**The TBR.com Sportstalk Forum Question of the Week (1/4)**

I've got a question . . When I read in the paper yesterday about the TV ratings for the 1997 Cowboys/Panthers playoff game, it gave the ratings as 45.5% (the number of TV sets in the Charlotte market that were tuned on the game) and a 70 share (the % of TV sets in use that were on the game). The first number I understand, but to me the 2nd number given kinda says the same thing. I thought the 2nd number was the number of folks who were watching the game at the time. Or is the right way to read this is . . .

45.5% of the TV sets in the Charlotte market were turned into the game and from that %, 70% of them were tuned into the game

 

The way I understand it is a rating # is the % of "all possible" televisions tuned into a show. A share is the % of televisions "in use" tuned to a show.

So if there are 100 TV's in Charlotte, 45 of them are watching the game. That equals ratings.

However, there are only 64 tv's turned on at the time of the game. 45 of those tv's are tuned into the game. So, the game is getting a 70% share of the current audience.

What it comes down to is "rating" is the total number of eyeballs watching a show and "share" is a comparison of those watching a particular show vs another program.

 

I think I get it now . . Thanks SportsNC :thumbup: !!!!!

 

Here's a better riddle to solve:

http://www.tbr.com/