Revealed: Top
shows for college kids

Nielsen data shows huge increases for 'Ugly Betty'


By Kevin Downey
Feb 16, 2007

For all the concern over younger TV viewers, and the fear of their flight to other media, there was long a big gap in tracking just what they were watching. Nielsen's tracking of viewers 18-24 was missing a huge body of young people: kids living in college dorms.

But in late January, Nielsen began including those young viewers in its 18-24 sample, adding them to those living at home with parents or on their own, and the results are quite dramatic in terms of ratings boosts for a number of primetime shows.

One would expect a boost for Fox's "American Idol," and indeed viewing is up, the Tuesday episode by 11 percent and Wednesday's by 22 percent.

But college-age viewing is also way up for a number of other shows, some of which one would not expect to see gains.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was up 67 percent for the first week of the new ratings compared to the prior week, to a 9 among 18-24 year olds, according to a Magna Global analysis of Nielsen data released yesterday.

That analysis is based on the first round of actual data from the sample, a panel of 130 college students. This follows a preliminary report in late January based on November viewing. The data does not break out college viewing but rather combines viewing data of the two 18-24 samples.

ABC’s “Ugly Betty” was up 86 percent from its prior original episode and its “Men In Trees” was up 65 percent.

“These viewers have technically been an unmeasured part of Nielsen’s sample and credited with zero viewing when they were away at college,” says Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of audience analysis at Magna. “They account for a significant amount of viewing in the 18-24 demographic and should be counted.”

Many shows continued to show gains in week two, based on ratings averages for the first two weeks compared to the season average before college dorms were added.

Fox’s “House,” for instance, had an 8.7 rating among adults 18-24 compared to a 4.6 before the additional sample was added, an increase of 89.1 percent.

NBC’s “Office” had a 4.4 rating compared to the earlier 2.8, up 57.1 percent.

“Ugly Betty” had a 4.3 versus a 2.3, an increase of 87 percent, and the CW’s “Beauty and the Geek” had a 2.7 compared to its previous 2.2 rating, an increase of 22.7 percent.

Media buyers have been asking Nielsen to measure out-of-home viewing for years, knowing that millions of viewers were not reflected in the ratings used to negotiate ad prices. Nielsen says it has only been in the past few years that there’s been an upswing in requests for the measurement of viewing in college dorms.

Three years ago, Nielsen set about gathering the data, and one issue was whether college students would use the people meter correctly, logging in when watching a program and logging out when not. Nielsen ended up tapping into its existing sample to measure college students, recruiting 130 respondents from households already being measured by the TV ratings service.

Media buyers say they had hoped Nielsen would have a bigger sample but most also say this is a good initial step to gauge the impact this audience is having on viewing.

“This is very consistent with the impact data that was previously provided,” says Susan Hajny, broadcast research manager at GSD&M. “But you always have to add the footnote of caution: These numbers will bounce around a lot. All it will take is spring break week and these ratings will disappear.”

Perhaps what's most interesting about the data is just how much TV, particularly broadcast TV, college students do watch, considering the widely held perception that they spend most of their media time with such newer media as iPods.

Still, the sample size raises some concerns that too few students are being relied upon to represent the viewing patterns of millions TV viewers.

“This is a difficult age group to be working with,” says Hajny. “They are very volatile in their behavior and patterns, so the fact that we have any ratings is a good thing. But we have to approach the results knowing that there will be lots of ups and downs.”

TOP 25 PROGRAMS Adults 18-24 since college dorm students were added Jan. 29-Feb. 11
Rank	Program	Net	Rtg%	Share
1	GREY'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM	ABC	10.3	28
2	AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY	FOX	10.2	31
3	AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY	FOX	10.0	28
4	HOUSE	FOX	8.7	26
5	LOST	ABC	5.7	16
6	FAMILY GUY	FOX	5.4	15
7	DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES	ABC	5.1	14
8	HEROES	NBC	4.4	12
8	OFFICE	NBC	4.4	13
8	SIMPSONS	FOX	4.4	14
11	UGLY BETTY	ABC	4.3	14
12	AMERICAN DAD	FOX	4.2	12
13	EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED.	ABC	3.8	12
14	PRISON BREAK	FOX	3.5	11
15	KING OF THE HILL	FOX	3.4	10
16	BONES	FOX	3.3	11
16	SCRUBS	NBC	3.3	9
18	24	FOX	3.2	9
19	MEN IN TREES	ABC	3.1	10
20	CSI	CBS	2.9	8
20	BROTHERS & SISTERS	ABC	2.9	8
20	MY NAME IS EARL	NBC	2.9	10
23	GILMORE GIRLS	CW	2.8	9
24	DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON	NBC	2.7	9
24	LAW AND ORDER:SVU	NBC	2.7	9
24	BEAUTY AND THE GEEK	CW	2.7	9
Source: Nielsen Media Research

TOP 25 PROGRAMS Adults 18-24 prior to college dorm students being added Sept. 18-Jan. 29
Rank	Program	Net	Rtg%	Share
1	AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY	FOX	10.6	34
2	AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY	FOX	10.3	34
3	FAMILY GUY	FOX	5.5	17
4	GREY'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM	ABC	5.3	18
5	FAMILY GUY-SUN 9:30P	FOX	5.2	16
6	SIMPSONS	FOX	4.7	16
7	HOUSE	FOX	4.6	16
8	DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES	ABC	4.5	14
8	AMERICAN DAD	FOX	4.5	14
10	LOST	ABC	4.1	14
10	HEROES	NBC	4.1	13
12	NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL	NBC	4.0	14
13	KING OF THE HILL	FOX	3.5	12
14	SIX DEGREES	ABC	3.4	12
14	24	FOX	3.4	11
16	CSI	CBS	3.2	11
17	PRISON BREAK	FOX	3.1	11
17	AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL	CW	3.1	12
19	WAR AT HOME	FOX	2.9	9
20	CSI: MIAMI	CBS	2.8	10
20	EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED.	ABC	2.8	10
20	OFFICE	NBC	2.8	10
23	DANCING WITH THE STARS	ABC	2.6	10
24	BROTHERS & SISTERS	ABC	2.5	8
24	SCRUBS	NBC	2.5	8
Source: Nielsen Media Research