TV Ratings Change

Beginning today, The Times is changing the way it reports the weekly Nielsen ratings for prime-time television. Programs will now be ranked according to the average number of viewers reached, rather than by the average number of households that tuned in.

This shift reflects changes in ratings technology as well as efforts to more accurately and simply relate such information to readers.

As previously constructed, the chart reported household ratings. Such measurement, however, doesn’t differentiate whether one person watched a show alone or a whole family crowded around the set together.

Using the overall viewing standard will more easily relate television’s cultural influence and reach. Even the lowest-rated network programs are seen by an audience of several million.

The demographic breakdowns of viewing by certain key age brackets sought by advertisers--which most affect a network’s financial well-being--are published Fridays in the Business section.