We Want Media

Sometimes I feel like people look at college students as if we were science experiments: un-measurable and mysterious creatures of youth. As of 2007, 75% of high school students went on to some form of college education. Those are a lot of eyes moving away from home and into tiny top bunks and communal bathroom nightmares. But if one thing remains the same, it is that we will continue to watch television.

So, why on earth did it take until the year 2007 for Nielsen Media Research to include my media-consuming-generation in its ratings? Are we just that cool that Nielsen cares that much about what we are watching? Apparently, this is the case.

What did they find? (Well, other than the fact that we have an attention span of like -2.5 nanoseconds…Oh, look! A puppy!) Apparently, ABC wins the medal, having the largest increase in ratings when including college students. Thursday nights with Meredith and the rest of her Anatomy gang seem to be usurping NBC’s title of Must-See-TV Thursday programming. Others that saw a tremendous leap in ratings included FOX’s “House” and NBC’s “The Office.” Nothing really too shocking there.

It seems that college students aren’t really watching anything different then our wiser, more mature demographics. So thanks, Nielsen, for thinking of little ‘ole us when compiling your ratings. I think you will like what you see. After all, I’m not a business major, but don’t higher ratings mean more money? And, who doesn’t love money … right?