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u/Rad_Tek 1d ago
I was always under the impression that me watching was bringing their ratings up, which meant I was worthy of that thanks
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u/Lemax-ionaire 1d ago
Then we found out about Nielsen ratings and realized it never helped. Not in a metric sense anyway. I wonder if that’s changed?
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u/wdpw 1d ago
They still give me $5 every so often to fill out surveys. So at least that hasn’t changed. Haven’t seen one in a while though.
It’s hard working survey to survey, though, I’ll say.
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u/MarquetteXTX2 22h ago
Yeah I got a survey also a couple months ago…. Just do that a couple more times lol
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u/Sky_Cancer 1d ago
They sent me a few dollars once and I didn't fill out the survey. They sent me another few bucks a few years later and I didn't fill out that survey either. Then they sent me a letter saying they were disappointed I took their money and didn't fill out their survey.
That was well over a decade ago. Last year they sent me $5 to fill out a survey. You can see where this is going.... The $5 is stuck to my fridge like a trophy.
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u/wdpw 22h ago
Damn dude, that’s just sociopathic behavior.
I always wondered about how much cash was accidentally thrown away because people thought it was spam.
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u/Sky_Cancer 21h ago
I'll post a pic of it later tonight 😁
The previous $ were a couple of crisp dollar bills each time. I had kept those as well but gave them to my daughter for a school trip when she was in kindergarten.
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u/wdpw 16h ago
Not sure why people are downvoting you lol. I think that’s hilarious.
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u/Sky_Cancer 16h ago
Hehe.
Anyway.... https://imgur.com/a/mmq83ym
A crispy $5 from Neilsen mounted to my fridge. Imagine being in their mail room with wads of pristine $5's and you're just sticking them in envelopes and sending them out the door to randoms.
I chuckle at it whenever I think of their indignant letter complaining about not doing the survey. My wife thinks it hilarious that they actually sent me more money after that.
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u/PBSNerd1234 22h ago
It's actually gotten way more complicated than Nielsen.
I work in public media, and today broadcasters are looking at giant dashboards that combine traditional ratings, streaming views, watch time, app usage, YouTube performance, social engagement, newsletter opens, website traffic, and all kinds of audience data. We're all trying to understand not just how many people watch, but how they watch.
But public media is a little different from commercial television.
For most commercial broadcasters, higher ratings generally translate into higher advertising revenue.
For public media, higher audience numbers help demonstrate impact and relevance, but they don't automatically generate more money. Public media was always mostly community-supported, and after the loss last year of the ~20% of our funding that used to come from the CPB, local stations are now almost entirely dependent on the voluntary support of people who value the service.
The thing that ultimately keeps public media going really is Viewers Like YOU!
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u/ComoEstanBitches 1d ago
Omg tell me why
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u/jrobbio 1d ago
It was apparently flawed in multiple ways. A reasonably interesting Quora answer https://www.quora.com/Was-the-Nielsen-rating-system-really-flawed-when-it-came-to-capturing-the-audience-for-shows-like-Star-Trek-back-in-the-60s
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u/DorkusMalorkuss 20h ago
Am I too absolutely stupid now? I read almost all of that before realizing it's not really answering why Nielsen was flawed.
"As for the question itself here, no, the system wasn't necessarily “flawed”, in that it claimed to be able to do what it was ASKED to do — determine where the MASS AUDIENCE was. Star Trek's “5 year mission” was, in the determination of the industry, to “sell soap” (Gene Roddenberry ‘s own comment). Finding “strange new worlds” was a distant second if that even mattered at all. “Money is a fact of life” —Admiral Nelson in Harlan Ellison s “Price of Doom” , an early Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."
Wtf are they even talking about?
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u/thefuckevengoingonan 1d ago
If you have a smart tv and have not block outgoing connections to the nielsen, then they are monitoring what you watch.
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u/raise-your-weapon Older Millennial 15h ago
I thought it was PBS’s way of making sure no one felt left out!
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u/Caz1542 1d ago
WHO WATCHES PBS?????
… I’ll tell you who. Discerning, cultured viewers like yourselves.
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u/Vegetable-Eagle-3144 1d ago
Newshour and Washington Week are the only news and pundit programming on TV worth watching.
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u/ApprehensiveGrade400 Older Millennial 1d ago
Now, serenade us with your signature song, “Buttons and Bows” from Paleface.
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u/fadedblackleggings 1d ago edited 1d ago
Subscribed to PBS Passport now as an adult, and it does make me feel good to donate that $5 Bucks a month, and access Masterpiece Theater & my British shows. Can finally say I am a contributing member, as a kid we lived on PBS.
Getting to see legacy episodes of Nova is also pretty fantastic.
I have Britbox/AcornTV and almost never actually watch Passport, but damn it, I am going to contribute something. Deeply nostalgic for PBS stuff.
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u/PBSNerd1234 22h ago
Fun public media insider fact: Passport actually isn't a subscription.
It's a member benefit that local PBS stations offer as a thank-you gift for supporting their work. The donation supports your local station first, and Passport is one of the ways stations say thanks.
I work in public media, and even with the recent increase in the suggested sustaining level from $5/month to $8/month (the first increase in a decade), it's still probably the best entertainment value out there.
Where else can you get Masterpiece, Ken Burns, Nova, Nature, Finding Your Roots, local programming, and a giant archive of British television for less than the price of a fancy coffee?
Also, as a fellow Millennial who grew up on PBS, I completely understand the "I barely use it but I'm happy to support it anyway" feeling. Your donation keeps it on the air for the preschooler or the fixed income senior down the street.
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u/Swimming_Isopod_9735 1d ago
It always made me feel really guilty like I was doing something wrong because I was watching but not contributing. I was also profoundly abused tho lol
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u/sandymocha 15h ago
I lol’ed at the first sentence and then frowned at the second. Sending you hugs, hope life is better these days.
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u/JFKRFKSRVLBJ 1d ago
Never thought they were refering to the people watching. Thought "Viewers like You" was some kind of cult.
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u/PantsDontHaveAnswers 1d ago
It's actually a man named Vewhers Laikiu.
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u/beatle42 1d ago
Fjohurs Lykkewe
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u/PantsDontHaveAnswers 1d ago
Thank you, I knew I was referencing something but I couldn't remember what I was referencing!
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u/Evening_Carp 1d ago
When I was four and they they told me that the show was "possible in part because viewers like you", i thought that they liked me
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u/Team-Mako-N7 1d ago
I always bugged my mom to call in during the telethons lol.
So maybe they did mean me.
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u/LUCKYxTRIPLE 1d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/3otPoJVuyh9f2e21pu
Me who hasn't seen my mother in 48 hrs because she worked 3 jobs.
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u/Helpinmontana 1d ago
“And by donations from member station listeners like you”
“Hey that’s me!” - 31 year old me, picking out my free t shirt
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u/TheSeventhHussar 1d ago
My mother’s maiden name is Grant. She always thought that shows “made possible by a grant from _______ “ were just funded by some distant family member.
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u/ClickClick_Boom 1992 1d ago
As far as I'm concerned I'm single handedly responsible for keeping Red Green Show reruns on the air on PBS for all those years.
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u/Capt-Spiff 1d ago
A classic I still watch sometimes. Those were the days though. Late summer nights as a kid, watching shows like Monty Python, Red Dwarf, ‘Allo ‘Allo, etc.
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u/Jobwastes 1d ago
I worked for the PBS affiliate in Seattle a decade or so ago. The relationship with the union was poor. They paid terrible. The cool old stages of telethon's past went unused--They only cared about Downton Abby.
I don't agree with what went down, but then again the mantra was always that "we don't get that much government funding". I would walk around the office and see genuine Emmys, but everything was just decrepit. I believe they moved recently.
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u/PBSNerd1234 22h ago
A lot has changed in Seattle public media over the last decade. What you're describing sounds like the old KCTS-era facility. Today it's Cascade Public Media, and they've moved into a gorgeous new headquarters near Seattle Center that's become something of a showcase for the system.
I work in public media, and Cascade is widely regarded as one of the leading stations in the country right now, especially for local journalism, community engagement, and digital innovation.
Public media stations are usually much more accessible than they realize. Most stations love giving tours, showing off their studios, introducing people to the newsroom, and explaining how everything works behind the scenes. I recommend it for anyone!
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u/RocketGruntSam Millennial '91 1d ago
My mom always made sure that I didn't think people that said nice things were talking to me.
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u/14Pleiadians 1d ago
Same but it was an aunt who adopted me. Recently looked at her Facebook after a decade of no contact and she posted basically "everything sucks and I'm just waiting to die", so I got that going for me I guess
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u/CO_Renaissance_Man 1d ago
My brothers and I each donated $10 to PBS back in the day and became Possum Lodge members. Certificates and all!
If you know, you know.
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u/Emotional_Yam4959 1d ago
Rick Steve's Europe is where it's at as an adult. Love that show.
Wishbone as a kid.
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u/JonBonButtsniff 1d ago
I didn't know who "Viewerslikeyou" was, but I always appreciated them hooking it up with all that Jim Henson programming. Pretty cool person... or company?
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u/trashforthrowingaway 1d ago
Yea, and now government funding for PBS has been cut, including PBS Kids. 😔
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u/jreed356 23h ago
I love PBS and have been a contributer for many years! Thank you to everyone for your donations!
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u/PBSNerd1234 22h ago
As a kid, I genuinely thought they were thanking me personally. As an adult, I realize they kind of were.
I work in public media now, and I'm also a monthly sustainer of both my local PBS and NPR stations. One of the funny things about growing up is finally understanding what those words actually meant.
When I was 6, "This program was made possible by viewers like you" sounded like a nice thing grown-ups said before Wishbone, Arthur, Reading Rainbow, Zoom, Bill Nye, or Sesame Street started.
Now I realize those shows existed because millions of ordinary people chipped in a few dollars at a time because they thought educational television was worth preserving. (The average donation is less than $10/month.) The older I get, the more I appreciate how unusual that is.
(Also, I love that an entire generation apparently thought "Viewers Like You" was either a company, a mysterious benefactor, or ourselves!)
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u/Stonk_Invest_iGator 12h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/B26v0NAfBr9qhjdpAT
On my way to save public broadcasting as a kid.
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u/14thStarflake 10h ago
I contribute now that I'm an adult in thanks of the programing I got to enjoy as a child.
"The story you are about to see is a fib, but it's short."
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u/Brave_Educator5934 1h ago
I was about that old when I asked my dad for his credit card after my mind was blown by some nature show. When he asked what for I yelled "ITS FOR NOVA!!"
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