Nielsen numbers are usually expressed in two ways, by points and share. It looks like this: 9.5/15. Points, the first number expressed, refers to the assumption of how the percentage of total homes are viewing the show at the given moment when the rating is taken. for instance, the 9.5 in the sample given here would mean that from Nielsen's 5,000 home sample, they are assuming that 9.5 percent of the total homes in America, or little under 11 million homes. The second number represents the share of total viewers, so in this case it means that 15 percent of the people watching television at that moment were watching this show. 85 percent were watching something else.