Good points, Seiji, but I have to point out one thing.
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Originally Posted by SeijiSensei
My guess, and it's only a guess, is that the numbers reported on the Geocities site are household figures and thus include DVR recordings as well as real humans. Making sure that ratings meters collect data from all viewing sources, including DVDs, games, etc., has been a high priority in the television research community for many years now.
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There's a difference between collecting a DVR rating and a video game/DVD rating though (I didn't think to mention the fact that they actually monitor when you're watching something on television that isn't actually a television channel, good catch
). When they collect a video game/DVD rating, they're simply reflecting the fact that you're not watching any programming. When they collect a DVR rating, there's another step involved.
Meters (at least in the US) are smart enough to differentiate between when you're watching a show and when you're recording it on a DVR. The advertiser cares when you watch it, not when you record it. In that case, the ratings reflect when you watched it, not when it was recorded. It is possible that the Japanese system does not distinguish between the two, but the Nielsen has been collecting that information for years now, and prior to doing so, it didn't reflect DVR numbers at all (they were simply excluded).
Again, generally ratings that are given do not usually include the DVR (or at most they include Live + Same Day - not Live + Same Week). If they were including the other numbers, they almost always point out that those are the ratings they're displaying (and the time-frame involved). When a plain number is given, it's almost always Live and households (instead of demographics).
Now, onto the more interesting thing about what you said (your foundation work in the 80s). TiVOs actually have a feature where you can rate the programming (giving it up to three thumbs up or three thumbs down). I wish they could collate that information to try to get a more qualitative number.
Amusingly my television is on right now and nominally I'm "watching" it, but as you can probably tell from the length of my post - I may not be watching all that closely .
