I may be misunderstanding, but I was under the impression that TV episode ratings reflected viewership of the episode, but how is it that ratings reflect quality or reception if the people who watch don’t know they don’t like something or that something is bad when they start watching.
Example: if I turn on a new episode of my favorite TV show and watch it, then determine that it sucked, wouldn’t having watched it mean that I contributed to a more positive viewership despite not having liked it? Alternatively, wouldn’t not watching because I don’t like it require that I know ahead of time that I won’t like it?
So how do ratings based on viewership provide a reliable estimate of quality or general reception?
In: Other
TV ratings are a tad arbitrary to be honest. The Nielsen ratings for example only gives very generalized data about TV watching.
The viewer numbers matter because the network can use that as leverage for advertisers. If a show is pulling in 10 million views consistently, then that translates to higher rates for the ads that are shown during that show.
Having consistent viewership is the key. If you have 10 million watching a premier, but that drops off to 2 million the next week then you can infer that the show isn’t actually that well received.
Shows with higher viewership in turn are more likely to get renewed, the staff get paid more, and they can afford better guest stars and higher per-episode budgets.
You also have to consider that ‘hate watching’ is a thing.
For all the complaints about the new Star Wars or Marvel shows for example, a bunch of people will watch a show they don’t like regardless because it’s a Star Wars or Marvel show and they don’t want to miss story elements that will impact other shows and movies. Or they want to see what other people are complaining about. They then immediately turn around and complain about it on social media.
In that case a viewing of an episode is still a viewing of the episode.
Streaming services by comparison have way better analytics because not only do they have data on how many people watched a show, but:
did they repeat the same episode?
Did they pause a lot, or re-watch certain parts?
Did they binge? or wait between episodes?
All of this data is incredibly valuable to determine how people are watching TV and what interests them or turns them off.
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