question: How are ratings measured? Is there some sort of signal sent to the network after I tune in to watch?
comment: They don't *know*, exactly. Ratings are an extrapolated statistic based on some fraction of the population who has volunteered to have their TV fitted with a device which does indeed send such a signal. If 7% of the people that have devices like that are watching something it's estimated that 7% (plus, minus, and/or multiplied by a *bunch* of statistical corrections to adjust for the age groups and viewing habits of people that decide to get a ratings box installed) of the overall population is watching, so about 20 million. Note: this is for traditional broadcast television, for online streaming each viewer does send back a signal.
passages: Section::::Reception.
   Nielsen Media Research. It is used by media planners and buyers, advertisers to appropriate the ratings of channels when individual viewership is calculated. This term is usually used in the US to represent average percentage of People using TV across all channels within predefined time period.
   Television ratings
  
  Television ratings may refer to:
  
  BULLET::::- An audience measurement, technique
  
  BULLET::::- Broadcast Audience Research Council, organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in India
  
  BULLET::::- Nielsen ratings, an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States
  
  BULLET::::- Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom
  
  BULLET::::- Television ratings in Australia, which are measured by several bodies
  
  BULLET::::- Target rating point
  
  BULLET::::- Television content rating systems, systems for evaluating the content and reporting the suitability of television programs for children or adults
   Section::::Ratings.
  
  Section::::Ratings.:Social media websites.
   Share is the percentage of television sets in use that are tuned to the program of Households Using Television (HUT) or Persons Using Television (PUT) who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 4.4/8 during its broadcast; this would mean that 4.4% of all television-equipped households (that is to say homes with a TV set, not total number of people), regardless of the TV being on or not, were tuned in to that program, while 8% of households that were watching TV at that time were watching the specific program.
   HUT is the percentage of all TV households watching television at any given time. It is different from Rating as it calculates the complete viewing pattern rather than being program specific.
  
  Section::::How to Calculate HUT.:Formulae.
  
  BULLET::::1. HUT x Share = Rating (HH)
  
  BULLET::::2. Rating (HH) / HUT = Share
  
  BULLET::::3. Rating (HH) / Share = HUT
   Nielsen's formula for PUT is the number of persons viewing TV divided by the total persons universe i.e. the television rating divided by the total share of television in a particular demographic area.
   BULLET::::- Ratings listed below are the individual corner ratings of "Vocal Play". (Note: Individual corner ratings do not include commercial time, which regular ratings include.)
  
  BULLET::::- In the ratings below, the highest rating for the show will be in and the lowest rating for the show will be in each year.
  
  Section::::Ratings.:2019.
  
  BULLET::::- Ratings listed below are the individual corner ratings of "Vocal Play". (Note: Individual corner ratings do not include commercial time, which regular ratings include.)
   Section::::Reception.
  
  Section::::Reception.:Ratings and viewership.
   "Rating" is the estimated percentage of all televisions tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions "in use" that are tuned in. "Viewers" is the estimated number viewers that watched a program either while it was broadcast or watched via DVR on the same day the program was broadcast.
  
  BULLET::::- Episode 16 had several preemptions in many regions due to football.
  
  BULLET::::- Episode 17 had several preemptions, especially in Colorado and Kentucky. Also, due to golf overrun, the show was delayed by over an hour.
  
  BULLET::::- Episode 19 had several national football preemptions.
   Section::::Premiere and reception.
   BULLET::::- Stats and badges: User profile features certain stats, such as a clock of how much time the user has spent watching TV. This clock shows an estimated amount of time based on the episodes the user has marked as watched and their duration. Another characteristic of the profile is the display of badges. Badges are rewards that every user gets when using TV Time. They are divided in two main categories: discovery badges and addiction badges. Discovery badges are given when the user makes use of the site's features for the first time. Addiction badges, on the other hand, are given to the user when he or she interacts with TV shows. These badges are:
   A program's share of the audience is calculated on the basis of the HUT level. If a program carried a 20 share, that means that 20% of all households using television had their televisions tuned to that program.
  
  However, the sum of the average ratings for a given time-period may be higher than the HUT because of viewing in multiple set TV households. If a household is watching two programs, it is counted toward each program rating, but only once toward HUT.
  
  Example: HUT % = HH Rating% / Share%
  
  60.6% = (26.2 / 43.2) x 100
   This episode was dedicated in memory of both Phyllis Diller (who voiced Thelma Griffin in several episodes of the show) and Michael Clarke Duncan (who had a brief voice role in this episode). This episode was also one of Duncan's final roles before his untimely death from complications following a heart attack a month earlier.
  
  Section::::Plot.
   BULLET::::- In Germany TV audience measurement is done by Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (known as GfK).
   Section::::Demographics.
  
  The demographic of a particular show's audience is also measured. This is often notated in an abbreviated form, e.g.:
  
  BULLET::::- P2+ = Persons aged 2 or more
  
  BULLET::::- P12–34 = Persons aged 12 to 34
  
  BULLET::::- P18–49 = Persons aged 18 to 49
  
  BULLET::::- A18–34 = Adults aged 18 to 34
  
  BULLET::::- Men 18–34
  
  BULLET::::- Women 18–34
  
  Section::::Ratings point.
  
  Ratings point is a measure of viewership of a particular television programme.
   Nielsen ratings
  
  Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems operated by Nielsen Media Research that seek to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States using a rating system.
   Since about October 2017, Nielsen also began to track select programs from specific partners that air on subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) services such as Netflix. Partnering distributors insert a "tag" into the program to be distributed on these services which Nielsen can track without input from Netflix. Partnering distributors are able to determine if these ratings can be released publicly or not.
  
  Section::::Measuring ratings.:Ratings/share and total viewers.
   Section::::Reception.
  
  Section::::Reception.:Ratings.
   Section::::Calculation.
  
  It is a term coined by Nielsen Media Research. It refers to the total number of people in a particular demographic area, that are watching television during a given time period. Nielsen defines “PUT as a percentage of the population or as a number that represents the thousands of persons viewing television.” The formula used to calculate PUT is similar to HUT [Houses Using Television]
  
  PUT = (Rating / Share) x 100
   Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" on NBC:
  
  Section::::Television ratings.:DVR ratings.
  
  On December 29, 2006, Nielsen Media Research reported the results of having, for the first time, monitored viewers who use a Digital Video Recorder to pre-record shows for later viewing. According to the Nielsen numbers, adding these viewers increased "Studio 60"'s ratings the most in percentage terms of all network shows. These ratings, called "live plus seven", include all viewers who use a DVR to record the show and then watch it within a week of its initial airing.
   Section::::Measuring ratings.:Commercial ratings.
   Section::::Broadcast and reception.
  
  Section::::Broadcast and reception.:Ratings.
   Section::::Reception.:Ratings.
   Section::::Ratings.:Online viewership.
  
presuppositions: TV ratings are accurate. Networks measure ratings with accuracy.
corrections: TV ratings are an extrapolated statistic based on a fraction of the population who has volunteered. Networks extrapolate ratings based on statistics.
raw_presuppositions: TV ratings are accurate. Networks measure ratings with accuracy.
raw_corrections: TV ratings are an extrapolated statistic based on a fraction of the population who has volunteered. Networks extrapolate ratings based on statistics.