Commentary

We're No Longer Missing A Nielsen Controversy, Thanks To Nickelodeon's Missing Viewers

I knew we were missing something in the TV business news cycle: a juicy Nielsen ratings controversy!

Viacom says Nickelodeon's ratings mysteriously dropped -- from out of nowhere -- some 11% in mid-September. This was followed by a 17% percent drop in October and 19% in November.

Nielsen says there are actually more kids watching television, just not on Nickelodeon! A severe downdraft has also hit the likes of Cartoon Network, but not Disney XD or Discovery/Hasbro's The Hub.

Years ago, TV researchers would complain about Nielsen and kids’ ratings -- especially when it came to those very manual, very analog "diaries" that the childrens’ mothers had to fill out.

How can it be explained, the researchers would ask, that kids 2-5 or 6-11 were watching “Oprah” in the afternoon and not "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"? The answer was that lazy mothers were just filling in what they watched -- forgetting Nielsen might include their kids in ratings tabulations.

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It turns out that kids may indeed be watching “older” stuff -- pre-teen, teen and, yes, adult shows.

Entertainment marketers have long talked about kids who continually "age up" in their entertainment options. Walt Disney had similar problems when young kids would quickly grow out of all things Mickey.

No doubt  all the new entertainment digital devices and platforms have something to do with this. But, giving Nickelodeon -- the still-dominant  player for  kids' TV advertising -- its due, why the sudden and continuing viewer drops? Did its programming change that much? Did Nielsen make any drastic changes in its viewing data collection?

Nielsen says there is no problem with the way it continues to do its TV research -- even as new digital devices continue to be fancied by young kids. So why is this only occurring now -- in late 2011?

Perhaps the answer goes back to another age-old entertainment marketing theory -- that kids can indeed be fickle and fast-changing. Maybe Nickelodeon, which has done well to avoid massive viewer downturns, is finally just getting caught, as any TV network might.

That said, things can change back again quickly.  Ah, kids. Go figure. Now go watch what they really do.

 

1 comment about "We're No Longer Missing A Nielsen Controversy, Thanks To Nickelodeon's Missing Viewers".
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  1. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, December 1, 2011 at 3:29 p.m.

    Pardon me for offering an old-fashioned suggestion in this age of digital enlightenment, but has anybody at Nielsen, Viacom or Nickelodeon considered asking younger viewers why they may have moved on, if in fact they actually have?

    I know, ... shame on me for placing the burden of hard field work on the generation of keyboard bangers, but if people are walking out of your restaurant after checking your menu, it's a great idea to ask them why before they vanish forever.

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