Abstract:

Increasingly, the new mantra among today's leading advertisers is, 'Know your consumers! Know who they are, what they're doing, and when, where and why they're doing it.' These goals translate into important new objectives for marketers, broadcasters and media researchers, including the goal of locating and reaching consumers throughout their busy days, using the most efficient and effective means available. In the specific domain of television ratings research, these goals have been roughly translated into the need to achieve nearly seamless measurement of media exposures throughout the day, both at home and away from home, and through real-time or time-shifted/delayed exposures. The portable people meter or PPM is designed to electronically measure two dimensions of the television audience not previously measured in an ongoing ratings panel: out-of-home viewing and time-shifted or delayed viewing to recorded programs. Learning who is engaged in out-of-home and time-shifted viewing, what they are watching in these modes and where, will add important new insights into the best ways to reach consumers throughout the day using television advertising.