"The Mecklenburgers" TV show, is one of several communications methods the Public Service & Information Department (PS&I) uses to communicate directly with Mecklenburg County residents about the programs and services offered by County government. The Mecklenburgers is unique. No other County in America is doing anything like it. How's that working us? 

• Neilson viewer ratings for the show increased 127% last year, with an average of 3,135 households (approximately 10,000 viewers) tuning in each episode.  The two main goals for the fourth season are to increase the average viewer ratings another 50% to 4,700 households, while reducing production costs through private underwriting.
• The fourth season debuted in January on WAXN (Sundays at 6pm), the show is averaging 4,700 viewing households, consistent with our ratings goal.  On February 3, PS&I ran a repeat episode from season three rather than a new episode because of competition with the Super Bowl.  However, this show drew a rating of 1.2, which is 12,500 households.
• There also has been progress in securing underwriting for the show. The Mecklenburgers recently added two new sponsors for upcoming episodes, which will offset some production costs for these shows.  This recent activity may be related to the increased number of viewers or the publicity surrounding the two regional Emmy nominations for the show.

In the next several weeks, a local research firm will be conducting focus groups to determine the extent to which the show educates and informs viewers about the County's responsibilities, services and results. We will report the results as soon as we have them.