TV Viewership Ratings escape me ...

Turns out the Patriots versus Ravens game on Monday night was the most-viewed cable TV program in history. How they come up with the numbers presented in that article goes beyond my comprehension.

One way out is sampling---ask a bunch of people that you think constitute a representative random subset, and extrapolate their replies to the complete US population. In which case, all these numbers are complete bullshit, because in practice any subset of people you pick will be biased in some way.

Another way to make an estimate is to have the cable companies track the number of TV sets that are tuned in. But, this scheme brings with it its own set of errors. For example, I saw the game while I was at the gym, where there must have at least another 50 people who were watching the game. So, there isn't a one-is-to-one viewers to TV sets ratio.

So, on the whole, I have no clue how they come up with these numbers!