With the growing popularity of television, measuring TV ratings has become an indispensable component of the media business. Not only channels, shareholders and sponsors, but also the TV audience itself are interested in conducting calculations and their analysis.
The first statistics obtained provide an opportunity to regulate the current television policy, while for viewers the rating is the lever by which they influence the laws of the world of television. This detailed article will clear up questions and help you understand how TV ratings are ranked.
Key Concepts of the Rating Industry
In English, the word “rating” translates as “rating”. It is a percentage characteristic obtained from calculating the ratio of viewers watching a particular program over a period of time to the total number of existing viewers in general. The rating of TV shows is measured only among the part of the population older than 4 years living in large cities, where the number of inhabitants exceeds the mark of 100 thousand people.
Another professional term of television measurements is the share - this is a clarifying indicator, which is determined based on the ratio between the number of viewers who are actually watching the program and people who just turned on the TV at a given time or switch channels aimlessly.
The last group is like a potential audience for each particular broadcast. The television program and its global success, thus, depends on the rating data and on the calculated share. Together they reflect the real preferences and desires of the audience.
Uneven TV ratings
The distribution of the real and potential number of viewers when they watch programs is uneven, which is associated with many factors. Of great importance is the time of day; So, a television program can get into the morning or evening hours of prime time, when even an inconspicuous broadcast has a chance to rise high, because people want to watch at least something before going to work or upon returning from it.
To understand how the rating of television shows is determined , it is also necessary to take into account that the calculation takes place differently depending on the type of television: broadcast or cable (satellite). In the first version, a person stops his choice on one of about twenty channels, while in the second case - on one of 100, 150 or more! Targeting a specific audience and its tastes, playing into the hands of experienced television people, in turn, also creates differences in the system. Therefore, the rating of entertaining TV shows, news, children's programs, “stylish”, spectacular talk shows almost never falls — there is an enduring demand for them. Specialists analyze the interests of people and, based on them, adjust the television network.
Who and for what purpose takes measurements?
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, the Internet, magazines and newspapers. The information received is the only recognized official.
Why does Gallup do this? Obviously for the benefit. Rating is a kind of television currency, closely related to advertising and interesting, primarily for the advertiser. Television and television shows act as sellers of airtime and serve to attract viewer attention, therefore advertising agencies wishing to promote their products should not be mistaken with the choice. In this case, they are helped by mathematical statistics called ratings. It allows us to draw conclusions about the profitability of buying a particular television brand and investing money in it in order to promote its products as part of advertising during the display of a particular program.
Types of information received and media planning
The 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 actual television viewing of a particular program and its success in the population. It is determined immediately after the broadcast broadcast.
The forecast rating is implied, targeted at advertising agents, but is also necessary for broadcasters. The first to use this kind of data is to plan their own long-term campaigns, the last to identify the potential success of the transfer, depending on what it will be first purchased and then put on the air at a specific place at a specific time.
Often forecasting is 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 nevertheless, regardless of the type, how is the rating determined? There would seem to be a lot of television shows and people, and asking everyone about television tastes is an impossible task. However, everything is done much easier - through already proven methods, often using modern technology.
How TV rating is calculated: an economical measurement option
“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 television receiver.
For telemetry, one or more cities are selected, which are divided into polling stations. Households are chosen in them, and for a greater variety, the studied families are stratified - they are divided into groups according to one or several characteristics uniting them (occupation, financial situation, etc.).
The diary is a table, where the vertical column indicates either television channels or broadcasts, depending on which rating you need to identify, and the horizontal one is the time of day, divided into intervals of 15 minutes. The material is issued to all members of the family (household) who agreed to the study, and each person fills it out depending on their personal viewing preferences.
Tv meters
They are electronic meters. They are special computing devices that allow you to install and register what the total number of televisions and radios was tuned in a specific period of time to a specific wave.
This “smart” mechanism is another component of how the rating of television shows is determined, and makes it possible to identify the start of viewing a program with an accuracy of a second.
The sensor is integrated in the receiver. When using the device by one or another member of the household, registration is required by pressing the special button assigned to each person in the family on the remote control. After this action, the electronic counter will begin automatically counting all switched channels and television programs produced on a particular TV, after which the data collected on the television will be transmitted to the Moscow data center at night.
The main disadvantage of the device is the binding to a fixed home telephone, which many do not have, either at all or at a specific time period (for example, in the summer at the cottage).
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 released a device that can automatically capture a face that is turned toward the television receiver. This idea was rejected by the population, who considered the introduction of such a device into the house not only to interfere with their personal lives, but also an insufficient basis for drawing conclusions, because a person who simply looks at the TV does not always directly watch the program.
The aforementioned Gallup organization, together with the US leading radio listener rating company, has developed a device that looks like a pager. It is regularly worn by the respondent under investigation and with the greatest possible accuracy captures information on watching television programs both during a person’s stay at home and outside.
Errors and inaccuracies of measurements
Most of these methods are used together, but researchers note the imperfection of each of them. “Viewer 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, because most devices are tied to home TVs. It does not take into account watching television in places of work of people or at various entertainment venues. 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 residents may have their own television preferences.
However, all this false or incomplete data is still counted as real. Why? Because today these existing options are the only opportunity for channel directors to draw more or less realistic conclusions about what 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 largely similar to stock indicators in view of their inconsistency. Any external reasons can drastically change the situation within the entire business. Usually, an absolute change in the picture is provoked by global or domestic political unrest, when most residents resort to news programs to orient themselves in the situation, which makes 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 of magnitude 5.8 first went through the territory of the USA, followed by Hurricane Iren, which disabled airports and public transport. At this time, weather ratings increased by more than 3 times, and in some states, which suffered the most serious damage, this figure was even higher.
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 sharp, spasmodic swings and adjust the broadcast to current needs.