Carissa’s Corner: Ratings Are Dead. Long Live the Actual Viewer.

Here’s a fun little fact to ruin your morning coffee: the fate of your favorite TV show still hinges on a number pulled from 42,000 households. 

That’s it. Out of more than 120 million U.S. households, Nielsen samples less than 0.04% and then tells advertisers, “Yep, this is what America is watching.”

Except — plot twist — those households aren’t even recruited because they watch TV. They’re chosen because they own a TV. Totally different animal. That’s how you end up with a system that thinks Resident Alien doesn’t exist because the 42,000 families Nielsen plucked out of a hat weren’t tuned in.

Oh, and for the record? Nielsen’s own site claims, “Ratings are the percentage of TV viewers in the U.S. that tuned into a specific program.” Cute, but no. 

That’s not viewers — that’s 42,000 recruited households with TVs, scaled up to pretend it’s the U.S. audience. Imagine if we measured streaming the same way, using only a sliver of households that happened to have WiFi. Netflix would riot.

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And advertisers? Don’t get me started. 

They’ve been chasing the 18–49 demo since the Stone Age, like it’s the only group that buys toothpaste. Hate to break it to them, but brand loyalty is dead, and my Gen X wallet still works just fine. 

In fact, it works overtime — I switch brands like I switch playlists, and I spend money like it’s burning a hole in my hands. But because I’m over 54, I don’t count. Cool system, guys.

Here’s the thing: all TV viewers matter. Younger demos matter. Older demos matter. The people watching on iPads during their commute matter. 

The fans who live-tweet episodes, flood Reddit with theories, and show up on TV Fanatic to argue in the comments? They matter too. If you’ve invested your time in a show, you’re the audience advertisers should care about. Period.

And let’s talk about the shows getting burned by this nonsense. NBC‘s Found clearly had an audience — you could see it in the chatter, the engagement, the way people showed up every week. 

But because Nielsen’s fantasy households didn’t reflect that reality, it gets lumped into the “maybe it’s not working” pile. Same with Resident Alien, The Way Home, and plenty of other shows that actually have loyal fans. 

The data says invisible, but the fans say otherwise. Guess who’s right?

Meanwhile, broadcast TV is in a creative drought. If you’ve seen one procedural, you’ve seen ten. Cop shows, firefighter shows, doctor shows — all carbon copies, just with slightly different uniforms. 

The fun, the originality, the spark that used to make TV stand out? Sucked right out in the chase for “safe.” And then execs scratch their heads, wondering why their copy-and-paste shows don’t break through. 

Here’s a wild thought: maybe something original like Found stands out precisely because it isn’t a clone.

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And while we’re at it, let’s talk about the absurdity of comparing streaming vs. broadcast. Streaming numbers are reported in minutes viewed. Broadcast is reported in viewers. 

But if you actually convert? Those “meh” broadcast numbers suddenly look gigantic. Take Big Brother: 3.1 million viewers tuning in for 32 episodes at 42 minutes apiece. That’s over 4.1 billion minutes viewed in a single season. 

If Netflix reported those numbers, they’d be screaming it from the rooftops. But on broadcast? It’s dismissed as “only 3.3 million viewers.” Apples, meet oranges.

So how do we fix this mess? Stop pretending it’s 1995 and start measuring the actual viewing market:

• Viewers, not households. Track authenticated logins, app usage, and smart TV metrics. Who’s really watching? That’s what counts.
  
• Expand the demo. Gen X and Boomers are still glued to the screen — and they’re spending. Ignoring them isn’t just ageist, it’s financially stupid.
  
• Engagement is data. Social media buzz, site traffic, and fandom activity are real-time proof of passion. That’s a better predictor of longevity than a blip on Nielsen’s antiquated box.
  
• Hybrid approach. Blend streaming numbers and engagement with a real representative sample of households. Don’t hang the industry on 42k people who may or may not even care about TV.
  
• Make appointment TV matter again. The Pitt showed us audiences will gather weekly if you give them a reason. Cliffhangers, watercooler buzz, shared fan theories — it’s all still there, waiting to be tapped. Stop scheduling TV like background noise and start programming it like an event.
  

TV is no longer just what happens on a box in your living room at 8 p.m. on a Thursday. It’s everywhere, all the time, across generations and devices. 

Advertisers who keep betting on dusty stats and outdated demos are throwing money away. Networks that cancel shows based on fake numbers are cutting off their own legs.

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And here’s the kicker: audiences want to gather. The Pitt proved it. People still crave cliffhangers, watercooler talk, and the thrill of being part of something bigger than themselves. 

Appointment TV isn’t dead — it’s just being ignored by executives who’d rather listen to a handful of “households who own TVs” than the millions of people who actually watch.

So let’s stop pretending that 42,000 randomly recruited families hold the keys to television’s future. 

They don’t. Viewers do. Fans do. The people who show up week after week because they care do. We’re here, we’re watching, and we’re spending.

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