There are few forces more powerful in the TV world than Nielsen Ratings, which track the size and demographics of television audiences (and directly impact the amount a network can charge advertisers to run commercials on a TV show). But thanks to a "software bug," Nielsen has been misreporting the ratings of broadcast and syndicated TV shows — and they've been doing it since March.
In a conference call, Nielsen conceded that an internal investigation uncovered an error that resulted in inflated ratings for the broadcast networks. The organization stressed that "98 to 99 percent" of ratings would be affected by less than .05 percent of a ratings point.
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