Sweeps Is Over. What Did You Learn?
Whether you’re new in the business or a 40-year vet, each sweeps period holds new information. On a grand scale, your station might have tried new strategies, or you might have gone through the same tactics as always, with this year’s stories echoing those of the past. The important thing is to analyze success and failure while you are still fully engaged in sweeps mode because when you come back from the beach, you’ll have a hard time remembering all the finer details of how you executed sweeps coverage.
When Sweeps Never End, Who Benefits?
Are TV Sweeps Months History? Not Quite Yet
November, February, May and July. Traditionally, those months are when Nielsen conducted its ratings sweeps used to set ad rates. In September, Nielsen began surveying TV viewership every month. But it appears not everyone got the memo. “It is interesting to me that the TV news industry has not figured out that there are no longer just four sweeps months a year,” said David Hughes, the news director for WDBJ Roanoke, VA.
TV Ratings Sweeps Need Sweeping Changes
It’s Time To Say Goodbye To Ratings Sweeps
Patrick Paolini, VP-GM of Fox’s WTTG-WDCA Washington, says it’s time for the TV business to “admit that a ‘win’ in metered markets four times a year is meaningless — and that the focus on the four monthly sweeps is actually harmful to our business.”
WDRB GM Writes Unique Ratings Promo
Exclusives
Consistency A Big Virtue In KNTV Sweeps Promos
The Pressure Of Being A Local TV Preditor
Wanted: Your Best May Sweeps Promos
Stations No Longer Saving Best For Sweeps
With increased news competition and the growing influence of news via smartphones, many stations are ditching the old practice of loading up their newscasts four times a year. Instead, says consultant Jerry Gumbert, stations are focusing on “important, in-depth investigations with strong journalistic prowess and no hype” that is becoming increasingly pervasive in their year-round coverage. “Original substantive content” has replaced “sensational bizarre stories,” he says.
The TV Sweeps Need To Die
In today’s multi-channel, multi-screen environment, what had once been a greatly anticipated quarterly event has become, well, somewhat unimportant. And there’s another problem with sweeps: the weakness of its methodology and the growing strength of year-round ratings.
Powered by American Idol, Fox has won the last six seasons in adults 18-49, but media buyers by a narrow margin think this season belongs to CBS. Come spring, CBS, not Fox, will finish first in the demographic.
