Backchannelmedia

U-WIRE

By David Ryan

By David Ryan
The Daily Athenaeum ( West Virginia U. )

(U-WIRE) MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- For years, college students have had their television viewing habits ignored due to an antiquated ratings system that firmly believed that college was all about academics. Now, it seems, half a century after the system was invented, students are going to matter. Nielsen Media Research, the body responsible for collecting viewer information for television programs, has begun including college students in their efforts to gauge TV's most watched programs. Until now, Nielsen had excluded the viewing habits of students away from home from their ratings unless they lived inside a setting that wasn't a dormitory or college housing. That meant that if your family had a precious, all-powerful ''Nielsen box'' (the device which notes what you watch and submits it to headquarters for measuring data) and you lived in Boreman Hall, you wouldn't be counted, and your favorite shows wouldn't know you tuned in. For now, the new data is only coming from those who volunteered for the job. Only a third of families with college students away from home volunteered to take part, giving the company a sample size of 130 students. In gauging ratings, each Nielsen family counts for 10,000 people watching television, with 2.1 million dorm-dwelling students factored in. Including students is a big step forward for networks, especially programs for whom private research shows students to be the main audience. ''This is a major step forward,'' said David Poltrack, chief research officer of CBS Corp, ''if only because it eliminated the false assumption that students residing on campus were viewing zero television.'' Comedy Central's programming, for example, will see a significant boost despite ratings for shows like ''South Park,'' whose audience is roughly 3 million. ''The Daily Show'' and ''The Colbert Report'' are also expected to get higher ratings, as their audience is mostly college students. In its first week of the program, the show ''Drawn Together'' saw a 60-percent increase of its viewers of men 18-24, at roughly 136,000. For the ladies, ''Grey's Anatomy,'' ABC's overly dramatic answer to NBC's ''Scrubs,'' saw an increase of 636,000 women in the same age group tuning in. Which, I'm sorry to say, will only continue to go against my hopes of it being canceled. So what's the significance of all of this? Up until last week, advertisers had use private research to help them decide where to put their advertising money on networks that attract high college viewership (MTV, etc). Now, for the first time, we college students have a key part to play in determining what programs get to make money, and ultimately, what shows get to last (nobody wants a show that doesn't make money). So, if you're like me and are sick of the endless dreck that finds its way onto TV these days, take a stand. I don't have a Nielsen box -- nor have I come across anyone here who does -- but if you're one of the lucky ones and want to make a difference, and want to make this country greater, use your power. Instead of adding to the masses who watch ''American Idol,'' take a stand and make it shed a few thousand viewers. Decide, instead, to watch something better, something slightly more intelligent and entertaining than Simon Cowell and company tearing into each other and their contestants on a weekly basis -- that got mighty old mighty quickly. Make your voice heard, and stop the spread of MTV's mindless garbage. If you know someone who has one of these boxes and he or she is tuning in to the weeks latest installment of ''Yo Mama,'' unplug it, or hijack the remote and switch the channel to Animal Planet. As bad as ''World's Funniest Animals'' is, it's a lot better for the world that ''Yo Mama'' goes. As good as the news is that students will count, it comes at a depressing time for television. Saturday marked the one-year anniversary that FOX's low-rating, award-winning comedy ''Arrested Development'' aired its final episodes. The multiple Emmy Award-winning comedy couldn't keep viewers no matter what time it was scheduled and was ultimately canceled halfway through its third season. A search of the show on Facebook shows 252 fans of the show at West Virginia University alone. Even if one smart comedy-loving Mountaineer had tuned in, that would have been a sign of hope for the ne'er-do-well comedy. As long overdue as the move is, it's an important indicator of how much say college students have in the role of the media. Television history, until now, has been written by the habits of the nuclear family members gathering 'round the box in the corner of the room to watch their shows. By accepting that college students do more than study, Nielsen has further empowered a base that is already highly sought-after. Now, with more power in their corner, students can take a stand and have their voices heard. Let's just hope that means less ''Yo Mama'' to come in the future, not more of it.

(C) 2007 The Daily Athenaeum via U-WIRE