In The Wall Street Journal, Carl Bialik takes note of a story that has not been widely reported: Nielsen, the television-ratings giant, has finally added college students to its national tally of TV-viewing habits.
The move makes sense for Nielsen, which can now claim to measure more accurately which shows are most popular with the 18- to 24-year-old demographic so coveted by advertisers. In the first batch of new ratings, released this month, dorm-room fare like Gilmore Girls, The Office, and Comedy Central's Drawn Together made huge leaps. That's a sign that Nielsen may be catching up with the reality of what college students watch.
But the company's method for assessing college viewing leaves a lot to be desired, some scholars say. Right now Nielsen monitors the TV habits of just 130 college students, so its national numbers rely on some awfully aggressive extrapolation. For example, Drawn Together picked up 163,000 new viewers in Nielsen's ratings — all because a mere 12 students in the company's study group watched the show. –Brock Read
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