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Jericho's Nutty Fans Protest Nielsen's Ratings System
Why we fight:
The ex-CBS drama Jericho has fallen victim for the second time to cancellation based on inaccurate and antiquated Nielsen ratings. Network TV executives have long been aware of Nielsen's errors. In 1997, the NY Times reported that Don Ohlmeyer, then president of NBC's West Coast division, was blunt in his criticism. ''I don't trust their numbers at all,'' he said. ''They're trying to measure 21st-century technology with an abacus.'' http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E01E2D61739F933A25750C0A961958260
The methodology of TV viewing has changed drastically since then and Nielsen has failed to keep up with the times. Nielsen reported Jericho had a live viewing audience averaging 6 million viewers per week during Season 2. Even if that number had been accurate, it failed to take into account the new media options such as Amazon, Itunes, and even Xbox live downloads. Jericho was consistently in the top ten for downloads as well as the top 15 shows per week reported by DVR. Live DirectTV numbers sharply contradicted the ratings reported by Nielsen. Nielsen also did not factor in the millions of weekly streams for each episode on sites such as Fancast and CBS.com. A CBS executive noted March 18th that the ratings share would be increased almost 1 percentage point had their online viewing numbers alone been factored into the ratings. http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=78684
Even without factoring in the new media, Nielsen's ratings system is inaccurate. The sample of approximately 10,000 homes chosen to represent American homes has many flaws, including the fact that we are estimated to now have at least 100,000,000 televisions in the U.S. You may research more about how Nielsen samples viewing habits here:
http://www.helium.com/items/990477-practically-everyone-heard-terms
Nielsen ratings even leave out most in the largest minority group in America. Jericho fans were proud to have the positive role of Major Beck played by Latino actor Esai Morales. "Just as Nielsen's inaccuracy at measuring U.S. born Hispanics contributed to the George Lopez Shows' premature demise on ABC, it could also be a contributing factor to the inaccuracies of Jericho, given Esai Morales' starring role and big following among young, U.S. Latinos" stated Robert G. Rose, Founder of www.HelpChangeTV.com, a grassroots organization demanding Nielsen Media Research address their inaccuracies and improper sampling of 2nd and 3rd generation Latinos. The number of Latinos excluded by Nielsen are staggering and affect as many as 65% of young Hispanics. Mr. Rose further stated, "Shows such as Ugly Betty or Jericho could conceivably have 20-30% more viewers that are not being counted as a result. For a show that is on the renewal fence, those are precious eyeballs that are not being counted" .
Nielsen has been an unchecked monopoly for years and recently has been reported to be laying off workers and outsourcing the jobs to India, since the 10 year, 1.2 billion dollar outsourcing contract with the Indian corporation TATA began in 1997. Their harsh treatment of American workers has been chronicled here: http://jerichomonster.blogspot.com/ Many in the local community are outraged that the reported tax breaks and grants for local hiring initiatives previously given to Nielsen have instead eliminated many of those jobs or resulted in jobs outsourced to Indian workers.
Jericho fans have decided to protest the inaccurate ratings that led to a second cancellation by sending nuts to Nielsen's ratings center in Oldsmar, Florida. You can read more by googling "Nuts to Nielsen" and if you want to participate or buy Nuts to Nielsen you can do that here: http://www.mickeyspeanuts.com/index.html Jericho fans have requested that the nuts be donated to a local food bank, in the classy fashion of last year's delivery of 50,000 pounds of peanuts to CBS studios. The date of the protest and nut delivery is available via inquiry for live coverage.
Fans are also working hard to find Jericho a new home by a massive letter writing campaign to possible new homes for the show, sending DVDs to the troops, funding full page ads in Variety Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter , and many other unique initiatives. The recent ad in Variety magazine was also followed by a delivery of Jericho signature peanuts, however, this year they featured the phrases "Save Jericho" and "Nuts to Nielsen" on each pallet of nuts. Read more about Variety's gracious reaction to the delivery here: http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/2008/04/jericho-fans-nu.html
Nielsen's flaws may have led to Jericho's second demise but the fans will not go down without a fight. The evolution of Nielsen is required in order to keep it's monopolistic hold on TV advertisers in the age of new media. It's own faulty system recently reported that the networks have lost 1 out of every 5 viewers. http://www.showbizdata.com/news/46715/NETWORKS-LOSE-ONE-OUT-OF-FIVE-VIEWERS
Have they truly lost 1 out of 5 viewers? Or have they simply lost the ability to count the new tech savvy viewers such as the loyal Jericho fans and left out large segments of our population from consideration of their viewing habits entirely? Jericho Rangers have started a revolution to hopefully bring the show to a new home for season 3 and to provide it with an accurate ratings system to keep it there for years to come.
Event: Nielsen Protest/Nut Delivery from Jericho fans
Location: Oldsmar, Florida
Date: Week of May 12th, time and exact date top secret, but available from contact for live coverage
Contact: jwhitesell@comcast.net
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