Question

Which of the following statements is true about program ratings and share of audience measures?

A. Program ratings are always higher than share of audience.
B. Program ratings and share of audience are usually the same.
C. Share of audience is always higher than the program rating unless all of the households in a market have their set in use.
D. Unlike share of audience measures, program ratings consider variations in the number of sets in use since they are based only on those households that have their sets in use.
E. Share of audience is always higher than the program rating when all of the households in a market have their set in use.

Answer 1

The share of audience measure is always higher than the program rating unless all households have their TVs in use at the same time, which is unlikely.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is asking to compare program ratings and share of audience measures in the context of television programming. Program ratings are a percentage of all households with TVs, whether the TV is in use or not, while the share of audience is the percentage of households actually using their TVs during a specific time that are watching a particular program. The statement C. Share of audience is always higher than the program rating unless all of the households in a market have their set in use is true because share of audience does not take into account the households with TVs turned off, whereas program ratings do. In contrast, when all TVs in the market are in use, then the share of audience could technically be equal to the program rating, but this scenario is improbable.