How is TV rating determined? TV audience. TV program

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

With the rise of television, the measurement of TV ratings has become an indispensable part of the media business. Not only channels, shareholders, and sponsors are interested in counting and analyzing them, but also the TV audience itself.

First received statistics provide an opportunity to regulate the ongoing television policy, while for viewers the rating is the lever through which they influence the laws of the television world. This detailed article will get rid of questions and allow you to understand how TV ratings are determined.

Basic concepts of the rating industry

From English the word "rating" is translated as "assessment". It is a percentage characteristic obtained by calculating the ratio of viewers watching a particular program during a certain period of time to the total number of existing viewers in general. TV viewing rating is measured only among the population over 4 years old living in large cities, where the number of inhabitants exceeds the 100 thousand mark.

Another professional termTV measurements is the share - this is a clarifying indicator, which is determined based on the ratio between the number of viewers who actually watch the program and people who just turned on the TV at a given time or aimlessly switch channels.

The last group is, as it were, a potential audience for each particular program. A television program and its global success thus depends on both the rating data and the calculated share. Together, they reflect the real passions and desires of the audience.

Uneven TV ratings

The distribution of the actual and potential number of viewers when they watch programs is uneven, which is due to many factors. Of great importance is the time of day; for example, a television program can hit prime time in the morning or evening, when even an inconspicuous broadcast has a chance to rise high, because people want to watch at least something before going to work or after returning from it.

To understand how the rating of TV programs is determined, it is also necessary to take into account that the calculation occurs differently depending on the type of television: terrestrial or cable (satellite). In the first option, a person chooses one of about twenty channels, while in the second case, one of 100, 150 or more! Targeting a certain audience and its tastes, playing into the hands of experienced TV people, in turn, also creates differences in the system. Therefore, the ratingentertainment TV shows, news, children's programs, "stylish", spectacular talk shows almost never fall - there is an enduring demand for them. Specialists analyze the interests of people and, based on them, adjust the television grid.

Who takes measurements and for what purpose?

The process of calculating rating data in Russia is carried out thanks to the activities of TNS GALLUP-MEDIA, a monopoly organization in this area. This company is engaged in measurements in all areas of the media: broadcasting, Internet, magazines and newspapers. The information received is the only one recognized as official.

Why is Gallup doing this? Obviously for profit. Rating is a kind of television currency, closely related to advertising and interesting, first of all, for the advertiser. Television and TV shows act as sellers of airtime and serve to attract viewers' attention, so advertising agencies who want to promote their products should not make a mistake with the choice. In this case, they are helped by mathematical statistics called rating. It allows you to draw conclusions about the profitability of buying a certain television brand and investing money in it in order to promote your products as part of advertising during the display of a specific program.

Types of information received and media planning

Measurement takes place in line with the science of sociology and is divided into 2 categories: the identification of actual and forecast data. The first type allows you to draw conclusions about the realTV viewing of a particular program and its success among the population. It is determined immediately after the broadcast ends.

Expected rating is estimated, targeted at advertising agents, but also required by broadcasters. The first need this type of data to plan their own long-term campaigns, the last - in order to identify the potential success of the transfer, depending on what it will first be purchased and then put on the air grid at a specific place at a specific time.

Forecasting is often based on data from past results and results, and is carried out both through the activities of research organizations and, if desired, by the channels themselves.

But still, regardless of the species, how is the rating determined? It would seem that there are a lot of TV shows and people, and asking everyone about television tastes is an impossible task. However, everything is done much easier - through already proven methods, often with the help of modern technologies.

How a TV show rating is calculated: an economical way to measure it

Viewer diaries are used, like other research methods, as part of the general collection of information from a panel sample of households with at least one working TV set.

For telemetry, one or more cities are selected and divided into polling stations. Households are selected in them, and for greater diversity, the families under study are stratified - divided into groups according to one or more that unite them.characteristics (occupation, financial situation, etc.).

The diary is a table, where the vertical column indicates either television channels or programs - depending on what rating needs to be identified, and the horizontal one - the time of day, divided into intervals of 15 minutes. The material is given to all members of the family (household) that agreed to the study, and everyone fills it out depending on their personal viewing preferences.

TV meters

They are electronic counters. They are special computing devices that allow you to establish and register what total number of TVs and radios were tuned to a certain wave in a specific period of time.

This "smart" mechanism is another part of how TV ratings are determined, and makes it possible to identify the start of watching a program to the nearest second.

The sensor is built into the receiver. When using the device by one or another member of the household, registration is required, which is carried out by pressing a special button assigned to each person in the family on the remote control. After this action, the electronic counter will start automatically counting all the switched channels and TV programs produced on a particular TV, after which the collected information about TV viewing will be transferred to the Moscow data center at night.

The main drawback of the device is that it is connected to a fixed home phone, which manyis absent either at all, or at a specific period of time (for example, in the summer at the dacha).

Questionnaires and telephone surveys are also used.

Creative ideas and new approaches

Innovative methods and solutions for calculating rating data have been proposed repeatedly. For example, an American company has released a device that can automatically detect a face turned towards the TV receiver. This idea was rejected by the population, who considered the introduction of such a device into the house not only an invasion of privacy, but also an insufficient basis for drawing conclusions, because a person simply facing the TV does not always directly watch the program.

The already mentioned organization Gallup, together with the leading company in the United States for analyzing the rating of radio listeners, has developed a device that looks like a pager. It is regularly worn by the surveyed respondent and, with the greatest possible accuracy, records information about watching TV programs both while the person is at home and outside.

Errors and inaccuracies of measurements

Most of these methods are used in combination, but researchers note the imperfection of each of them. “Viewer's diaries”, although they are a more common and cheaper type of measurement, reflect far from accurate results, contain significant errors.

Electronic devices are more expensive and the respondent does not always have access to them, becausemost devices are tied to home TVs. Watching TV programs at people's places of work or at various entertainment venues is not taken into account. Also, a person may not watch the program in reality, but turn it on only for the background. In addition, polls completely ignore the population of small towns and villages, while their inhabitants may have their own television preferences.

However, all these false or incomplete data are still counted as real. Why? Because at the moment these existing options are the only way for channel directors to draw more or less real conclusions about which programs the viewer prefers to watch.

The rating industry is improving every year, research methods are becoming more accurate and better in order to reflect the most objective, real situation on the television market.

Ups and downs

Ratings are in many ways similar to stock indicators due to their volatility. Any external causes can radically change the situation within the entire business. Usually, a complete change in the picture is provoked by global or domestic political unrest, when the majority of residents resort to the help of news programs to navigate the situation, which is why the ratings of these programs increase significantly.

The same situation is observed with serious climatic and natural anomalies: for example, several years ago, a strong earthquake first passed through the United Statesmagnitude 5.8, followed by Hurricane Iren, which disabled airports and public transport. During this time, ratings for weather broadcasts more than tripled, with some of the worst-hit states experiencing even higher ratings.

Thus, any instability of the outside world can lead to serious changes in the rating system. The task of competent media planners and television people is to quickly respond to sudden, abrupt drops and adjust the air to current requests.