In Norway, the appearance of satellite television has lead to a fundamental change in the attitude towards television in general. While formerly considered a cultural threat, it is now only foreign television which is perceived in that way. National television, on the other hand, is considered as a means for cultural defence. Satellite television was introduced as part of a process leading to the breakup of NRKs broadcasting monopoly. One of the things that has come out of this process, is the establishment of permanent audience research. In order to define the task for research, we had to analyse the expectations to the national television in the new setting, and consider its ability to meet these expectations on competitive terms. Hence we also had to analyse the new types of competitors that are now appearing. Our conclusion so far is that in order to overcome these challenges, national public service television must learn to compete its own terms. Awareness of this should have an impact on audience research, which to a large degree defines the premises for competition.
The paper describes the BRT audience measurement system existing since 20 years without major changes. By lack of money the audience researchers have to stick to a diary system which was very effective the time it started but gets now out of date and re ports too slowly. The only really efficient alternative system which can coop with the Belgian television system is an automatic measurement device. The advantages of automatic measurement seem to be the speed in re porting and the sophisticated possibilities of analysis. Although speed in reporting is important this is not a mere advantage and it could be that we loose essential advantages of slower and cheaper systems by gaining speed of reporting.
This paper outlines some alternative approaches to the study of audience behaviour other than those solely based on ratings or metering households. Findings from recent surveys and qualitative research in the UK point to the need to consider viewing in the context of the social group of family involved, the necessary constraints on any one individual's exercise of free viewing choice, and the nature of the rules and habits operating among families. Using a technique involving direct video recording of viewer behaviour, a recent small-scale research study of British families undertaken by the IBA points to several qualitative conclusions about the range of styles of viewing that exist. A more formal quantitative analysis of the same data demonstrates that presence in front of the screen cannot also be taken to mean attention to content; presence and attention both vary accordingly to family structure, individual characteristics and programme genre.
The paper is in four sections. It looks first at the television changes occurring and makes some predictions for the nineties. Then the existing tools for television audience measurement and appreciation are reviewed. In the third section the likely future research needs of advertisers, broadcasters and subscription channels are assessed. Finally the author's priorities for technique development are listed - and a picture is drawn of "how television research should look in the nineties". The author believes that the major new breakthroughs must be in passive sensing; in the development of portable, easy to instal meters; in collecting single source data and in evaluating panel control systems. All in all the new electronic and computing technologies offer major opportunities to provide the research data that the future television industry will need.
Radio audience measurement is normally undertaken by means of quarter- hour-diary research. This type of measurement provides the ordinary 'ratings' that are being used for media planning as well as for programme evaluation. This data provides no information about the quality of radio listening. This paper presents the methodology and results of a research programme carried out in 1983 in the Netherlands. The research had two separate objectives: to determine the reliability (and validity) of the currently used diary measurement and on the other hand to quantify the quality of radio listening particularly activities carried out during listening and the attention level of the listeners.
The paper describes the role of the Broadcasting Research Department in the development of the BBC's daytime television service. The research comprised a series of studies, involving reanalysis of existing data about the actual and potential audience for daytime television, and original research concerning audience perceptions about television in the daytime, and reactions to particular programme ideas. Discussion focuses on the extent to which this research significantly contributed to the development of the daytime service, outlining the constraints on both the schedulers and researchers which might have influenced this contribution.
We will more and more have a need for audience measurements at a multinational level. But there are great differences between the methods used for this measurement in the various countries of Europe. It is then difficult to compare and to aggregate their results. This paper presents the main results of a survey conducted at the beginning of this year by the GEAR, in the 18 countries represented in this group. It extends these observations in a thought about the problems of comparability.
To the outside observer, audience research appears essentially as the production of a set of 'objective' results on audience size, reactions or attitudes. It is tempting to feel that, because such results are often provided in the context of broadcasting decisions, audience research is actually having a direct effect on such decisions. The authors argue that this is not the case, and that audience research cannot make a real contribution to broadcasting decisions if it does not understand the broadcasters' 'culture' and the thinking process behind the making of programmes. In that respect the researchers relation to the broadcasters must parallel the relation of the broadcasters to the listeners: in both cases, a balance needs to be achieved between professional integrity and the needs of the 'client'.
The present paper presents findings and a status report regarding one of these projects. Namely, a study of the influence of West German commercial televisions. First, it is analysed what brands and products are advertised, which are available in Denmark also. All spots shown in most of 1983 and 1984 are included in this analysis. Secondly, the viewing of West German television in Denmark, and particularly of commercials broadcasted on West German television are explored. Finally, in the third step a number of possible effects are studied. Since West German television can only be seen in Southern Denmark, a region in this part of the country has been identified, which in terms of socio- economic and other factors is identical to a similar region in Northern Jutland, where West German television cannot be seen. In these two regions distributions and market shares are measured with Nielsen type data together with brand awareness, promotion and price activities, etc.
The subject of this paper is the position of the Netherlands public television on the rapidly developing market of programme suppliers. Questions in this connection are: is public broadcasting being threatened by (commercial) foreign competition? Can public broadcasting react to such developments? If so, how; and how to prevent audiences from ebbing away? In which way do the public and the Netherlands television react to the stream of new (satellite) stations?. The paper finishes with a number of conclusions regarding position and perspective of the Netherlands public television on the rapidly growing market of (satellite) programme suppliers.
This paper describes and discusses a survey conducted by Kay Brandon on behalf of Radio Haliam with the objectives of assessing the success of the Station's programming strategies in meeting the needs of the adults living in the transmission area, and of indicating areas where changes could be made. The method selected was that of personal interviews with 520 people aged 15 years and over. The survey identified a number of key differences between regular Radio Haliam listeners and other people in the transmission area. The survey demonstrates how fairly complex and indirect attitudes can be quantified by the use of attitude statement batteries. This is particularly important given the fact that listeners react to radio output in terms of an overall feeling for the tone and atmosphere being broadcast rather than reacting to a specific, compartmentalised programme. The paper concludes with a discussion of how Radio Haliam has developed its programming format, taking account of this survey and other audience information.
The number of TV channels available in Europe as a whole has grown by more than a third over the last year. Not only are domestic broadcast channels spilling into neighbouring countries, but satellite and cable channels are also expanding their networks. With the imminent take-off of DBS, combined with the trend for deregulation, the speed of the growth in channel choice is set to continue at an even faster pace well into the 1990's. In this paper we explore the effect of this growth in channel availability on viewing behaviour with particular emphasis on minority English language channels. We then explore the possible implications for programming, media scheduling, advertising, and finally, future research design.