Cue the May sweeps stunts!
The very important week of ratings gimmicks that set local advertising rates obviously put pressure on Fox's Good Day New York host Jodi Applegate to reveal, ON TOMORROW'S SHOW, she grew up thinking she was adopted, when in fact she was raised by her birth mother! Scandal CONTINUED »
Bet you thought local television networks decided which dates they were going to pull various stunts to draw in viewership spikes so they could charge more for 30 second spots than they should reasonably be allowed?
Not so! That's the call of Nielsen, the audience measurement company that's turned its near monopoly on viewer stats into an excuse to barely do its job.
Since time immemorial-ish, Nielsen has put one of its four-time-a-year sweeps weeks in February; the others come in November (beginning of fall TV season), May (end of fall TV season), and July (previously the death bed of primetime, now the summer reality TV season). But with the federal mandate to switch from analog to digital broadcasts by Feb. 19 of next year, Nielsen doesn't want to trip up any homes who might not make the switch in time, leaving them WITHOUT TELEVISION ACCESS OMG.
So they're moving February sweeps. To March. Now watch the Super Bowl and Academy Awards get all nervous and move their stunts to March, too.
As is the case when ever we enter a ratings sweeps period, the industry trades must make good on their names and deliver to us a rationale for why broadcasters and advertisers continue to let Nielsen convince them there are X number of people watching their crappy programming, and that they should base their ad rates on this questionable data.
Today it's Mediaweek's A.J. Frutkin who gets a turn at bat.
We get a brief history of sweeps controversy (advertisers complained about outlandish ratings stunts during sweeps; broadcasters replied with ratings stunts encompassed in regular programming), reasoning for their continued use (local people meters are only in 10 markets), and what, if anything, is accomplished during these sprints for numbers (little, beside bragging rights).
And then there's the approach by MediaPost's Wayne Friedman: A play-by-play of the first night's action – ABC lobbed up Grey's Anatomy, CBS fired back with CSI, ABC defended with Ugly Betty, NBC warmed the bench, and the CW rubbed NBC's feet – with a declaration of a winner: ABC.
Now that is how we like to see this game played. And narrated.
God bless Richard Huff, the Daily News TV scribe who keeps us from actually having to watch the local news shows. (We don't mean you, NY1!) When it's November sweeps time, you expect the sort of gimmicks like an animted My Name Is Earl. Also not surprising? The local news outfits damn near begging you to tune in. Scribbed on Huff's pad are these notables:
• WCBS/Ch. 2's Scott Weinberger reports breathlessly on a company that uses attractive women to tempt suspectedly unfaithful spouses to cheat. It's a perennial sweeps piece that's been done about as many times as O.J. Simpson has denied killing his wife.
• Ch. 2 airs a promo that goes: "They're beauty products that make you look great, but are they slowly killing you? From shampoos and lotions, to your favorite makeup, find out what's in them that has some doctors concerned." The piece was titled "Drop Dead Gorgeous."
Is there any wonder TiVo barely has room for Grey's Anatomy after recording all these exemplary doozies of what local news has to offer? Give these folks a wider broadcast spectrum!
Editorial Director
