Real reason boxing TV ratings nose dived

I've heard it said before that back in the first quarter of 2000 boxing would average around 4 million viewers for a fight on HBO, where as now it tends to average closer to 1 million. I've heard this mentioned as proof of boxing's great decline in the country. However, doing a bit of research I think I have found the real reason for this drop in numbers and it has nothing to do with boxing but how NIELSEN changed the way they collect ratings back in 2004. I noticed what might be the issue first in this article about the HBO Beyonce doc which aired prior to Broner's last fight in a timeslot similar to one boxing would be held in. http://thatgrapejuice.net/2013/02/beyonce-scores-ratings-winner-life-is-but-dream/ "With a record breaking 1.8 million viewers to its name, ‘Dream’ marked the network’s highest viewed outing since ****e Lee‘s 2006 effort, ‘When The Leeves Broke’. Used as the latest promotional push for her fifth studio album, the moving documentary’s success will come as phenomenal news for the network, who haven’t enjoyed ratings this high since Nielsen altered its method for measuring for views in 2004." Note here it says NIELSEN began altering the way it gathers ratings back in 2004. This is roughly the year HBO ratings began to fall, as the article implies. So I checked out exactly what they did this year and it turns out this was the year they began installing people meters so people could record more accurate TV ratings. Since the article mentions HBO hasn't seen ratings like the Beyonce doc in that timeslot since NIELSEN changed the system, it strongly implies the change over is responsible for the drop in ratings at least in those timeslots.