Australian Media Audiences

Unit 2 Media – Area of Study 3

What Are We Watching?https://youtu.be/iYS4QKTfU40

OzTAM

Owned by networks 7, 9 and 10.

Observes board meetings for ABC, SBS, Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Media Federation of Australia (MFA) & Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA).

Collects & markets the free-to-air ratings for the 5 metro markets of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth and also nationally for subscription TV.

OzTAM

Monitors the viewing habits of a panel of around 3000 randomly selected homes in regard to what they watch on FTA Television.

Collates viewing habits of 1200 homes (metro & regional) who watch subscription TV.

These are referred to as ‘people meters’ as they are seeing the viewing habits of a cross section of society.

The information is then sent on to television networks program suppliers, advertisers, media buyers & advertising agendas.

Radio and the Nielsen Company

22 million radio sets in the 5 largest Australian cities combined which means an average of 4.2 per household.

Ratings for radio are monitored by Nielsen; a market research company.

Eight radio surveys each year where consumers fill out radio listening diaries.

Radio ratings report produced which discusses audience measurement and demographics.

Demographics

Commercial media orgs rely on advertising to make profits and as such advertisers need to know who and how many people are watching a program.

The audience’s personal characteristics determine how products and services are marketed.

This statistical study of media audiences is referred to as ‘demographics’.

Demographics

Products are not often marketed to everyone.

Products usually have a target market (eg. teens, retirees, etc).

For example, life insurance advertisements aren’t usually aired during children’s shows.

Demographics

Demographics usually consider categories such as: age, gender, occupation, income, education, types of family (nuclear, extended, single-parent), etc.

Radio surveys also consider lifestyle factors such as listening to radio whilst driving.

Nielsen found out that in the average working week, 26% of people listen to the radio in the car between 5 & 9 AM, while 48% of people listen while driving between 4 & 7 PM.

Modern Audience Viewing Habitshttps://youtu.be/EV5jC3GQOkI

Media Monitoring

Advertisers and Market Researchers aren’t the only ones interested in media audience demographics & what they’re consuming.

Governments, corporations and lobby groups also subscribe to media monitoring services such as OzTAM & Nielsen.

This information is used to generate debate in parliament and in news & current affairs programs.

Activity

Consider the following:• Luxury Cars• Dishwashing Liquid• Aftershave• Snack Foods• Toys• Computer/Video Games• Insurance (Life/Car/etc.)• Beauty Therapies

Which group of people (demographic) would buy or use each of these services (try to be specific and think of age, gender, job, income, etc)?

Which medium would you use to advertise each product (television, radio, print, internet, etc)?

The Future of TV Audiences

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4211467.htm