[loco4pablo]

But it's funny because I'm willing to bet that one of those very few households watching Sunday was the Tanner residence.

Now with that said can someone explain to me what the neilson ratings are? No one has ever asked me what I was watching. Also just out of curiosity do these ratings also figure or register things like DVR, bar TV's or Satellite TV? I really don't know how it works so I thought someone could answer this for me

[Miz+Zou]

lol yeah and i forgot about the world series thats another distraction to to the list which means so far we have got these distractions
NBA,NCAA Football, World Series,NFL, And the NCAA Basketball Season starting

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by loco4pablo

But it's funny because I'm willing to bet that one of those very few households watching Sunday was the Tanner residence.

Now with that said can someone explain to me what the neilson ratings are? No one has ever asked me what I was watching. Also just out of curiosity do these ratings also figure or register things like DVR, bar TV's or Satellite TV? I really don't know how it works so I thought someone could answer this for me

As stated, I did indeed watch part of the little "Happening" NA__AR so smoothly orchestrated Sunday, loco. However, I was switching between it and SyFY's "V." movie. I enjoyed the movie more, and out of 191 laps I believe I might have watched around 80-90 of the "race." I saw enough of the parade and the alleged side-by-side racing (when the cars pulled low to enter the pits) to convince me there was a good alternative and I exercised that option.

Neilson ratings: As I understand it, X number of people are selected at random and if they agree to be part of the survey, Neilson will install a "Box" on the TV which lets Neilson record what channel your TV is tuned into at any given hour during a specific time frame. I don't know the number or any of the particulars but, to the best of my knowledge, that's the way it works.

I don't know anyone who is involved with Neilson now but, back in the 1950, our family was once selected. (A whole lot fewer TV's back then!) We didn't have a "Box," but they sent us a little diary-like book, which we were supposed to fill out each day, telling them what programs we watched. It wasn't a big chore; we had only ABC, CBS, NBC and Dumont to pick from, and the ABC signal was weak in our area.

I think the system is skewed now by the use of DVR's. To be honest with you, I believe long programs, like racing, or programs normally watched by one gender, are often DVR'd and the figure watching then (eventually) is probably a quarter or a half a percentage point higher than Neilson reports.

That's just my feeling, anyway.

[loco4pablo]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

As stated, I did indeed watch part of the little "Happening" NA__AR so smoothly orchestrated Sunday, loco. However, I was switching between it and SyFY's "V." movie. I enjoyed the movie more, and out of 191 laps I believe I might have watched around 80-90 of the "race." I saw enough of the parade and the alleged side-by-side racing (when the cars pulled low to enter the pits) to convince me there was a good alternative and I exercised that option.

Neilson ratings: As I understand it, X number of people are selected at random and if they agree to be part of the survey, Neilson will install a "Box" on the TV which lets Neilson record what channel your TV is tuned into at any given hour during a specific time frame. I don't know the number or any of the particulars but, to the best of my knowledge, that's the way it works.

I don't know anyone who is involved with Neilson now but, back in the 1950, our family was once selected. (A whole lot fewer TV's back then!) We didn't have a "Box," but they sent us a little diary-like book, which we were supposed to fill out each day, telling them what programs we watched. It wasn't a big chore; we had only ABC, CBS, NBC and Dumont to pick from, and the ABC signal was weak in our area.

I think the system is skewed now by the use of DVR's. To be honest with you, I believe long programs, like racing, or programs normally watched by one gender, are often DVR'd and the figure watching then (eventually) is probably a quarter or a half a percentage point higher than Neilson reports.

That's just my feeling, anyway.

Yeah bob, I just never got the ratings and how they figured it. I know they use it (the ratings) for advertising amounts.
But I just don't know how accurate it really is. Most of time when I am watching TV at my house I am constantly channel surfing. Especially when the college games are on TV Sat. afternoon. Now on Sundays, this is my routine. I leave the house around 12:45 with my DVR programed on the race to start at 2:15. I then go to my local sports bar where they have every football game on TV. I'll focus on the Raven game for the most part but as soon as it's a commercial I turn and start watching another game that is on another TV. I get home after the 4 o'clock games and start watching the race that was DVR'D and while watching that I'm switching back and forth between the 8:30 NFL game and the World Series.
So it really is crazy how they they come up with all these numbers. I guess they have a system but they will have a hard time figuring out people like myself.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by loco4pablo

Yeah bob, I just never got the ratings and how they figured it. I know they use it (the ratings) for advertising amounts.
But I just don't know how accurate it really is. Most of time when I am watching TV at my house I am constantly channel surfing. Especially when the college games are on TV Sat. afternoon. Now on Sundays, this is my routine. I leave the house around 12:45 with my DVR programed on the race to start at 2:15. I then go to my local sports bar where they have every football game on TV. I'll focus on the Raven game for the most part but as soon as it's a commercial I turn and start watching another game that is on another TV. I get home after the 4 o'clock games and start watching the race that was DVR'D and while watching that I'm switching back and forth between the 8:30 NFL game and the World Series.
So it really is crazy how they they come up with all these numbers. I guess they have a system but they will have a hard time figuring out people like myself.

We are in agreement, loco. I use the rating as a general yardstick and not an absolute fact. Your examples, and mine (I can record one program while watching another live, on my DVR setup), play havoc with the Nielsen stats. My bet is that they are off by as much as 4%.

But, the bottom line is that NA__AR ratings are falling. Personally I think that while a good part of the track attendance is due to the economy, the drop in the TV number has little to do with economics and much to do with (1) the poor quality of the racing, and (2) the casual fan that NA__AR put so much effort in to kiss the arse of is floating away, back to their primary sports love, stick&ball.

I back this feeling up with the fact that TV ratings are climbing (by some factor but because of the reasons you and I have stated, who knows exactly by how much?) for the trucks. If you compare the quality of the racing Saturday with the racing of Sunday... Well, there just wasn't much of a comparison. The CTS race was eons better.

[nascaraddict]

For the ratings to be down for a plate race is bad news. Usually those races bring big numbers to the networks. And for it to be during the Chase to boot... it does'nt bode well for the sport.

Brian France needs to think about how this effects NASCAR.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by nascaraddict

Brian France needs to think about how this effects NASCAR.

He hasn't thought about it yet... I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by nascaraddict

For the ratings to be down for a plate race is bad news. Usually those races bring big numbers to the networks. And for it to be during the Chase to boot... it does'nt bode well for the sport.

Brian France needs to think about how this effects NASCAR.

Well, let's see...
Brian has given us the playoffs (which we see is about as sure to give us nail-biting, orchestrated season-ending finishes as the old system did.

He's also given us the new, generic, "What the Hell kinda car is THAT??!!" race car, which is proving to be a big a success as his playoff is.

Under his rule we now have Darby actually telling the drivers how to drive their car. He just did this during the most recent driver's meeting.

He's up to his neck in the ongoing and seemingly never ending saga of Jeremy. This isn't much of a problem since NA__AR's legal team will just wear down Mayfield's side but it is kind of time consuming.

The non-NA__AR parrot media is becoming increasingly critical of how the sport is going.

The drivers are becoming even more increasingly upset with how their side of the game is being played (ref: Newman, Hamlin and others)

Methinks Brian is too busy playing CYA and trying not to look like the fool he obviously is, to worry about such mundane things as "Numbers."

[saltysenior]

i listened to the race on and off sun.....missed the final 30 laps,but before that the radio made it sound like it was non-stop action....on the way home mon. ,on sirus radio ,every body called about what a boring race it was,so i did not watch the tape till tues. nite.....of course with a non-restrictor plate fast foward, i could at least speed things up and by-pass the everpresent comms.........what i DID watch was a pretty good race...as far as runnin single file,the cars were 3 feet apart...not the 37 car lenghts apart they ran in the ''good old days''