ABC, NIELSEN DISAGREE OVER LOST RATINGS

There has recently been a lot of discussion about the ratings of "Lost" and whether or not the drama is losing viewers and to what extent. You may read our take on the matter if you click HERE. The things are however about to get even more complicated.

ABC and Nielsen Media Research are trying to resolve a problem that occured when the media research agency included the September 27 Lost clip show in season-to-date rankings for the hit mystery series.

The new season of "Lost" began on October 4. A week earlier, ABC aired a special episode of the series, the so-called "clip show" to remind viewers of all storylines and developments from the last season. Clip shows are generally not very popular as they are rearded as a "filler" hours.

The Lost special was no exception as it only scored a little over 9 million viewers. But Nielsen calculated that special into their season-to-date ratings for Lost giving it an average of a little over 13 million.

ABC argues that the clip show was not a part of the season as the first two new episodes that aired on October 4 and 11 generated 17,8 million viewers on average. ABC will now have to filter out the clip show ratings when explaining to their advertisers whether the ad contract guarantees were met (when the ratings are lower than the network promised, it must give advertisers a discount or free ad space).

The diluted ratings placed "Lost" into the top-30. If the agency disregarded the clip show, "Lost" would have made the top-10.

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