Are Nielsen ratings headed for extinction?

Flaws in the television's Nielsen ratings have been known for decades. During one "sweeps month" in the 1980s, a Los Angeles TV station showed just how easily the system could be manipulated by airing a series on the "Nielsen families"--those households whose viewing habits formed the statistical basis for the ratings. The families, of course, tuned in to view the story of their lives, and the station's numbers went through the roof.

Two decades later, most local Nielsen rankings are still determined much the same way. And if their capacity for inaccuracy has been known for so long, how can the Nielsens be expected to adapt to the challenges of today's rapidly evolving media, which include personal video recorders, peer-to-peer networks and mobile TV devices?

The only reason the Nielsens have been accepted is that nothing better has come along to replace them. With any luck, the rise of technologies that can track real popularity, as opposed to expensive guesswork and voodoo extrapolations, will finally point to the metaphorical dead body in the living room.

Blog community response:

"Whether viewers watch the episode when it airs or later on shouldn't really make a difference. Perhaps sooner rather than later, advertisers will have to take these statistical numbers into consideration if they want to move forward along with our changing landscape."
--Jack Myers Media Village

"Am I the only one who is completely baffled by the entire TV ratings system? I mean, it's not Ivy League confusing, but it's definitely got some incongruities. Thank God Nielsen doesn't run the presidential election."
--Southern Misanthrope

"While certainly not a new concept (and technology), it appears that the some networks are embracing buzz measurement services as a means of not only predicting the fate of new series, but also understanding why the audience likes/dislikes the show, certain characters, plot lines, etc."
--CMS.610: Understanding Creative Industries