In the, what will they think of next file...comes this very important next step for television ratings.
Right now, the television news your watching is most likely just about ratings. They don't care about you, but about what you buy and where you spend your money.
But that could all be changing.
Check out this article from today's Orlando Sentinel:
Hal Boedeker Sentinel Television Critic
September 26, 2007
Say goodbye to killer bras -- or whatever outrageous report you remember from sweeps month.Sweeps, as we know them, are doomed in Central Florida.Likely extinction date: February 2009.
Local People Meters will render obsolete those sweeps periods -- in February, May, July and November -- when stations hype reports to pull in viewers. The meters will go into service in Orlando, the nation's No. 19 market, in January 2009 after a preliminary start in November 2008."It is a turning point in local TV," Henry Maldonado, general manger of WKMG-Channel 6, said Tuesday. "That four-times-a-year rush you guys are kidding us about, to generate audience, will end."The Local People Meters replace the current system of household meters and diaries. Viewers fill out diaries to provide demographic information during sweeps. The stations sell advertising time based on demographics more than on household ratings.The Local People Meters make the diaries unnecessary and provide more accurate daily statistics on who's watching.The measuring shift is significant, said Bill Bauman, general manager of WESH-Channel 2. "I think advertisers are looking forward to this," he said. "They'll be able to see what they're paying for on a daily basis."The shift to Local People Meters will mean increased competition, station bosses agreed."It's going to be constant pressure every day on news organizations and promotion," said Shawn Bartelt, general manager of WFTV-Channel 9. "It's probably a good thing for viewers. The horse race will be taking place every day."Maldonado predicted that promotion will be more focused."Stations will be able to target specific groups and see the results the next day," he said. "The measuring is becoming more surgical, more narrow."The shift to Local People Meters can shake the pecking order in a market, said Tim Brooks, executive vice president of research for Lifetime."Diaries tend to favor long-established stations," Brooks said. "A change from less accurate to more accurate information can be disruptive. Diaries are out of date in today's multimedia world."In the top markets, where Local People Meters have been installed, sweeps months have changed, Brooks said."They still program for sweeps, but you don't have as many big events," he said. "That is going to spread to most of the country. There won't be the imperative to do a bizarre 11 o'clock news story."
