The tide has begun to turn away from the long outdated and inaccurate Live+Same Day Nielsen ratings. Deadline reports that Fox has officially decided to drop the Live+Same Day ratings going forward, which makes the first concrete sign that the major networks have begun to accept that Nielsen ratings – more specifically, ratings that don’t account for DVR, streaming, and on-demand viewers – no longer reflect today’s TV audiences. Here’s an excerpt from the memo Fox sent out this morning:
The connections between viewers and our shows today are more complex and, in many ways, deeper than ever – but they no longer only happen overnight. So why do we, as an industry, wake up every morning and talk about those Live + Same Day numbers? This has to stop. It’s time for us to “walk the walk” and change the conversation. The Live + Same Day rating does not reflect the way people are watching our series. It leaves out the vast majority of fans who choose to watch on DVRs, and virtually ignores those who stream our shows or watch on demand. … Every day, our creators, and their casts and crews, put their hearts and souls into making their shows as original and unforgettable as possible. And these creators deserve to work at a company that has a contemporary understanding of who their audience is and how their shows are watched. … FOX is a company that has always prided itself on being forward-thinking…and nothing could be more antiquated than a decades-old measurement that reflects only a portion of our audience. So together, let’s move the ratings conversation into the future. Here we go!
