Abstract:

Going beyond "nose-counts", which was the predominant; mode of assigning numerical "values” to TV programmes until how, "values" serving as corner-stones of decisions with much wider repercussions, we rather have to search beyond numbers, for meanings and nuances not delivered by numbers, towards the core characteristics of communication itself. The further development, and refinement of degrees of preference, of appreciation scales and other variables with a qualitative input, point towards and are concerned upon the individual; related to his possibilities of choice, his needs and the enjoyment he derives from "reading" and "digesting" media content, in a variety of contexts. Such viewpoints are crucial for an increased understanding of the reasons inherent in programme appreciation, for an increased understanding of the zapping effect and the ways with which programme "neighbourhoods" are "received" by the individual viewer. In our years, the spread of the available media options, in an increasingly competitive environment, calls for the necessity of the taxonomic approach: the extension of programme typology, and the introduction of a common European programme taxonomy, in view of the pan-European harmonization of TV audience research.