In Networks’ Race for Ratings, Chicanery Is on the Schedule

A look at the programming sleight of hand that television executives seize on as they seek to gain every possible edge in the television ratings game, at a time when each tenth of a point or two enhances their standing in the nightly ratings and the ability to pitch to advertisers who spend billions of dollars a year. But these tactics are more about bragging rights than money.

The tricks themselves are familiar to most in the business: smart commercial buyers know when the ratings are being spun for a better story in the media or a claim in a print ad, and they insist on paying for the real ratings, not the artificially enhanced versions. Labeling a program a special is just one technique. Networks typically “special out” a show when they expect it to fare poorly, against the Super Bowl, for example. Other strategies include front-loading national commercials early in a show and extending the program lengths for hit shows a minute or two into the following hour.