TV Analyst Maybe A Little Too Into TV
MediaPost's TV Board offers up a pretty interesting piece on the difficulties in accurately measuring television ratings and how the industry itself has very little idea as to how people actually consume the media. We were cruising along and enjoying the thing fairly well until we hit this:
As an example, when I watch TV, primarily in the evening, I first switch to my TiVo library to get rid of programs that have recorded but I may have second thoughts about—or possible repeats. Then I begin my hunt for programs to record, so I click on my EPG, then go to channel 500, which on DirecTV is the HBO premium listing. I scroll down to 550, which covers all variations of HBO, Starz and Showtime as well as Sundance, and IFC. From there I click to 255, check up and down within the frame to scrutinize BBCA and TCM. I go back to my TiVo recorded programs to choose the evening's viewing fare and gleefully fast-forward through commercials—but with an eye on commercial frames to see if they will pique my interest. If they do, I will rewind and afford them the courtesy of watching in full. Throughout the evening, and in between viewed episodes, I will journey back to the EPG to browse the late-night listings. I don't have high-def yet—a problem with line-of-sight issues and the rebuild on my septic system—and my cable operator presently doesn't offer VOD, so I cannot include those services in the trial and tribulations of the evening's search.
Good Lord. We just flip the sucker on, see if there's anything worth masturbating to, and then switch over to reruns of "Raymond." (To masturbate to Patricia Heaton.) Clearly, we are not making enough of our entertainment time.
