Comments on: ABC.com tops Nielsen survey

By: Gorman

Gorman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:30:34 +0000

I agree, unless they’re all running the same traffic system, configured in the same way, competing traffic numbers probably can’t be trusted.

(And no, the thought of all of those people spending the a majority of a half hour staring at static rather than flipping away to *any* other channel made me wonder if they didn’t blindly write down the call letters, which makes me question the overall accuracy.)

By: tdc

tdc — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:48:18 +0000

yes, nielsen’s and alexa’s numbers only are accurate if they show YOU #1.

i happen to look at the bigger picture; if all the numbers vary so widely, can ANY be trusted?

a simple question most advertisers will eventually demand a straight answer to.

By: Gorman

Gorman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:09:48 +0000

I never wondered how accurate Neilsen’s ratings are, especially in diaried markets. True story: In our market one day the longtime #1 station lost power for most of the newscast and still beat the #2 by 3:1 for that 1/2 hour that day. So yeah, Neilsen’s credibility is slightly above Alexa’s in my book.

By: sparkles

sparkles — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:56:29 +0000

I don’t know why people continue to cite Nielsen. Their “surveys” never correspond with our own page view counts. I mean they are WAY off.

Makes you wonder how accurate their TV ratings really are…

By: discreet_chaos

discreet_chaos — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:22:28 +0000

I’m not seeing the YouTube figure in the linked article, but if I were to hazard a guess: I’d say that most YouTube stuff appeals to a younger audience, so they may not qualify as “adults” and without knowing the method, I’m not sure if either measure includes embedded clips.

IOW: Does YouTube count embeds as traffic and would an “adult” recognize an embed, as something which came from YouTube?