Nielsen Streaming Ratings

[Disney Irish]

Your kidding? I've never gotten one, never been contacted by Nielsen, and never known anyone in my life ever who was contacted by them, much less an actual Nielsen Family. It was always so mysterious! I had no idea they still sent out actual tracking boxes to homes to hook up to individual TV sets; I'd assumed it was all done remotely now with real-time data from the actual broadcasters and streamers. That surprised me that there are physical boxes/equipment being sent to me.

The second survey I got was quite exhaustive, but they know everything about me now and still seem to want me. I'm so excited to be the man to get The Love Boat back on the air in Saturday night primetime where it belongs! Stay tuned...

Yep, like I said I get one every other year, never sign up. I even get the JD Power surveys with a dollar begging for my opinion. That one I did actually do one time, but never after that.

So I must be on a list of desirable consumers.

 

[TP2000]

Yep, like I said I get one every other year, never sign up. I even get the JD Power surveys with a dollar begging for my opinion. That one I did actually do one time, but never after that.

That's incredible. Like I said, I've been a TV watcher for many decades and I've never known anyone who got an invite letter from the Nielsen folks, let alone accepted as a full fledged Nielsen Family. As you can imagine, I was giggling all the way in from the mailbox!

I re-read some of the stuff they already sent me. I'm not supposed to disclose this information on Social Media, and I'll keep it off of my Facebook but I doubt this weird little backwater forum counts as "Social Media", especially since we don't use real names here. I'm only supposed to discuss this with my "immediate household". That's a bummer, but I understand. Still, it would be so incredible to be approved to use the following pickup line towards last call...

Would you like to go back to my place and see my Nielsen box?

But I did call my sister tonight to tell her the news, who I feel is safe as she's on absolutely no Social Media, and the first words out of her mouth were; "You're kidding?!?... Aunt Ingrid would be so jealous!" And then we died laughing.

So I must be on a list of desirable consumers.

For such a young man, your life experiences seemingly know no bounds!

.

 

[Disney Irish]

That's incredible. Like I said, I've been a TV watcher for many decades and I've never known anyone who got an invite letter from the Nielsen folks, let alone accepted as a full fledged Nielsen Family. As you can imagine, I was giggling all the way in from the mailbox!

I re-read some of the stuff they already sent me. I'm not supposed to disclose this information on Social Media, and I'll keep it off of my Facebook but I doubt this weird little backwater forum counts as "Social Media", especially since we don't use real names here. I'm only supposed to discuss this with my "immediate household". That's a bummer, but I understand. Still, it would be so incredible to be approved to use the following pickup line towards last call...

Would you like to go back to my place and see my Nielsen box?

But I did call my sister tonight to tell her the news, who I feel is safe as she's on absolutely no Social Media, and the first words out of her mouth were; "You're kidding?!?... Aunt Ingrid would be so jealous!" And then we died laughing.



For such a young man, your life experiences seemingly know no bounds!

.

Yes, the idea is they don’t want your watching habits influenced by social media. So they want it to be as anonymous as possible. As I recall from my inquiry into it they even want you to forget you have the tracking box and just go about your normal watching habits. If you watch some program during prime time religiously, continue doing it. Don’t change your habits to try and “game” the system, etc. Sorry, no putting Love Boat on repeat all day.

Also I’m not that young, I’m middle aged lol. Born prior to the Carter Administration.

 

[TP2000]

If you watch some program during prime time religiously, continue doing it.

That means Gutfeld! and The Five and Antiques Roadshow are here to stay, baby!

Don’t change your habits to try and “game” the system, etc. Sorry, no putting Love Boat on repeat all day.

As Lesley Gore so wisely said, you don't own me. I'm going to seek out The Love Boat and log it into my favorites on my very smart and very fancy TV's that I have around the house. Nielsen will also be monitoring what I'm watching on YouTube if it's playing on my TV sets, which I found particularly interesting.

I'm not sure those Nielsen folks know what's coming, but it's going to improve our TV options ASAP!

 

[Disney Irish]

That means Gutfeld! and The Five and Antiques Roadshow are here to stay, baby!

Yes because I'm sure they were in trouble of being cancelled if not for you watching as a new Nielsen member.

As Lesley Gore so wisely said, you don't own me. I'm going to seek out The Love Boat and log it into my favorites on my very smart and very fancy TV's that I have around the house. The Nielsen gang will also be monitoring what I'm watching on YouTube if it's playing on any of my TV sets, which I found particularly interesting.

I'm not sure those Nielsen folks know what's coming, but it's going to improve our TV options ASAP!

You do realize that they can tell if you're trying to "game" the system, right? Its not like they haven't been doing this tracking for decades and know all the tricks to "game" the system. If they see you're watching the same things over and over and over on repeat, they'll do things like just still mark it as a single view. Its how they account for anomalies.

 

[TP2000]

You do realize that they can tell if you're trying to "game" the system, right? Its not like they haven't been doing this tracking for decades and know all the tricks to "game" the system. If they see you're watching the same things over and over and over on repeat, they'll do things like just still mark it as a single view. Its how they account for anomalies.

Apparently there's an exit interview type thing when they ask for the boxes back. I'm going to have to explain why I used Amazon Prime to marathon binge Airport/Airport '75/Airport '77/Concorde '79 all in one Saturday in March.

But I think once they get me on the phone and get to know me, they'll politely say "Okay, sir, I get it. Thank you for your service."

 

[Disney Irish]

Apparently there's an exit interview type thing when they ask for the boxes back. I'm going to have to explain why I used Amazon Prime to marathon binge Airport/Airport '75/Airport '77/Concorde '79 all in one Saturday in March.

But I think once they get me on the phone and get to know me, they'll politely say "Okay, sir, I get it. Thank you for your service."

Yeah, its not the indepth I'm sure, so they aren't going to ask about particular content you watched. More likely, did you enjoy the experience, etc., normal exit interview stuff for when you cancel a service.

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[BrianLo]

I’m happy to see Silo appear and Apple TV+ to get a little love!

 

[MagicMouseFan]

I’m happy to see Silo appear and Apple TV+ to get a little love!

Silo is very good. So are the books. Severence is also a great watch. I love it takes place in a time period that feels like a fictional 1977-83 but then also has modern tech like cell phones. It's ironic—despite all their modern tech for real oversight, the world outside seems happy to let Lumon slide. Maybe we all want a neat, curated reality to care about rather then stepping outside into the messy truth. Just another layer to the Severance mystery. Control, apathy, illusion.

 

[DKampy]

I’m happy to see Silo appear and Apple TV+ to get a little love!

Agreed… Apple TV + is the most underrated streamer IMO

 

[BrianLo]

Silo is very good. So are the books. Severence is also a great watch. I love it takes place in a time period that feels like a fictional 1977-83 but then also has modern tech like cell phones. It's ironic—despite all their modern tech for real oversight, the world outside seems happy to let Lumon slide. Maybe we all want a neat, curated reality to care about rather then stepping outside into the messy truth. Just another layer to the Severance mystery. Control, apathy, illusion.

Currently watching Sunny, a show literally no one talked about. If you are down for more retro futurism, tech, set in Japan. With an underlying mystery.

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[MisterPenguin]

 

[TP2000]

I've been all hooked up to Nielsen's electronic brain for a week now, but I still haven't watched anything on ABC and I don't have a Disney+ subscription, so thus far I've had no impact on anything Disney is streaming or broadcasting. Just lots of YouTube, one evening with Netflix, and my go-to cable channels and nightly news. But still no Disney.

In fact, I haven't watched anything on the three networks aside from the local channel 5 news out of Las Vegas. Here's my conundrum... I've got two hours to decide if I want to switch on NBC and watch the Saturday Night Live special this evening. I can not believe it's been 50 years! And yet... one look in the bathroom mirror confirms that.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it and tune in! I just hope it's good, because if they open it like they've been opening their shows this entire season I'm switching back to YouTube cooking shows immediately. They've been warned!

 

[SplashJacket]

I've been all hooked up to Nielsen's electronic brain for a week now, but I still haven't watched anything on ABC and I don't have a Disney+ subscription, so thus far I've had no impact on anything Disney is streaming or broadcasting. Just lots of YouTube, one evening with Netflix, and my go-to cable channels and nightly news. But still no Disney.

In fact, I haven't watched anything on the three networks aside from the local channel 5 news out of Las Vegas. Here's my conundrum... I've got two hours to decide if I want to switch on NBC and watch the Saturday Night Live special this evening. I can not believe it's been 50 years! And yet... one look in the bathroom mirror confirms that.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it and tune in! I just hope it's good, because if they open it like they've been opening their shows this entire season I'm switching back to YouTube cooking shows immediately. They've been warned!

Thank you for the viewing updates. I will be eagerly waiting on the edge of my seat for the next one!

 

[Disney Irish]

I've been all hooked up to Nielsen's electronic brain for a week now, but I still haven't watched anything on ABC and I don't have a Disney+ subscription, so thus far I've had no impact on anything Disney is streaming or broadcasting. Just lots of YouTube, one evening with Netflix, and my go-to cable channels and nightly news. But still no Disney.

In fact, I haven't watched anything on the three networks aside from the local channel 5 news out of Las Vegas. Here's my conundrum... I've got two hours to decide if I want to switch on NBC and watch the Saturday Night Live special this evening. I can not believe it's been 50 years! And yet... one look in the bathroom mirror confirms that.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it and tune in! I just hope it's good, because if they open it like they've been opening their shows this entire season I'm switching back to YouTube cooking shows immediately. They've been warned!

And this is why Nielsen doesn’t want you to even talk about it, you’re worried about what impact you’re going to have. Forget the box is even there, just go about your normal viewing habits and don’t worry about how it’s impacting the numbers. You’re not curing cancer or trying to enact world peace here. You’re one in a sea of other households that have a Nielsen box.

 

[TP2000]

And this is why Nielsen doesn’t want you to even talk about it, you’re worried about what impact you’re going to have. Forget the box is even there, just go about your normal viewing habits and don’t worry about how it’s impacting the numbers. You’re not curing cancer or trying to enact world peace here. You’re one in a sea of other households that have a Nielsen box.

I had to sign off on some legal stuff actually. I'm not supposed to discuss it on Social Media, or with anyone in real life outside of my immediate household. Since I'm a bachelor who lives alone, and Nielsen knows that, I did tell my sister on the phone (but Nielsen doesn't know that part).

But officially, I'm not supposed to publicly divulge my name or address in connection to the fact I'm a Nielsen Family, or else the whole thing is called off. It's all very cloak and dagger, and I'm loving it!

For the record, I've decided to watch the Saturday Night Live special in about 30 minutes. As I remember, this will be the first time since I've been hooked up that I switch over to an actual broadcast network in prime time. I've just been streaming and on paid cable channels thus far, plus YouTube. NBC, here I come!

 

[Disney Irish]

I had to sign off on some legal stuff actually. I'm not supposed to discuss it on Social Media, or with anyone in real life outside of my immediate household. Since I'm a bachelor who lives alone, and Nielsen knows that, I did tell my sister on the phone (but Nielsen doesn't know that part).

But officially, I'm not supposed to publicly divulge my name or address in connection to the fact I'm a Nielsen Family, or else the whole thing is called off. It's all very cloak and dagger, and I'm loving it!

For the record, I've decided to watch the Saturday Night Live special in about 30 minutes. As I remember, this will be the first time since I've been hooked up that I switch over to an actual broadcast network in prime time. I've just been streaming and on paid cable channels thus far, plus YouTube. NBC, here I come!

And yet here you are talking about it on social media, and yes this site counts, LOL.

 

[TP2000]

And yet here you are talking about it on social media, and yes this site counts, LOL.

I don't know that it does. In the paperwork from Nielsen they specifically cited Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. where you have a name and known identity attached to your posts. And you can be identified personally by strangers and friends alike.

This is such a backwater of circa 2000's technology, with a nicer interface and gracious hosting than we had back then, that it doesn't really count as 2020's "Social Media" as the term is used today. This site is fabulous and I love the forums, but it's a few steps beyond carrier pigeons at this point in 2025. And there's no known name or personal identity attached to me here, aside from a bartending dog who overthrew Michael Eisner and was secretly paid by Zenia Mucha to be Al Lutz for 20 years and get Bob Iger installed on the throne. Other than that little detail, who am I really?

I know who I am!... I'm someone who just turned off the Saturday Night Live special on NBC and will be going back to YouTube once I put the baked potato in the oven. I tried, I honestly did. The hour-long red carpet pre show was tiring; "You are AMAAAAZING! No, YOU are AMAAAAZING! How would the world exist without your talents?!? How are you so amazing while also being so wise and such a good person?!? Oh, look, another AMAAAAZING person is here!"

Then the first hour oif the actual show started slowly and... went downhill. I turned it off by the time Black Jeopardy was finishing, and won't go back. The first hour was tired, predictable humor stifled by elitist political correctness, as is the usual with SNL the past few years. A complete opposite of what it started out as 50 years ago, and they failed at celebrating that. So if you read in the Nielsen reports tomorrow that viewership declined after the first hour, that was me! I did that.