Television is not just for fun, it is an ever growing platform

Ratings and Shares: whats the difference?
Television is something that a majority of todays generation takes for granted. Over two thirds of households in the United States have a television set in their home. As with most mass media in todays society, advertising is a huge part of how the television business is run. In order to properly evaluate how the general audience perceives television and how they react to television shows, company track certain households for their viewing patterns and determine general audience outlines. This is tracked using two different evaluations called shares and ratings. Ratings are a percentage of all households with television on or off that are tuned into a specific show. In contrast shares are the percentage of all households that are currently watching television that are tuned into a certain program.

Its all about competition in television

credit: http://bit.ly/SmrA3r 

Ratings and shares are measured against one another and can be distributed across television networks or used to rate a single televison show. For example, on Friday September 28th ratings and shares were calculated for all televison shows on major networks. This included competition between: Shark Tank on ABC and CSI: NY on CBS, Grimm on NBC and Fringe on FOX as well as 20/20 on ABC and Blue Bloods on CBS. Each televison show is given a rating for each time slot on the major networks. The most common age group to gauge viewership is 18-49. The 18-49 rating depmonstrates how many households were tuned into that program while the share demonstrates more of the competition. The share rating, showing how the population watching television chose their programing, demonstrates the cometitive aspect of the numbers because is shows which program people chose more than others.

Television is no longer just on the flatscreen

Many people are turning away from the television set and choosing other methods for watching their favorite programing. Mobile devices, computers and tablets have taken a bite out of the market in television viewership. Fifty-two percent of adult cell phone users have used their phone recently for interaction, diversion or engagement with others while watching television programming. People are using other technology more and more to not only distract themselves but also to interact with their television. Not only are people talking about the show but even some secret information is released off screen. 

Politics, crime shows and reality television: social television is here and not going anywhere anytime soon.