The company universally used to monitor TV ratings, Nielsen, will be making a change to their system beginning this Fall -- which kicks off their 2013-2014 season -- reports PWInsider.com. Nielsen will now be counting households that stream their programming, as opposed to watching it through traditional methods (cable, antennas, etc.)
An estimated 1.5 millions new homes will be added to Nielsen's overall numbers as a result, and because their ratings are based on the percentage of homes watching a specific program compared to the total number of TVs being viewed at that time, ratings are expected to see a decrease across the board.
WWE and TNA programming are sure to see a slight drop in their ratings, as the new homes being added do not have the option to watch USA or SpikeTV through the new streaming methods that will be measured.