The television measurement business has always been a bit like weather forecasting: everyone complains about the methodology, but we all still check the numbers before leaving the house.
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By StuAIrt Elliott
· August 27, 2026
The television measurement business has always been a bit like weather forecasting: everyone complains about the methodology, but we all still check the numbers before leaving the house.
The back-to-school season, that annual migration of shopping carts and parental credit cards, has long been a proving ground for retailers hoping to establish brand loyalty before it calcifies into habit.
It is one of the oldest rules of advertising, predating the digital age and the holding companies and possibly the automobile: when selling a product, do not show a man shoving a woman to the ground.
There was a time, not so long ago, when boarding an airplane meant surrendering to the in-flight magazine and whatever thoughts you had remembered to bring with you.
The return of professional football each autumn has become as reliable a calendar marker on Madison Avenue as the upfronts in May or theeli Lilly earnings calls that send pharmaceutical stocks into momentary spirals.
There was a time when the neighborhood hardware store was simply a place where one went to buy a box of nails or seek advice about a leaky faucet from someone who had actually fixed one.
There was a time when the return to school was marked by purchases of fresh notebooks and newly sharpened pencils, a ritual as American as the three-ring binder itself.
The challenge of selling prestige cosmetics to teenagers is not unlike the challenge of selling opera tickets to people who grew up on TikTok: the product may be excellent, but the packaging needs work.
