Why do advertisers go along with sweeps?

Why in this information age of overnight ratings and constant schedule
shuffling do corporations allow sweeps ratings to contribute input to
ad prices?

What does something like the Olympics do? Advertisers can't want to
pay more for Monday night programming in the future just because the
Olympics got high ratings on a Monday night.

I don't get it. Why don't the advertisers laugh in the face of those
trying to set ad prices because of sweeps?

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

Ian J. Ball...

Sweeps are used for *local* markets, remember. They aren't used so much
at the national level, but they are used by the affiliates to set ad
rates.

So Madison Avenue goes along, because the networks insist, because the
affiliates make them.

bklyntv...

If someone could answer this question seriously I'd appreciate it as
well. I've always wondered the same thing, what person spending money
on a TV buy doesn't KNOW that the sweeps numbers from February are
inflated and NOT what you can expect when you buy time during a
mid-April rerun? What's the point?

Donna B...

From an 'all things being equal' perspective, though, that doesn't really
matter. What does matter is that it forces people to plan their schedules
around arbitrary dates rather than around what would be most dramatic, or
most practical, or most contagious even, ... whatever the things are that
bind fans to a show rather than things that ought to be irrelevant.

But, the big question, really, is whether or not they can now give year
round results for all markets effectively and if not, then, why not? And,
when will they be able to?

pkj0891...

It makes about as much sense as pursuing the 18-34 demo. I read this
article years ago, and the herd mentality of the 18-34 chase pretty
much applies to Sweeps.