College Students Watch TV! Adult Swim to Benefit & Promises to Stop Planting Bombs!!

When I first heard about Nielsen adding college students away from home to their tv viewing stats, I was floored that this move had not occurred previously.  Even as an undergrad in the late 70s and early 80s, there was a lot of tv watching happening all around me.  Duh.

My generation was watching huge amounts of television and my younger brothers' generations were watching even more.  We sure didn't stop when we went to school [ok, I did, but I was one of the few].  Countless tv shows lost ad revenue that they could have claimed and if you look at the length of time this situation has gone on, I think we're talking U.S. deficit clearing numbers here [current George W. & pals created deficit, that is].

I also think we're looking at a lost opportunity for a Nielsen competitor to have emerged focused on the college market, though the proliferation of youth marketers, trend watchers and demographic researchers took up that slack from another angle.  Not that it helped anybody's tv ratings.

This move will obviously greatly affect tv shows with a college audience.  Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, which has been one of the more interesting places to find hip hop on television, expects ratings to "jump by 35 percent."  That's large, especially for programming that's already proven to be a powerhouse and continues to set new records.

What's really weird is being reminded of how few people actually affect these ratings.  According to the NY Times' article with which I began:
To add college students to the ratings, Nielsen contacted the roughly 450 families in its sample who had children in college. About 30 percent of those families agreed to let Nielsen put a meter in the college student’s dorm room or off-campus apartment.

It's a bit unclear if this sample was for the initial test only but if that's all they got, we're talking about the college age children of 135 families moving huge amounts of ad dollars in the near future.  Statistically valid or not, that's a ridiculously pathetic sample given the diversity of any slice of the population as broad as college students.

But if it helps Adult Swim, all power to them!

Now, please, stop planting those bombs outdoor ads or you're going to jail!

Official Site [currently in apology mode]:
Adult Swim