An introduction to Audience Research

Christine WilsonSenior Director, Strategy & PlanningCanadian Broadcasting Corporation

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Audience Research: What is it good for?

“Meaningless statistics were up one-point-fivepercent this month over last month”

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But first, what is it?• Popular images of Audience Research most often

relate to ratings research around TV and Radio • It’s actually broader than that, using many different

techniques and looking at a wide variety of events and media

• Definition of Audience Research: Using social science and market research techniques to study the traits of actual and potential audiences.

• As technology changes research has adapted to include web, podcasting, telephone downloads, etc.

• This presentation will deal mostly with TV and Radio

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Now that I’ve put you asleep with a definition, on with the presentation!

2 Themes:

1) Overview of audience research2) Careers in audience research

OVERVIEW OF AUDIENCE RESEARCH

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What types of questions can audience research answer?

Four questions:– How many and what types of people are watching or

listening?– Why do people watch or listen to the shows they do,

and what kinds of shows do people want?– How can I create a show that people will come to?– How do I let potential viewers and listeners know

about the shows I think they want to use?

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How many and what types of people are watching?

• This is generally answered by ratings research• Ratings are designed to track how programs are

performing in terms of attracting different types of people

• They are used by:– Network management to evaluate how their

schedules are performing– Producers and programmers to judge what types

of programming is attractive to viewers– Network sales and advertising agencies to buy

and sell time

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Ratings Research: Diaries vs. Meters

Diary Measurement:

• A self-administered system to track daily media usage

• The respondent tracks daily radio or television habits in a diary, recording the station and program quarter hour by quarter hour

• Results are mailed to the supplier for tabulation

The diary format looks something like this:

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Ratings Research: Diaries vs. Meters

People Meters:

• An electronic media monitoring system where minute-by-minute viewing behaviour is tracked.

• A panel based system, with groups in Designated Market Areas across the country. Panelists are all volunteers.

• The television set is measured for channel selection, and viewers report who is watching by a push button system. Next day results.

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Who supplies the ratings?Television

– In Canada, Nielsen Media Research provides people meter results on a national basis and for major markets—a national sample of about 3,500 homes

– Nielsen is privately owned and sells the data to networks, local stations and advertisers

– BBM surveys smaller local markets with diaries—two major sweeps per year

– BBM is a cooperative made up of member broadcasters and advertising agencies

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Who supplies the ratings?Radio

– BBM supplies ratings based on diary research– Two major surveys per year– Most radio analysis done at the market level, except

for CBC– CBC gets custom data to analyze at the national

level

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More definitions!

REACH: The total number of people who watched at least one minute, or listened for at least one-quarter hour of a program.

AVERAGE MINUTE AUDIENCE/AVERAGE QUARTER HOUR AUDIENCE: The average number of people that are watching a program each minute throughout the broadcast. The average number of people listening to a program through each quarter hour of the broadcast.

SHARE: The average audience expressed as a percentage of the number of people watching or listening at the time a program wasbroadcast.

RATING: The average audience expressed as a percentage of the total population.

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An illustration of the different audience measures.

October 12 to October 18, 2000 - All Persons 2+

Program

Network

Day/Time

Duration

AMA (000)

Share %

Men 18-49Share

%

Reach

Rating Points

Hockey Night In Canada Game 2 Royal Canadian Air Farce CTV Sunday Night Movie CBC National News Another World Oprah Da Vinci's Inquest

CBC

CBC

CTV

CBC

CTV

CTV

CBC

Sat. 7 PM

Fri. 8 PM

Sun. 9 PM

Mon-Fri 10 PM

Mon-Fri 2 PM

Mon-Fri 4 PM

Wed. 9 PM

3 hrs

30 min

2 hrs

30 min

1 hr

1 hr

1 hr

978

1,188

1,064

880

501

426

870

13

15

13

11

21

14

10

22

17

11

10

12 9 9

3,506

1,862

3,396

3,862

925

1,123

1,832

3.3

4.0

3.6

2.9

1.7

1.4

2.9

Source: CBC Research (Nielsen Media Research)

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Ratings also allow more macro analysis to understand the audience environment

Audience Share (%) - All Day (24 Hours)

53.4 50.0 45.3 43.2 41.9

22.018.9

18.2 17.6 16.3

24.6 31.2 36.5 39.2 41.8

1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01

Specialty &Pay Channels

75.4% 58.2%

U.S.Conventional

TV Stations

CanadianConventional

TV Stations

Source: CBC Research (Nielsen) * Excludes viewing to CBC Affiliates in their own time. September to March seasons.

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Why do people watch or listen to the shows they do, and what kinds of shows do people want?

• Ratings tell you who has historically watched or listened, but tells you nothing directly about motivation.

• Various other methodologies help researchers figure out motivations and, therefore help programmers no how to more effectively produce programs appropriate to their audiences.

– Surveys– Focus Groups– Program tests

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Surveys:Telephone or mail questionnaires

• Applications– measuring tastes, attitudes and motivations for using media– measuring how people react to current and proposed programs – Measuring related lifestyle phenomena

• Strengths– Generalizations and standardized– Cost effective

• Weaknesses– Best when you know what questions to ask– Can’t get deep or spontaneous answers to specific content– Not very flexible

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Focus Groups—bring small groups of people in to respond to content through group discussion

• Applications– Bring small groups into a facility to get their reactions to

content or ideas– Exploring how people think about things– Getting reactions and ideas in people’s own words

• Strengths– Flexible– Good for exploring– Good for gauging in depth or complex reactions and feelings

• Weaknesses– Not easily generalized to a larger population– Results are often ambiguous– Content experienced in un-natural setting

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Program Tests—mail out content and follow up with a survey

Applications– Testing video or audio, either existing programs or pilots– Use a small sample of people (100-200) send them material to

watch in their own homes– Have them answer questions over the phone

Strengths– Allows research to get reaction to specific content from a large

number of people– Content is experienced in natural setting

Weaknesses– Isn’t as easily to generalize as survey results– Not as flexible or as in-depth as focus groups

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Demographics vs. Segments

• Traditionally, audience research has been organized around understanding different socio-demographic groups—such as age and gender

• Those are the dimensions ratings capture and they are relativelystraight forward to measure

• A more contemporary approach is to develop audience segments based on lifestyle, attitudes, motivations and relationships to media

• It is easier to think of audience and their tastes in media in those terms, rather than in terms of demographics—the connections are more obvious

• e.g. An outward looking, active, reader is easier to program tothan an 18-49 year old male

• That being said, the groups or segments are more difficult to identify and to measure consistently

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How can I create a show that audiences will come to?

• Surveys, focus groups and program tests can all be used in helping develop programs as well as gauging reaction to existing ones—it is just another stage in the process

• Rather than measuring reaction to existing programs you try out ideas or concepts

• Easier in focus groups and program tests than in surveys—it is easier to show people new things than to describe them

• In practice ratings, surveys, focus groups and program tests are all used at different stages of developing new programming and targeting it at appropriate audiences

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How do I let potential viewers and listeners know about the shows I think they want to use?

• Audience research is also used to determine the best ways to publicize a new program or service

• Knowing how different types of people use media helps determine how you will construct a campaign to reach specific audiences

• In this way you use audience and market research in a broader context, extending to different vehicles for promotion and advertising such as newspapers, magazines and billboards

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Developing a communications plan for different segments

Media A B C D E F G TV (Overall) (programs available)

CBC TV Radio (Overall) (formats available) CBC Radio National/Int. Newspapers (titles available)

Local Dailies Local Weekly Magazines (types available) Web Email

Excellent Good Not Good Poor

CAREERS IN AUDIENCE RESEARCH

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Careers in Audience ResearchThree major areas for employment:

– Broadcasters

– Advertising Agencies / Media Buying

– Research Consultants

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BroadcastersCan work in two areas:

– Program research– Sales and marketing

• In Canada most broadcast jobs are on the sales and marketing side

• Because a lot of programming is bought from US or pre-formatted, most program research is about scheduling rather than about content

• In Canada, CBC is an exception, doing a lot of program related research

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Advertising / Media Buying• Helping advertisers plan a media buy to

promote their products or services

• Providing research on various media to identify appropriate vehicles

• Use various types of audience research, across various media—generally quantitative—ratings oriented

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Research Consultancy• A number of research firms have media

research as an area of specialization

• Carry out a number of types of research on behalf of, or in cooperation with broadcasters

• Use broader market research skill and apply them to audience research