Measurement Ratings and beyond Audience measurement One of the most significant forms of practical research is the measurement of audiences for electronic media content Became a major issue when radio began carrying commercials ID: 336518
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Slide1
Broadcast Audience Measurement
Ratings and beyondSlide2
Audience measurement
One of the most significant forms of practical research is the measurement of audiences for electronic media content
Became a major issue when radio began carrying commercials
Expanded tremendously with television
Has become far more sophisticated and more difficult with the explosion of electronic mediaSlide3
Measuring radio audiences
Why was radio audience measurement such an issue when film audience measurement wasn’t?
Advertising—those buying time had no idea how many people would actually hear their commercials
Advertisers (represented by their agencies) wanted to know which of the stations, shows, etc. to place their spots onSlide4
So what was the first ‘measure’ of audience size for radio shows?Slide5
Fan mailSlide6
Enhancements of fan mail ‘measurement’
Shows began to request fan mail
“If you like us, send us a letter”
Prizes, contests
Lum
and
Abner
offered free newspapers
50,000 mailed in cigar bands for Kate Smith’s picture
But what % of listeners actually wrote? Were writers/contest respondents regular listeners or just occasional/one-time?Slide7
Survey methods applied to audience measurement
Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting (CAB) 1929
Crossley’s
surveys of radio listening
Phone survey of thousands of listeners in 33 cities
recall of listening that morning, afternoon or previous day
Concern over respondents’ memory of actual listening
Sample problems
ExpensiveSlide8
Hooperatings
based on 11 million phone calls per year in 103 cities asking about “coincidental” listening (what they were listening to at the time of the call)
Also asked about advertising
Less concern over memory
Continued high
costSlide9
Diary methods instituted
Hooper developed a diary service in NYC in 1947
American Research Bureau began in 1949 with a diary service (Later became
Arbitron
)
Panel recruited for completion of diaries evaluating listener/viewership over extended periods of
timeSlide10
Hooperatings came out on top
In 1941 CAB adopts coincidental method
In 1946 CAB discontinued
In 1950, Hooper sold national radio and
tv
ratings business to A. C.
NielsenSlide11
Mechanization
Nielsen
audimeterSlide12
The first audimeter
(1936)
Source: NielsenSlide13
Bought by A. C. Nielsen
Not practical for use in nationwide sampleSlide14
Mailable audimeter
(TV)Slide15
Difficulty getting all data mailed in and preventing technical problems
Incentives given to ‘housewives’ to send in tapes and replace them promptlySlide16
Recordimeter (1954)Slide17
Instantaneous audimeterSlide18
Instantaneous audimeter
Data collected electronically through modem supplied by NielsenSlide19
Storage instantaneous audimeter
(1973)Slide20
Storage instantaneous audimeter
Data stored during the day, downloaded to Florida at night
Two-day turnaround on ratingsSlide21
People meter (1987)Slide22
Demographic data collected along with set use, tuningSlide23
http://diary.tvratings.com/Slide24
Local v. national ratings
Local ratings for many DMAs still collected via diary
methods
In some larger markets, set meters and surveys combined
Rollout of local people meters began in mid-2000s
Currently
in
25 markets
Recently accredited by Media Ratings Council (MRC)
Likely will eventually displace diaries or else be superseded by PPM or set-top dataSlide25
Problems with people meters
Undercounting of certain audiences
Children
Mechanical failure
Expense
Increased sample size required for fractionated audience
Disruption of normal viewing behavior
Annoyance of sample membersSlide26
Measurement innovation
Passive systems
Inaudible
signals
Set-top-box measurement
Multi-screen measurement
Portability for out of home exposure
Individual rather than household orientationSlide27
Leading innovation--PPM
A small (pager-sized) system that receives and processes inaudible signals carried over electronic media
Whenever the PPM comes within range of a source emitting such a signal it identifies the source and makes a record of the time
Demographic, etc. info about the person whose PPM it is will be included in the databaseSlide28Slide29
But it may be that simply determining that someone is in the proximity of a medium carrying video content is not a good measure of ‘exposure’ to the content, much less exposure to or engagement with the commercial contentSlide30
Focus on advertising, engagement
Advertisers want estimates of
audiences
for commercials rather than programming
A large percentage of the audience leaves the room during commercial pods
Zipping and Zapping
DVRs removing commercial content
Engagement with material has an important influence on the effectiveness of commercials
Not just whether people are in the room but whether they are engaged with the contentSlide31
The video world changes
Cable networks and the fractionalization of
audiences
Switch to digital
Time-switching
VCRs
DVRs
Distribution of content via Internet, mobile
Out-of-home viewing
Individualization of viewing