I just got a call, I’m a Nielson. I don’t watch much TV, but what the heck, they want my opinion.
Are you or have you ever been?
Yes, my family was for years, not just during sweeps. We had a box attached to our TV, an assigned number for each person and a little remote that indicated who was watching with whom etc…
I feel like we were the “useless Nielsens” though. My father doesn’t watch TV, I left for school 2 months in, my sister only watched MTV and left for med school 2 years in, and my mother only watches Zee-TV.
I was three or four weeks ago. I was another time several years ago.
We were, several years ago, for a week.
Nobody watched any TV that week though (or forgot to write it down), so we turned in the little book totally blank.
I got the book once. They included a dollar, to bribe me to do it.
I was out of town for most of that week, and I actually called to ask if I should bother since I was going to be gone, but I was assured that knowing that would be useful info for them, so I filled out what of it I could and sent it back.
I’ve never known anybody who had The Box, but at least I had The Booklet once.
About 9 years ago I was a diary-keeper for a sweeps month, and yes like whiterabbit I also got the dollar. I noticed no significant uptick in the ratings of the quirky shows I watched (Buffy, Angel). [No, I wasn’t actually expecting to see that]
About a year ago, I filled out the little booklet for a week. Fifteen bucks. I was mostly honest, though I threw in a few votes for shows I felt deserved support (PBS stuff).