Nielsen has been issuing faulty ratings data since March, ABC Benefits

[gidgetgrape]

Nielsen, which controls almost all of the television ratings measurement market, says that a technical error resulted in the company issuing incorrect TV ratings for national broadcast networks.

The error was introduced in March, and was not discovered until Oct. 6, the company said in a statement. The error was "generally imperceptible until we saw high viewing levels associated with fall season premiere week," Nielsen said in its statement. "As a result, small amounts of viewing for some national broadcast networks and syndicators were misattributed. Cable networks and local TV ratings were not affected by this error."

Nielsen fixed the bug on Oct. 9. Now, it plans to reprocess all of its ratings data going back to Aug. 18, when the first new broadcast program of the season aired. It will also conduct an analysis to determine if other weeks also need to be reprocessed.

ABC appears to be the beneficiary of the glitch, with its programs apparently getting credited for views that should have gone to other networks.

Read more: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/articl...ngs-data-march

See also:
Nielsen uncovers error that could impact months of TV ratings

Nielson admits glitch has messed up seven months of ratings

[Patty Duke]

I have never believed their ratings. There is no way they can know what all households watch by the ones they monitor.