (in the cases of Farscape and Firefly) and voice their opinions directly to the networks if our favorite programs are in danger of being yanked due to poor numbers. Network executives are trained to look at polling information. Based on what that information tells them, they make a decision on whether a particular program is profitable based on the amount of revenue it can generate. They are simply not trained to deal with massive fan-based movements. And I think it scares the crap out of them!At the very least, I hope it wakes them up to the fact that the ratings system that they use is broken. But then I’m not a network exec. If I were, I'd probably be worried more about my own shows, or the competition's new fall lineup than things like fixing the ratings system.</blockquote>

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