# Does taping a show get reflected in its ratings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927 "2007-05-13T14:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![henrijohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@henrijohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/henrijohns)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/1 "2007-05-13T14:50:26Z")
I watch Leno every evening at 7 from tape, for example. Do they count how many of us there are, and our demographics? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/2 "2007-05-13T15:09:24Z")
That’s a more complicated question that it might seem, but I believe the answer is yes. Television rating are compiled by the Nielsen Company using three different methods, each of which would (I believe) capture the fact that you taped a show for later viewing. Two of their methods use meters that track what shows the TV is tuned to, and the other requires participants to record their viewing habits by wrting them in a diary. [Their website](http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/menuitem.55dc65b4a7d5adff3f65936147a062a0/?allRmCB=on&newSearch=yes&vgnextoid=b568b8ee80d06010VgnVCM100000880a260aRCRD&searchBox=dvr) doesn’t address this issue specifically, but I believe all three methods would include this type of viewing. The statistical methods involved in develoing TV ratings are awfully complex, and it’s gotten even harder with the advent of Tivo and streaming video. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/3 "2007-05-13T15:31:34Z")
[QUOTE=henrijohns] I watch Leno every evening at 7 from tape, for example. Do they count how many of us there are, and our demographics? [/QUOTE] None of the ratings services, AFAIK, know what **you** are doing unless you are a voluntary part of their survey audience. No one is keeping tabs on you specifically without your knowledge. You are invisible and have absolutely no effect upon ratings. OTOH, if someone _like you_ exists in the survey audience, and they have habits like yours, those will be recorded and used for ratings calculations. The worst nightmares of pollsters are that their samples are not representative. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/4 "2007-05-13T18:21:23Z")
There’s some disagreement about this practice, actually. The thing is, ratings are compiled almost solely for the benefit of the advertisers. Remember, commercial TV is not the product, and we the viewers are not the consumer; commercial TV is the hook by which the broadcasters deliver the actual product, the viewers, to the actual consumer, the advertisers. And if you’re watching a show you’ve recorded, on tape or DVR, you’re probably zipping past the commercials, thus defeating the purpose of compiling the ratings in the first place. So as far as the advertisers are concerned, if you’re not watching their ads, they don’t want you to be included in viewership totals. I’ve seen a few entertainment-news stories describing how the number of viewers being reported for geek-oriented shows like _Lost_ and _BSG_ is actually significantly lower than the true number of viewers (as in 10-15%) because the record-and-watch-later people are being discounted, and consequently these shows struggle to justify themselves to the network more than they would if they could use the real numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/5 "2007-05-13T20:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I’ve seen a few entertainment-news stories describing how the number of viewers being reported for geek-oriented shows like _Lost_ and _BSG_ is actually significantly lower than the true number of viewers (as in 10-15%) because the record-and-watch-later people are being discounted… [/quote] That seems odd. If automatic recording meters are being used, tied to TVs being on and which channel, and if the 6PM show on channel 10 is on and being recorded for later viewing, I would expect the log to show the same data as if a person was sitting in front of the TV in real time.[sup]\*[/sup] If a “log what you watch” written log concept is in use, why not have the viewer log what they actually watch, regardless of time? That would be most accurate. * * * - Only true if a TIVO-type arrangement is not in use, where a couch potato can watch something different from what is being recorded. Maybe that’s where the problem lies, as TIVO is probably more commin in geek-oriented households. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/6 "2007-05-13T22:30:29Z")
Yes they do, but only if you watch it the next day. And they only started counting viewers like you this year. From [here](http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/09/tv.missingviewers.ap/index.html). > [@](#): > > This year, for the first time, Nielsen is measuring viewership in the estimated 17 percent of homes with digital video recorders \_ but it only counts them in the ratings of a specific show if they watch it within 24 hours of the original air time. > > If you recorded “Desperate Housewives” this spring and watched it two days later, you’re not counted in the show’s ratings. And you’re not counted by Nielsen under any circumstances if you downloaded a show on iTunes and watched it on your iPod or cell phone, or streamed an episode from a network Web site. Another recent article (which I can’t find now) also says that advertisers don’t want to include DVR viewers in the ratings since such viewers presumably aren’t watching the ads (which is all the advertisers really care about, when it comes down to it). ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-taping-a-show-get-reflected-in-its-ratings/403927/7 "2007-05-14T20:36:17Z")
I can’t get him here to tell you, but the CEO of TNT (who also had some time with TBS) had a lecture on our campus. He said that timeshifted programming, even by one second, invalidates the ratings numbers for those shows. (I would assume he can only speak for turner programming.) He then backed this up with talking about the (then) new show call in quiz show “Midnight Money Madness” on TBS. He went on to explain that since the show is by its nature a live show, and only works for people who watch it live, it was a good show for ratings. So as I understand it taping a show does NOT count for its rating.