The terms rating and share are basic to the television industry. Both are percentages. A rating is a percent of the universe that is being measured, most commonly discussed as a percent of all television households. A share is the percent of households or persons using television at the time the program is airing and who are watching a particular program.
Shares can be useful as a gauge of competitive standing.
Weekly ratings data from our national and local samples are not available on our website. While we would like to accommodate the public's curiosity to see how their favorite shows rank in the NielsenTV ratings, we are concerned that persons who are in our samples may be proportionately more interested than other members of the viewing public in comparing their viewing habits to the weekly ratings. This could alter their viewing behavior and bias the sample. One of the top priorities of any independent research company is not to influence the behavior it is trying objectively to measure. The first step is to develop representative samples.