Not all people read newspapers in the same way. Some readers want to look only at the ads others only the headlines. In classifying individuals by their motivation for reading newspapers we discovered live distinctly different types of people that read newspapers. These types differed from each other in their newspaper reading habits satisfaction with their own regional newspapers consumption of other media etc. Furthermore they also differ clearly from each other in their values and attitudes that can serve as very effective tools in strategic analysis. This paper describes how such analysis can be used in strategic planning using a Finnish newspaper Savon Sanomat as a case study.
The paper gives illustrations of new types of analyses and findings of television audience behaviour and how the segmentation analysis is used in programme planning and scheduling. The findings are based on analysing the respondent -level data of metered audience measurement. In 1991 1992 and 1993 the segmentation analyses were carried out on the basis of people meter sample of over 1000 persons representing the population of 10 years of age or older. The purpose of the analyses has been to divide the Finnish population into TV audience segments which have different viewing behaviour 'models', and so to better understand the TV audience. The Finnish television audience has been now, this year, segmented for the fourth time. The first segmentation was canied out in 1991 and the results were presented during the ESOMAR/ARF Worldwide Broadcast Audience Research Symposium held in Toronto, 01-Mar lune 1992. The results of the 1993 segmentation were presented at the ESOMAR/ARF Worldwide Broadcast Audience Research Symposium in Paris, lst-4th May 1994. We now have the preliminary results of the segmentation of the data of 1994. In this paper it is described in chapter 2 how we use the TV audience segments as the main tool in developing channel coordination and programme scheduling. Although we have only two channels at our disposal, it's quite problematic to schedule those channels so that programmes for the same TV audience segments are not offered on both channels at the same time. We have also been able to combine social attitudes and values with TV viewing as additional properties of TV audience segments and although the analysis is in it's initial stage, they have proved to be very useful tools in scheduling and programme planning.
On January the 1st 1993 all commercial television programming was shifted to the nation's third TV network. Channel Three began to operate as a subsidiary of MTV and the name of the third network was changed to MTV3. The new 1993 channel allocation left YLE with two public service channels. In this new situation, each broadcaster had more air time to be filled and also more freedom in the scheduling of programme. The whole programme repertoire changed as also did viewing behaviour. In 1991 the first segmentation analysis was carried out on the bases of TV meter data, which aimed to divide the entire Finnish TV audience aged over 10 years into audience segments based only on viewing behaviour.
The paper gives examples of new type of analyses and findings of television audience behaviour. The findings are based on analyzing respondent -level data of metered audience measurement. The YLE research department is using its own methods and procedures and therefore, even multivariate analyses of metered data are possible. Using cluster analysis reveals interesting facts beyond the rating book: there are distinct groups of viewers who in their viewing behaviour favour certain programmes, air time, or channels (or video). All of those groups vary in size and in their demographic composition. The new findings raise several research issues: how well the demographics alone can describe viewing behaviour knowing variants of viewers channel and programme repertoire is very important in today's competitive broadcast environment other than individual characteristics of the respondents are neglected too often; not only lifestyle or stage of life but also characteristics of the family and viewing situation (viewing in group or alone) should be included in an analysis of viewing patterns These issues have important implications for programming and scheduling in today's highly competitive broadcast environment.