How do they know

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Does a TV report back to somebody what it is tuned to? Just wondering how the networks know what is being watched.

[Musky_Madness]

I think it is done by telephone survey? It is just a shot in the dark though.

[MuleShack]

Ever heard of the Nielson Ratings?

Me neither, but they have somethign to do with it.

[delcecchi]

The main way is that a number of families have special boxes that record what their TV is tuned to. Look up Nielsen Families. Telephone surveys are also used.

[straydog]

On two of our direct tv recievers you can push a button on the remote and it tells you the five most popular channels at that time in your region and in the nation.

[CAMAN]

I've recieved a questionare in the mail a couple of times. They ask you to fill out what you watch on TV or listen to on the radio during a week and then you mail it back. Its been over a year since I last did one so I don't remember everything it asks.

[CatchPhotoFilet]

Must be OBAMA spying on all of us! just kidding well there are some of you who might actually believe that.

[mojoputter]

The cable and dish companies know what your watching and all of the new TV's have a small camera in them and they can watch you watching TV. Some of them even know when your digging through the fridge to get something to eat!!

[S.D. Ice Angular]

The cable and dish companies know what your watching and all of the new TV's have a small camera in them and they can watch you watching TV. Some of them even know when your digging through the fridge to get something to eat!!

That is funny!! so do they see me when I just watch in my underware??

[nofishfisherman]

That is funny!! so do they see me when I just watch in my underware??

No they have to turn it off during those times. Images like that are likely to break the tv.

[nofishfisherman]

In all serious now, the primary way they know what people are watching is that Neilsen selects families from all over the country to monitor what they watch. The families are of course willing volunteers and they install a box in their homes. I am not sure if they get paid for it or not. They use this sample size to determine the likely number of people watching each program. Mailings and phone surveys are also used but they do not provide real time data.

Actually there are many things similar to this such as families reporting what items they bought at the grocery store, what coupons they used, etc.

I used to work for a company that did market research like this and its pretty interesting. We had one division that paid people to watch television for the sole purpose of picking out and recording product placement within television shows. That info was collected and sold to competitors so they could keep track of what their competition is doing in the ad arena.