GSN ratings?

[CaseyAbell]

I posted a note on the GSN board about MediaLifeMagazine trashing the network for a falloff in its 18-34 audience in March, 2004 vs. March, 2003.

That's a tough comparison, because the Bug Bucks special pushed the March, 2003 numbers to a one-time high. Anyway, the note expanded into a long thread that's worth reading, if I say so myself. General consensus is the same as the Prof's: blackjack is doing okay and everything else is tanking.

Eventual schedule changes will tell the real story, of course.

On this thread's other subject...just noticed that the hoops final got a ten rating in the fast nationals, according to Zap2it. Not bad at all by current broadcast network standards, but it continues the long pattern of decline for the NCAA finals.

As always, fast nationals are subject to revision, especially for live events.

[Ian Wallis]

General consensus is the same as the Prof's: blackjack is doing okay and everything else is tanking.

Eventual schedule changes will tell the real story, of course

With the shows GSN's reportedly bought, I think it will be a long while before you see any changes reflecting the ratings - good or bad.  GSN will probably stick with this format and try it for quite a while before giving up on it.  Even if the ratings are tanking, don't expect to see any changes for the forseeable future.

[CaseyAbell]

GSN didn't wait long to downgrade the timeslots for the video games block and then to get rid of it altogether. If some shows are really stinking up the numbers, they could be gone pretty soon, especially with Dog Eat Dog and Average Joe supposed to debut in late spring.

By the way, the final national on the NCAA hoops championship was 11.0.

[wvoutlaw2002]

Isn't the NCAA Basketball tournament popular on college campuses, which Nielsen is going to have a hard time figuring in to its ratings? I'd think those are exactly the sorts of people CBS would want to advertise to, if you believe the idea that only males below 35 matter.

Yeah, but the current Nielsen rating system only takes into consideration people (or to be more accurate, households) who have those Nielsen ratings boxes. In order to get a truly accurate figure, every single TV in the nation would have to be hooked up to Nielsen's database. But then again...having every single TV connected to a single database would reek of Big Brother (not the CBS Big Brother, but the "1984" Big Brother).

BTW...how do those Nielsen boxes work? Do they transmit via radio, or is it a specialized modem?