Nielsen ratings is an audience measurement system that was developed by the Nielsen Company. They created the system in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States. The Nielsen Media Research was founded by Arthur Nielsen. Nielsen was a market analyst and began his career in the 1920s. He expanded his career into the radio market analysis during the 1930s. This helped give ratings of radio programing which was meant to provide statistics as to the markets of radio shows. In 1950, Nielsen moved to television and developed ratings systems using the methods he and his company had developed for radios.