“Sweeps has always been a mixed blessing for advertisers in that it allows networks to focus their broadest-appealing programs into four months of the year. The introduction of commercial ratings by Nielsen will certainly have an impact on the relevance of sweeps as advertisers begin to get the first hard data on who is actually viewing their commercials throughout the year.”
—Mark Hoebich, founder, TVTracker.com
“With viewers being faced with an increasing number of channel options every season, the sweeps landscape as we know it has become a bit diluted. You no longer get the full picture, but rather a snapshot of the mainstream favorites, which is still a benefit to many advertising agencies looking to measure the success of their placements.”
—Maruchi Urquiaga, general project director, Mexicanal, and senior VP, programming and production, Castalia Communications