rssNielsen Paradox: DC-Area Folk Watched Inauguration on TV; Liberal West Coast Didn’t
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 3:51 pm
- 11 Comments
Here’s something counterintuitive: the closer a person lives to Washington, D.C., the more likely it is that he or she watched the inauguration on television.
Nielsen released its numbers for the top 56 media markets in the country today. These metropolitan areas had the highest inauguration viewership yesterday:
And these had the lowest viewership:
So people who could most easily come see the inauguration in person — those from D.C., Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina — watched from their sofas, while people who live more than 1,000 miles away either made the trek to the capital or didn’t bother to tune in.
Even stranger, the three metropolitan areas at the bottom of this list are arguably the three most liberal in the country: Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.
I suppose it’s possible that people from the D.C. area are simply more politically engaged — much more engaged — than their counterparts from farther afield, but this still strikes me as deeply strange.
Anyone have a better explanation? I await your comments …
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11 Comments
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
Maybe time zone issues…taking time at noon is easier than at 9 in the morning. I would suspect there were more people watching in the break room or streaming online at work in the western half of the country than the eastern.
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 2:59 pm
A very good theory, and one I hadn't considered. (Let's blame that on post-inauguration fatigue….) Keep 'em coming.
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
Does Nielsen track streaming video? As a tech-savvy Portlander, nearly all my news and TV needs are satisfied online.
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 3:48 pm
Another good theory, but can it really explain the fact that more than twice as many North Carolinians (proportionally) as Portlanders tuned in? Are Northwest folk really that much more tech-savvy than us Easterners?
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
Best explanation: time zones. Obama took the oath a little after 9 a.m. Pacific time. Considering that, an 18.8 share isn't so bad.
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 7:01 pm
Perhaps because the whole thing was a bigger story in the daily news on the east coast. Haven't people been hearing every day for weeks about the crazy hotel rates, schools shutting down, and so on around Washington? Also, perhaps people are more likely to watch if they know someone who will be attending, and people on the east coast would be more likely to know someone attending.
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
north Carolina had a major snowstorm that kept Raleigh Durham and winston Salem home for the day.
Comment posted January 21, 2009 @ 7:30 pm
There's a very simple explanation for North Carolina. North Carolina had a major snowstorm that kept Raleigh Durham and Winston Salem home for the day. It was only about 3-4 inches, but in this part of the country, things shut down because there are so few snow plows and the whole area is not equipped for any kind of snow. Even today, with roads mostly clear, lots of businesses stayed closed or opened late.
I go to UNC Law School, and that closed at 9:45 am because of the snow. The rest of UNC closed later in the day, but most students didn't even bother going to class when it was open. Most government agencies adopted liberal leave policies. I'm from Philadelphia where this kind of snow would not have caused a disruption, but here in NC people panic and stay home.
That explains Raleigh-Durham and Winston Salem. Also, probably, Charlotte had similar weather problems, but I don't know for sure. Charlotte is even worse at handling snow, so any amount would shut down things there.
I would imagine the snow storm plus the large African American population made viewership high.
Comment posted January 22, 2009 @ 11:15 am
That's a very sensible explanation. Thanks, Joe.
Comment posted January 22, 2009 @ 7:15 pm
That's a very sensible explanation. Thanks, Joe.
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