I checked the Nielsen numbers today, just to see what Americans are watching. I was curious to see where FOX news programs lined up on the top ten cable list and low and behold their was Bill-O tying for ninth (up against Penguins from Madagascar). Check it out for yourself in the link below. Nielsen Cable Ratings
Nielsen describes it recruiting process on their site stating "Nielsen TV families are a cross-section of households from all over the United States. We carefully draw our samples in a way that offers every American household with a television an equal chance of being selected.
Sample design, selection, and maintenance for both the national and local market samples are the responsibility of highly-skilled statisticians — Nielsen's guardians of sample quality. They stay abreast of new sampling methods developed by survey organizations, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other government agencies."
On the face of it, Nielsen seems pretty sincere on who it chooses for its sample households but I can't help but asking in a very Sienfeld type way "Who are these people?"
Also- imagine the consequences if this system became politicized. Im starting to suspect this isn't such a great method of finding out what Americans are watching. Why does Fox News out score others so often? Why is WWE raw the most watched show (top two shows actually)?
My point is- either the right watches a lot more TV then the left (because we are the majority now) or Neilsen may not be as great of a cross section of American families as they claim to be.
Please complete the poll below. I have a feeling that even though this is one of the largest left leaning sites in the country, our membership to Nielsen will be much smaller than it should be.