In January 2005 the Dutch Advertisers Association (BVA) presented the results of an observational study on viewing behaviour during commercial breaks. Results from filming 100 households watching TV showed only 20% of commercial airtime is watched attentively, while 20% walk out of the room, 20% is zapped away and during the rest people stop looking at the screen and start to talk, phone or read. Similar results were obtained in another, smaller scale observational study by Mark Ritson of the London Business School, where 'the percentage of advertising watched varied from 23% to 55%' (Ritson, 2003). TV is no longer the centre of attention in the household. For effective advertising we must look for those rare moments when people pay attention. Based on an observational study by the University of Leeds, Sheila Byfield concluded 'the level of viewer involvement in programmes has an important and direct influence on whether the break will be viewed - at all' (Byfield, 2000). This paper shows how viewing duration or 'net fraction' from the people meter panel is used as a proxy for attention and how this approach was validated using a large scale study on audience attention and program appreciation.
This paper reports on switching during radio advertising, based on analysis of GfK Media GB's survey of radio listening and television viewing, commissioned by The Wireless Group using Radiocontrol audience measurement technology. Bringing the minute-by-minute audience research data collected by Radiocontrol together with commercial monitoring data creates an opportunity to improve understanding of radio zapping; to quantify the relative likelihood to switch radio stations during commercial breaks; and to gauge the impact of switching on radio advertising delivery. Measuring both radio and television in a single survey produces comparisons between radio and TV zapping, and a report on cross-media switching.
In 2000 a new study of outdoor advertising reach was published in the Netherlands. The Dutch Outdoor Study combines several major innovations in outdoor research techniques with new software for presenting results. This paper describes the research technique, planning software and the results of the study. The study will also be compared to other European studies of outdoor advertising. Consideration is given to the possibility of applying the research design of our study to outdoor advertising research in other countries.
This paper discusses a method to incorporate out-of-home viewing in the TAM ratings. In some cases the audience profile of channels and their programmes could be dramatically different if this viewing behaviour would be integrated in the ratings.
In television audience research in The Netherlands (and similarly in other European countries) viewing behaviour is registered by the meter on a Per second basis. A change in channels is noted from the moment a viewer watches a channel for fifteen seconds or longer. Audience behaviour during channel changes lasting less than fifteen seconds is attributed to the last channel the viewer watched for fifteen seconds or longer. As consequence, in the case of a series of quick channel changes, a delay in the registration of channel changes occurs. Assuming that relatively more switching occurs during commercial blocks than during programs, it can be expected that audience ratings for commercial blocks would benefit more from a persistence threshold than audience ratings for programmes. A study was carried out to determine the effects of a fifteen second threshold on the viewing behaviour reported, and found this threshold has no effect on audience rating for commercials. The only effect was a very small increase in the audience ratings for the ten national Dutch channels in relation to the other, foreign channels.
This paper describes an extensive research project concerning the leakage and influx of viewers during commercial breaks. The goal of this research project is to determine which factors bring about this kind of channel switching. The study covers the people meter data of 9 commercial breaks broadcast on the five main television channels in the Netherlands from January to April 1995. Of each of these commercial breaks, both the influx and the leakage of viewers were quantified. By means of multivariate analysis these two factors are related to a large set of explanatory variables, such as characteristics of: the break itself, the commercials in it, the audience, and the programmes before and after the break.
Television research is increasingly dominated by a need to predict ratings accurately. Prognoses of future ratings are of crucial importance for media planners producing or scheduling programmes, and selling or buying commercial time. Forecasts are made by advertising sales houses and media buyers by means of a combination of instinct, experience, luck and elaborate models. To assist anyone forecasting ratings in the Netherlands, Intomart developed an entirely automated model to predict television ratings. Each month this model computes forecasts for all programmes on the five main channels for 17 target groups. These forecasts are calculated within a single day using new programme schedules and historical databases with, as input, people meter data. After a pilot phase, the system became fully operational as of October 1992 exclusively for the media buying organization Initiative Media. Since then, the model has been developed further in co-operation with Initiative Media who provided valuable support as well as stimulating criticism. Since April 1994 this forecasting model is also available to other operators in the industry. This paper will explain the theoretical background and technical aspects of the main determinants of this model. Additionally, the results will be evaluated in terms of accuracy and practical value for the industry.