Abstract:

During the fall of 1992 the Network Television Association (NTA)  an organization that was created by the three major U.S. television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) to promote awareness of the networks and serve as a research resource -- commissioned the A.C. Nielsen Company to conduct a study of "out-of-home" viewing in the United States. The findings of that study are being presented at the 1994 ESOMAR Research Symposium by Marcella Rosen, President of the NTA. We recommend reading that report, as this paper assumes familiarity with that study's findings. Building on the findings of the 1992 study, this paper reports on research that explores the nature of out-of-home viewing patterns. The findings suggest that most out-of-home viewing is planned and attentive exposure which is concentrated among specific population groups  those which live in unmeasured locations, are away from home temporarily, or choose to watch in non-residentiai locations. As out-of-home viewing is driven by sociological, economic and lifestyle factors, the research points to a number of differences between the American and European out-of- home audiences. At the same time, the data indicate that most segments of the out-of- home audience in all countries are of strategic importance to advertisers. For those reasons, and because there is evidence for further increases in out-of-home viewing, this paper calls for continuous research on this audience.