TV and Movies

[drizzellla]

Years ago, I got  phone call (back in the days I answered my landline phone). They asked me if I would track my purhases for Neilson. I wasn't really interested in doing it. But I had quit my job when I had my son and was a bit bored at times. So they talked me into it. 

They picked me because I was in a zip code that they wanted to track.

They sent me a scanner and I tracked my purchases for several years. I earned points for every weekly transmission. Every year they would send you a new catalog of numerous pages of items you could get with the points that you earned.  I picked out all kinds of very nice gifts - George Foreman grill, blender, digital scale, DVD player, timers - I forgot the rest.

After several years I turned in my scanner and "retired" from Nielson.

[SeaMaiden]

I would not do it unless they PAID ME cash and a lot of it😄

[Renata22]

I did this twice in the past. Once for the tv and once for the radio. They sent me 5 & 10 dollars for completing surveys. Takes alot of time. They sent me something recently but I shredded it. Just not worth it.

[jellyBEAN]

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@Renata22 wrote:

I did this twice in the past. Once for the tv and once for the radio. They sent me 5 & 10 dollars for completing surveys. Takes alot of time. They sent me something recently but I shredded it. Just not worth it.

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I had something similar about 1-2 yrs. ago.  Was sent a paper pamphlet to manually track what and when I was watching for 2 weeks or so.  What a pain in the butt.  I think they sent me $2.00 to fill it out and I did, but never again.  Not worth it.  I then mailed it in and never heard from them again.  Nothing hi-tech about it.  Pen and paper.

[Alter Ego]

Thanks for everyone’s responses.

I just got home and it looks like they took back whatever gift thy brought for me! LOL Will have to ask the doorman when I see him in the morning.

Bonanzajellybean’s post made me google and it sounds like they connect something to each TV in your home. Lots of wires, etc. And you have to sign in each time you turn on the TV and respond to cues so they know you are still watching (I had wondered about watching the TV and falling asleep.). Think someone said they got a tickler every 45 minutes to respond to. The cords alone wouldn’t work with my cats. But the constant checking! No way. And all for a minimal amount of cash.

Maybe I would have when I was younger and TV was different back then. Now, I don’t want anyone to know I fall asleep to QVC or Jessica Fletcher each night!! (Oops- I guess you guys know now!)

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I’ll just edit here - I spoke to my morning doorman and he said that the woman hung around after he told her I wasn’t available.  She kept asking “what about if..” and he kept telling her he could only tell her what I said. She finally left when she realized he couldn’t give her any more information. And she took her gift basket with her.  Seriously, if she wants to see me, call me.  Don’t just show up and harass my door person!

[haddon9]

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@MaryLamb wrote:

I’m surprised this is even still a thing. Everything being so advanced, it just seems like the networks would be able to track who is watching and when.

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I'm surprised too....I didn't think "Neilson ratings" were a thing anymore.  Today if I were asked to participate I wouldn't do so.  

[Lattelvr]

I didn't know they still exited either.  What's so ironic is just last weekend, there was an old episode of the show Roseanne I watched.  It was about the Conners were picked to be a Neilsen ratings house. Dan and Roseanne kept fighting over what to watch. Dan kept wanting to watch his usual football and sports.  Roseanne didn't want the Neilsen ratings people to think their family was stupid and just watched trashy shows, so she kept tuning in to educational and pbs type shows.  LOL!

[cindyNC]

I've been doing Scantrack .....Neilson for scanning groceries since 1989. I can't wait to stop.....the gifts in the catalog have become pretty bad. Very poor quality. 

[Anonymous032819]

I was chosen by Neilson for tv viewing.

They sent me a booklet to fill out what I watched and when.

It was a chore, and after the two weeks, I mailed it off.

No one ever visited me, and I certainly didn't get any gifts.

Would I do it again?

Sure.

[chlema]

LOL @SeaMaiden  Well, we got paid, not lots but ok.  It was at least 10 years ago and if memory serves me right they sent a letter asking us to participate and we agreed.  Two nice young men came to install stuff, took quite a long time, maybe 3 to 4 hours.  They had to install equipment that sat by each of our 3 tv's and then program all of the stations we were able to get.  Everytime we turned on the tv we would have to punch info into the gizmo saying how many people were watching, and their age (if other then us).

It was very easy, didn't require much on our part.  I believe we got about 
$100.00 at the beginning, then sometime in the middle another payment and then at the very end, another.  I believe the total was around $400 and this was for about 6 weeks, so easy money on our part.  When the time was up same guys spent the better part of the morning uninstalling their equipment.  It was actually kind of fun lol.