Springs Sweeps Are Flawed in Favor of Networks’ Ad Deptartments
Such happenings can only mean one thing. No, NBC’s Revelations notwithstanding, it’s not the apocalypse. The end is not near. The Spring 2005 Sweeps are upon us. Thursday, April 28-Wednesday, May 25, is the broadcast networks’ spring 2005 sweeps period.
Like advertisers and networks, TV viewers have a love-hate relationship with the three sweeps periods (November, February, May) that fall within the networks’ 37-week Season.
Few pay attention to July’s “off season” sweeps when the broadcast networks are hibernating. Ratings reflect that viewers love the “stunt” programming, example, The Muppets Wizard of Oz, and first-run episodes of their favorite series. They hate that the networks spend so much money on sweeps programming that 15 weeks of their 37-week network television season are rerun driven.
A time, a reason, for sweeps season. Television advertisers hunger endlessly to learn how many people are watching the programs on which they advertise. They also yearn to know what kinds of people are watching. This is not idle curiosity. They spend some $20 billion yearly hawking their wares on network television. With that kind of moolah being spent, advertisers have the right to ask: How many? What kind?
Of course, advertisers and networks collect numbers and demographics fifty-two weeks a year through the A.C. Nielsen company’s electronic “people meters”.
If you’ve ever watched Entertainment Tonight, or one of its imitators, then you know about the National Nielsen ratings. But here’s the rub, and the reason for sweeps: not all advertising is national. Many of the commercials that we see, or zap through, are tailored to local markets. These include ads for your local car dealerships, dairies, and restaurants, among many other local or regional businesses. But the pricey Nielsen people meters don’t reach viewers in all of the 210 major television markets in the U.S.
And so, four times a year, a total of 2.5 million inexpensive paper “diaries” are sent to randomly selected viewers in each of the 210 major television markets in the United States. Viewers keep track of what they watch in the diaries. That’s known as sweeps. Local television stations use sweeps info to set future advertising rates. Local advertisers use sweeps data to decide on which programs to advertise.
That being said, advertisers, broadcasters, and viewers largely concur that sweeps, a phenomenon dating back to radio days, is seriously flawed. The process is stacked in favor of the networks’ advertising departments. In order to keep ad rates spiraling ever upward, the networks must increase viewer-ship during these four yearly periods.
Consequently, during sweeps, the broadcasters resort to so-called “stunt programming”. The prime time schedules become top heavy with expensive and outrageous specials, ridiculous casting (think Ted Danson as Gulliver, Drew Carey as Gipetto), guest stars, big budget movies and miniseries. The more money spent bloating “sweeps” schedules, the less money the networks have for the rest of the year.
The numbers and demographics collected during sweeps cheat advertisers. Advertisers end up paying inflated rates that reflect “stunt programming,” and not the typical network fare.
An accurate and fair alternative would be to give Nielsen’s expensive people meters to viewers in all 210 of the country’s major television markets. But that accuracy and fairness comes with a price tag that no one is willing to pay.
So hold onto your remotes – and be prepared for 28 days of super programming, the likes of which you will not see again until the November sweeps.
Pope Benedict XVI: The First 100 Days
TV news’ recent Death and Funeral watches were ratings bonanzas. Consequently, The Election of the Pope, mini-fest stepped up to the plate as baseball season began, and exactly when network news needed something pontifical on which to obsess. However, exactly what happened in the short Papal Conclave, stays in the Papal Conclave. Regarding what will replace The Pope Election Spectacular, I’m suggesting here and now: Pope Benedict XVI: The First 100 Days.
