US ratings glitch

US ratings giant Nielsen has admitted that it has misallocated some viewership results earlier this year, incorrectly allocating data to ABC network.

The mistakes came up in adjustments Nielsen makes to its ratings between preliminary overnight figures and later, adjusted numbers.

“It’s a small error within statistical tolerance,” says Patricia McDonough, Nielsen SVP Planning Policy and Analysis.

As much as 98% of programs won’t be affected by more than .05 of a ratings point.

The problem was discovered on October 6th, and the software has since been updated.

It’s unclear whether the errors are significant enough to impact advertising spending, which is based on Nielsen’s estimates of how many people are watching individual shows.

Source: Deadline, AAP