Digital Switchover Doesn’t Affect Ratings

The switch from analog to digital television appears to have occurred without many hiccups–at least according to ratings figures from this past weekend.

More than 900 stations shut down their analog signals Friday, causing some unprepared viewers to scramble to update their equipment. Yet the percentage of households using television from Friday to Sunday night was pretty steady with previous weekends.

According to Nielsen Media Research, about 52.1% of households watched TV this weekend. The weekend before that: 52.4%. The weekend before that: 53.1%. And before that was Memorial Day weekend, with 50.4%. Two broadcast analyst for different networks said such numbers are about what you’d expect to see as summer gets under way and does not demonstrate that the digital transition is having any impact.

There was some pro basketball and hockey sports coverage this weekend that could have boosted the audience and hid a drop, but there was some pro sports viewing the previous weekends too. By the end of this week, more data will be available to make a firmer call.