Why are the Nielsen TV ratings late?
Server problems at the Nielsen Company caused delays in the television ratings for network programs, causing concern among network executives and media buyers. The data which is usually delivered the next day was delayed three and four days the week of May 4, 2009, delaying key decisions about which network shows will be cancelled or renewed. Nielsen blamed a software bug, from an unnamed vendor, for the delays which caused performance problems for the servers that support the data meters used to compile the ratings for television shows. Mitchell Habib, Executive Vice President-Global Business Services stated that an undetected firmware bug from the server manufacturer caused a data collection stoppage over the weekend of May 2-3, 2009. In the course of fixing the issue, Nielsen uncovered a second defected on May 4th which resulted in further performance degradation and delay.
Delayed by unspecified “server issues,” Nielsen Media Research began to release long-awaited television ratings data on Wednesday and Thursday, but if the length of the lag time was relatively unprecedented, the results themselves were fairly predictable. Sunday’s prime-time ratings, distributed late in the day on Wednesday, showed ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” on top for the night as usual with 13.5 million viewers. Although ABC won that night in the demographic of adults 18 to 49 — despite its lower ratings for “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” at 8 p.m. (9.2 million) and “Brothers & Sisters” at 10 p.m. (9.1 million) — CBS edged ahead with more viewers on average thanks to the consistency of its lineup. CBS broadcast “60 Minutes” at 7 p.m. (12.3 million), “The Amazing Race” at 8 p.m. (10.8 million), “Cold Case” at 9 p.m. (12.5 million) and “The Unit” at 10 p.m. (10 million).
Right now, TV executives are huddled in boardrooms, trying to decide the future of marginal shows such as ABC’s Cupid and NBC’s Medium. But a key bit of information used to make those calls (how many people watched those shows’ last episodes) has not been available this week from the only company that provides ratings data to the TV industry: Nielsen Media Research. Citing “server issues,” Nielsen delayed the release of overnight ratings information, providing data from Sunday night’s broadcasts late Wednesday and promising to issue statistics from Monday and Tuesday sometime today. The result, is that the very currency of the TV industry has been switched off four long days, just when many clients need it the most. Given that there is no other company that provides overnight TV ratings to the industry, companies which pay millions each year for Nielsen’s services are wondering why the media giant didn’t at least have a backup system ready to deal with such issues.
