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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Look up listenership or viewership in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ratings (broadcast). (Discuss) Proposed since September 2010. Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Sometimes, the term is used as pertaining to practices which help broadcasters and advertisers determine who is listening rather than just how many people are listening. This broader meaning is also called audience research. Measurements are broken down by media market, which for the most part corresponds to metropolitan areas, both large and small.
Contents
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1 Methods o 1.1 Diaries o 1.2 Electronic o 1.3 Software 2 New media 3 Demographics 4 Ratings point o 4.1 GRPs / TRPs 5 Criticisms 6 Measurement Conferences 7 Measurement companies 8 See also 9 Notes and references
[edit] Methods
[edit] Diaries
The diary was one of the first methods of recording information. However, this is prone to mistakes and forgetfulness, as well as subjectivity. Data is also collected down to the level of listener opinion of individual songs, cross referenced against their age, race, and economic status in listening sessions sponsored by oldies and mix formatted stations.
[edit] Electronic
More recently, technology has been used to track listening and viewing habits. Arbitron's Portable People Meter uses a microphone to pick up and record subaudible tones embedded in broadcasts by an encoder at each station or network. It has even been used to track in-store radio.
[edit] Software
There are certain software applications being developed to monitor cable TV operators with full passive and permissive viewer measurement functionality to monitor television channel ratings. The system tracks every time the channel is changed and records it accordingly. It allows what was being viewed at the time and which channel the viewer changed to. This information allows operators, broadcasters and advertising media to monitor audience TV usage habits. Such monitoring can be automatically performed in real-time without the necessity of viewers cooperation.[1]
[edit] Demographics
This section requires expansion. The demographic of a particular show's audience is also measured. This is often notated in an abbreviated form,[2] e.g.:
P12-34 = Persons aged 12 to 34 P18-49 = Persons aged 18 to 49 A18-34 = Adults aged 18 to 34 Men 18-34 Women 18-34
Universe: Universe is the total or actual number of people in a defined target audience. Reach: Reach is the number of individuals from the universe who are exposed to the medium or vehicle. Reach is normally expressed in terms of % (percentages)
Calculation of Reach:
If universe is: 1000000 Individuals (its approx. data, its usually defined through sampling through people-meter) For a single episode of a program (30 minutes or 1 hour) If out of above 1000000 of individuals 600000 saw at least 1 minute of programme then: Reach = (600000/1000000) x 100 Reach = 60% Variations of the REACH CONCEPT
Gross Reach:
Gross Reach is the summation of all audiences who have been exposed to the vehicle.
Week 1: 1000 Week 2: 2000 Week 3: 1500 Week 4: 1200 Hence, Gross Reach = week 1 + Week 2 + Week 3 + Week 4 Gross Reach = 5700 Cumulative Reach
The number of individuals within the TG who are exposed to the medium or vehicle over a certain period of time Total time= Total average minutes (universe) x Universe Total Time/ Reach = Avg minutes viewers Net Reach
Net Reach: Net Reach is the summation of all audiences who have been exposed to the vehicle and excludes the duplication of the viewership.
Weeks Gross Reach Total Reach Duplication Total Duplication Net Reach Week 1 1000 1000 --1000 Week 2 2000 3000 (300) (300) 2700 Week 3 1500 4500 (900) (1200) 3300 Week 4 1200 5700 (1000 (2200) 3500
TVR = Reach x Time spent TVR = (minutes viewed/minutes available) + (mins viewed / minutes available)/N X100 N= Number of individuals
The sum of all ratings achieved in a campaign GRP levels are generally measured and reported on a 4 week basis It is a measure of the media plans trust
CPRP
Measurement used in planning a television media buy based on the cost of a commercial time slot and the rating of the program where the time slot is positioned. If, for example, the cost of a commercial time slot during prime time was $1000 and the program rating for that time was 10 (which means that 10% of the total potential audience was tuned to that program), then the cost per GRP would be $1000 divided by 10%, or $100. The CPGRP measurement is a way of measuring the efficiency of media cost, as compared to measuring the cost per thousand (CPT) and is generally used when making comparisons of the various broadcast vehicles. When the actual buy is made, the advertiser will still want to know the cost of reaching people on a costper-thousand basis. Programme Name Time Secondages Effective Rate Total Amt TVR GRP A 10:00am - 11:00am 150 6000 90000 5.4 81 B 21:00 - 22:00 200 30000 600000 9.8 196 Total 350 690000 277 CPRP = 2491 (i.e.,Total Amt/Total GRPs)
[edit] Criticisms
Diary-based radio ratings in the USA may inflate listenership, because they are only measured in 15-minute increments. Listening at any time during a quarter-hour counts as listening for the entire duration, even if the actual time was just for a song or two.
The process of surveying listeners for their preferences has also been criticised for its lack of flexibility. Listeners complain that modern radio lacks variety and depth but the measurement methods only facilitate further refinement of already minutely programmed formats rather than the overhaul that many listeners are asking for. Radio in the USA, is where listeners hear their old favorites rather than are exposed to new music. Data obtained by some audience measurement methods is detailed to individual songs and how they are reacted to by each age, racial, and economic group the station is seeking to attract. This statistical approach leads to highly recognizable songs (such as those from the Beatles) which score well with a cross-section of listeners.[4][5]