The Nielsen Company has been the only arbiter of TV ratings for decades now (and an absurdly inaccurate one at that), and now the company is expanding to account for streaming (Netflix, Amazon) ratings too, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Beginning this fall, Nielsen will begin measuring data from Netflix, Amazon, and TV-enabled video game systems (XBox, PlayStation). They hope to start measuring iPad viewership sometime this year, as well. Despite Nielsen making this move, they’ll only be able to measure how much time is being spent on Netflix, for example, and won’t be able to collect data/release ratings on shows unless Netflix gives them permission. Oh, and this whole streaming measurement service will only cover the paltry 23,000 homes that Nielsen already samples. So, if you’re not part of the 0.007% (seriously) of the US population that Nielsen bases all measurements of US TV viewership on, then this probably doesn’t impact you or anyone you’ve ever met, probably. Congrats to that 0.007% for continuing to get to dictate what the 99.993% get to watch on TV!
