Are you sure you are getting a box? We've done this twice now and you just get a booklet and you write everything down in it.
how much do you get paid for having a nielsen box?
Where do they put the box? Is it in your living room, or is it where the cable enters your house? I would refuse if I had to have something else sitting around my TV. Got enough clutter there as it is.
They put the Nielsen box behind each of your TV's. They are basically small form factor PC's. They then tap into sound outputs for all of your equipment to look for the Nielsen signals in the programming.
They also open up and modify your DVR to track when you're watching recorded or time shifted programming. If you still have a VCR, they'll get really freaky and attach all sorts of probes to it to see when you are recording and playing back stuff.
(All of this is not as bad as it sounds. Since they have to open up your equipment to modify it, Nielsen will take over the warranty service for all of your monitored equipment. In other words, if your TV breaks when you're the ratings program, Nielsen will fix or replace it.)
All of those boxes then talk to each other using power line networking, and then your viewing data gets broadcasted out daily from the "master system" using either a modem or a cellular data connection. That system has a UPS on it, so they don't lose any data when the power goes out.
Nielsen will also send out a tech every six months or so to check all of the equipment. If you ask him nicely, he will buy you a pizza for dinner while he's there
By the way... while you are in the program, you cannot tell "strangers" that you are in the ratings. You're basically sworn to secrecy until a year after you leave the program.... like me
They put the Nielsen box behind each of your TV's. They are basically small form factor PC's. They then tap into sound outputs for all of your equipment to look for the Nielsen signals in the programming.
They also open up and modify your DVR to track when you're watching recorded or time shifted programming. If you still have a VCR, they'll get really freaky and attach all sorts of probes to it to see when you are recording and playing back stuff.
(All of this is not as bad as it sounds. Since they have to open up your equipment to modify it, Nielsen will take over the warranty service for all of your monitored equipment. In other words, if your TV breaks when you're the ratings program, Nielsen will fix or replace it.)
All of those boxes then talk to each other using power line networking, and then your viewing data gets broadcasted out daily from the "master system" using either a modem or a cellular data connection. That system has a UPS on it, so they don't lose any data when the power goes out.
Nielsen will also send out a tech every six months or so to check all of the equipment. If you ask him nicely, he will buy you a pizza for dinner while he's there
By the way... while you are in the program, you cannot tell "strangers" that you are in the ratings. You're basically sworn to secrecy until a year after you leave the program.... like me
Sounds like too much trouble to me.
If you get it, turn on midget porn 24/7
Are there any benefits? Should I accept or decline?
Thanks.
As if your cable box isn't already reporting back everything you watch/record.
Seriously, why do the neilsen boxes even exist anymore? Can't the cable providers already tell who is watching what? Although the demographic info wouldn't be as reliable because they don't have record of who is in your house.