Audience Ratings Research Articles

An Analysis of New Media’s Role in Mass Movements (With reference to Anna Hazare’s campaign ‘India Against Corruption’)

Mass movement refers to the concept which is supported by a large segment of population especially one which doesn’t involve much of the elite section. In India itself, we have witnessed many movements beginning from the struggle for independence to the current Anna Hazare’s Anti Corruption Movement. Media’s inevitable role in success of a campaign is well established and plays a vital role to make any campaign a success. The definition of media in today’s world has changed and it has turned into an integrated platform that deals with different modes of communication to make it more effective. In context of Hazare’s campaign; Internet & Social Media sites have been abuzz with articles/messages showing support for Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption and his plea to pass Jan Lokpal Bill. For example–Facebook now has over 100 pages dedicated to Anna Hazare and his campaign. New media being a most popular media among the youth is giving new dimensions. New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. Another important promise of new media is the “democratization” of the creation, publishing, distribution and consumption of media content. Facebook is an example on the social media model, in which most users are also participants. Present paper is an attempt to demystify the role of new media as a tool to increase reach of mass movements. For the purpose of study data was collected from various pages of social networking sites and analyzed on the basis of set parameters. A small survey is also conducted through purposive sampling technique to add the audience perspective into the study. Result of the study has interesting story about the new media as well as mass movement and both are complementing each other. Though new media users are very few in number, yet a large audience rates new media as the best available platform to voice one’s opinion about a movement.

Effects of Public Education by Television on Knowledge of Early Stroke Symptoms Among a Japanese Population Aged 40 to 74 Years

An educational campaign by mass media has been associated with great increases in the knowledge about early symptoms of stroke. However, few studies were conducted with a controlled community intervention study. To clarify the effects of a 1-year television campaign for the whole population on improvement of knowledge about stroke symptoms in 2 cities, a campaign area and a control area in Japan were selected. Before and after the campaign, 1960 randomly selected residents aged 40 to 74 years answered a telephone survey regarding knowledge of early stroke symptoms. We calculated the percentage and 95% CIs of participants who correctly chose all 5 early symptoms of stroke in each area and in each year. Before the campaign, 53% of participants (95% CI, 50%-55%) in the campaign area and 46% (95% CI, 44%-49%) in the control area correctly chose 5 early symptoms. After the 1-year television campaign, knowledge was significantly improved only in the campaign area (campaign area, 63%; 95% CI, 60%-66%; control area, 51%; 95% CI, 48%-54%). After sex stratification, only women showed improved knowledge of early symptoms. The audience rate for the campaign television programs was found to be higher in women than in men. A 1-year stroke educational television campaign effectively improved knowledge about early stroke symptoms among Japanese women aged 40 to 74 years. No impact was found among men in this age group. Future studies should examine the impact of this approach on stroke knowledge among younger individuals and whether there are any behavioral changes that contribute to earlier presentation for treatment.

La percepción sobre la calidad de las series televisivas en España: contraste entre el público y los profesionales

This article contributes to the ongoing debate about quality in television programmes. Product quality standards in TV drama are not easily identifiable. Here, values come across with creative talent, audience ratings and the costs-revenues complex equation. Most of studies on quality in TV are either focused on audience's perception or on professional standards. Nevertheless, few of them try to contrast audiences' and producers' perceptions. This article is a first contribution in this regard, focusing on the case of three well-known TV series in Spain: Los Serrano, Cuentame como paso and La familia Mata .

Cable and the Partisan Polarization of the President's Audience

Presidents' audiences have been shrinking over time. Prior research suggests that the rise of cable television is to blame. We investigate whether this shrinkage is occurring disproportionately among those the president most needs to persuade—disapprovers of his performance. Analyzing both A. C. Nielsen's audience ratings and self‐reports of speech watching from 32 postspeech surveys, we find that as the share of households subscribing to cable has grown, the statistical relationship between the president's approval rating and the percentage watching his televised speeches has strengthened commensurately for each group of party identifiers. Consequently, as presidential approval ratings have polarized during the past two decades, so too has the partisan composition of presidents' audiences, a phenomenon unknown during the broadcast era. Modern presidents thus find themselves increasingly preaching to their party choir and losing the capacity to influence public opinion more broadly.

Tarring everyone with the same shorthand? Journalists, stigmatization and social exclusion

This article investigates the role of journalists in the media construction of a socially excluded and stigmatized local authority housing estate. We seek to identify the ways in which the production context of ‘newsmaking’ is reflected in such content. Having outlined the problematic ways in which the estate in question is portrayed, we argue that an increasingly competitive commercial environment – best evidenced in the marketization of news – is increasing pressures on journalists to prioritize circulation figures and audience ratings over journalistic balance. Our analysis of this issue is guided by two interconnected and over-arching theoretical approaches, namely social exclusion and political economy. Our analysis is situated squarely in the context of recent debates concerning the social and political implications of the increased marketization of news. In reasserting the importance of a critical sociology of journalism, our case raises fundamental questions about the practice of journalism and how complex issues such as social exclusion and poverty are represented in a media setting.

Diaspora

Diaspora

Promoting calls to a quitline: quantifying the influence of message theme, strong negative emotions and graphic images in television advertisements

ObjectiveTo understand the relative effectiveness of television advertisements that differ in their thematic focus and portrayals of negative emotions and/or graphic images in promoting calls to a smokers' quitline.MethodsRegression analysis...

Rating the YouTube Indian: <em>Viewer Ratings of Native American Portrayals on a Viral Video Site</em>

Rating the YouTube Indian:Viewer Ratings of Native American Portrayals on a Viral Video Site Maria A. Kopacz (bio) and Bessie Lee Lawton (bio) The camera shows two young people seated against a wall. The man, short-haired, sporting a T-shirt and a knit cap and holding a notepad, is interviewing the woman, who is dressed in a graphic tee and a short-sleeved cardigan. She is wearing light makeup and has long, curly hair. Both identify themselves as Native Americans. The interview is about the woman's tribal background, culture, the issues faced by her tribe, and the reality of growing up as a Native American. This amateur footage was posted on YouTube and looks as if it was shot for a college course project. Its candid discussion of Native issues is in stark contrast to the typical portrayals of Native people that we have grown accustomed to seeing in movies or on TV. Traditional media's marginalizing discourse about Native Americans is widely documented.1 The occasional appearances of Native Americans in movies, television, and newspapers portray these peoples through a narrow range of stereotypes, outside of the mainstream society. 2 Whereas other racial minorities have started receiving more respectful depictions, the Native image seems frozen in time.3 Serving as key sources of information about Native Americans for most people, media messages perpetuate distorted beliefs about this group and contribute to real-world discrimination.4 Online outlets for user-generated content (UGC) like YouTube have created environments for alternative depictions of marginalized groups, as UGC can be contributed by anyone with basic technology access.5 Preliminary findings on UGC relating to Native Americans confirm some favorable departures from the distortions prevalent in the old media.6 How are these counterstereotypical depictions received by the [End Page 241] audience? The interactive nature of UGC environments allows for addressing this question by examining audience ratings of online user-generated videos (UGV) as a function of Native American portrayals presented in the videos. This study provides us with a couple of knowledge gains. First, by exploring the relationships between racial portrayals and audience ratings, it expands the literature on audience interaction with race-related media content. Whereas much research addresses the effects of racial media stereotypes on real-world intergroup behavior, little is known about the extent to which audiences enjoy exposure to various racial portrayals. 7 The present data may help us understand whether stereotypical depictions of Native Americans improve or decrease audience ratings and what alternative, respectful portrayals may be conducive to viewers' enjoyment of the content. Second, this research moves the study of audience reactions to racial cues into a new mediated context and expands the literature on novel mass communication dynamics.8 The publicly displayed video ratings not only are expressions of audience reactions but also have the potential to shape the opinion climate about Native Americans and their cultures. Theoretical Rationale The theoretical motivation for this study is derived from the parasocial contact hypothesis.9 Drawing on Gordon Allport's original intergroup contact hypothesis, Alexis Tan, Yuki Fujioka, and Nancy Lucht argue that media can help reduce racial prejudice and ethnic stereotyping by providing majority members with opportunities for contact with racial minorities. 10 Even though this contact is mediated and lacks the dynamics of interpersonal communication, if substantial and evaluated positively, it may be sufficient to humanize members of an ethnic outgroup, consequently improving viewers' perceptions relating to that group. Edward Schiappa, Peter B. Gregg, and Dean E. Hewes found support for the hypothesis in their three-study design, demonstrating that extended, enjoyable exposure to television shows about gays, lesbians, and transvestites that depict these groups in diversified, counterstereotypical terms helps reduce stereotyping and improves attitudes toward these groups.11 Similar findings were obtained by Michelle Ortiz and Jake Harwood.12 [End Page 242] UGC outlets may be excellent contexts for such positive parasocial contact with ethnic and racial outgroups. First, most user-generated videos are documentary in nature, thus enhancing the realism of the parasocial interaction. Second, the contact can be enhanced by multiple outlets for interacting with the video authors and the video personages directly, like comments, e-mails, or video...

Property-driven Urban Change in Post-Socialist Shanghai: Reading the Television Series Woju

In late 2009, the television series Woju ([Formula: see text]) received extremely high audience ratings in major Chinese cities. Its visual narratives engage the public and comment on social developments by presenting detailed pictures of urban change in Shanghai and the everyday lives of a range of urban characters who are involved in and affected by the urban-restructuring process and represent three distinct social groups: “white-collar” immigrants, low-income local residents, and powerful officials. By analysing the visual narratives of these characters, this article highlights the loss of the city's historical identity and shows how the reorganization of urban space translates into a reallocation of resources, power and prestige among the social groups. The article also shows that Woju represents a new development in literary and television production in the age of the Internet and globalization; its imaginative construct of the city was based on transnational and virtual rather than local and neighbourhood experience. This also testifies to the loss of the city's established identity in cultural production.

Crowdsourcing credibility: The impact of audience feedback on Web page credibility

Social feedback in the form of audience ratings, community tags, recommendations, and text comments is becoming increasingly commonplace on the Web. Prior research has uncovered a number of Web site features that can impact its perceived credibility. However, to date research has not investigated whether social feedback on a Web page can influence the perceived credibility of the information on the page or increase or decrease the likelihood that an individual will subsequently use the information contained within it. This paper describes a study investigating whether one type of social feedback, audience ratings, can influence perceptions of credibility. The results of the study suggest that the type of audience feedback, positive, mixed, or negative, can influence perceptions of credibility while the size of the audience giving feedback does not. Also, audience feedback does not appear to increase the likelihood of use of the information on a web page.

장기 기획(長期 企劃) TV드라마 콘텐츠의 문화.경제적 효과 -일본 후지TV의 21년 장기기획 TV드라마 '북쪽 고향에서(北の国から)' 사례 분석-

본 연구는 '20년 이상의 장기 기획 TV드라마 콘텐츠가 창출하는 문화, 경제적으로 효과'에 대해 주목하고 있다. 연구결과 장기기획 TV드라마는 방송국의 시청률 제고에 결정적인 도움을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 후지TV의 21년 장기 기획 드라마 '북쪽의 고향에서'를 사례로 선정해 분석한 결과, 21년 동안 방송된 이 드라마의 시청률은 방송초기에 비해 종료기에 배 이상 높아진 것으로 나타났다. 또 연기자와 각본가 등 미디어 콘텐츠 생산인력을 육성, 그 나라의 콘텐츠생산능력 등 문화적 역량을 키우는데 큰 기여를 하는 것으로 분석됐다. 후지TV는 이 드라마를 시작하면서 2명의 남녀 연기자를 발굴, 지속적으로 키워감으로써 일본 연예계에 연기력으로 승부하는 새로운 배우를 배출하는 문화적 성과를 거두었다. 뿐만 아니라 장기 기획 드라마는 드라마가 촬영, 제작된 지역의 관광산업진흥 등 지역경제발전에도 결정적으로 기여하는 것으로 나타났다. 드라마 '북쪽의 고향에서'는 드라마 제작의 주무대였 던 홋카이도의 후라노라는 지역을 21년 동안 일본 국민들에게 알림으로써 후라노의 브랜드파워를 높이는데 결정적인 역할을 한 것으로 분석됐다. This study focuses on the cultural and economic effects created by long-term TV dramas that run more than 20 years. The result of this study shows that long-lasting TV dramas have significant influence in increasing audience ratings of TV broadcasting companies. An analysis of Fuji Television's "From the Northern Country" shows that the drama's audience rating has more than doubled at the end period in comparison to that at the beginning stage. The analysis shows that long-term dramas also greatly contribute to the improvement of nation's cultural capability including contents development competence by producing media contents related professionals such as actors, actresses and dramatists. Fuji Television picked an actor and an actress for the drama and kept developing their talent and make a cultural accomplishment to produce new talents who compete with performance ability for the Japanese Entertainment Business. In addition, long lasting TV dramas appear to significantly contribute to local economy by promoting tourism industry of the areas where dramas are filmed. By introducing Hurano in Hokkaido which was the main stage of "From the Northern Country" to Japanese people for 21 years, the drama played a decisive role in building Hurano's brand power.

The politics and practice of television ratings conventions: Australian and American approaches to broadcast ratings

As we now know, once you introduce audience ratings, as China has done, you have not just introduced ‘a measure’; you have introduced a huge apparatus that brings with it certain types of agreements, values and behaviours. No doubt, China's leaders saw the ratings as a neutral mechanism in mapping broadcast audiences. The history of ratings, however, is quite the opposite. It is a set of standards, values and conventions that drives particular kinds of expectations in organizations, technology and content. Audience ratings first provided a coordination rule for advertiser-supported media and then became a convention, harnessed by TV to change media economics. In this paper the authors provide an insight into how audience ratings, as a convention – a compact – emerged in Australia and America, and some of the major differences between them.

Attracting the un-served audience: the sustainability of long tail-based business models for cultural television content

Digital television services not only provide promise for interactive services, but also for long tail-based business models in terms of tailor-made content. As the share of culture in total linear television programming is diminishing owing to the supremacy of audience rating concerns, digital television services could act as an alternative gateway to deliver culture to a wider audience. This article presents the results of a market pilot study using the established video-on-demand (VOD) platform of Flanders’ main digital television operator for the wide-scale delivery of performing arts videos. Despite the promising pilot study results, we doubt whether the long tail principle is applicable to the delivery of avant-garde material to develop a viable digital television service.

2008 베이징올림픽 시청률의 시청자 프로파일에 관한 연구

The purpose of this research is placed on providing basic data for target marketing and organized strategy establishment through learning the rate of interest in accordance to the characteristics of demography through the program rating comparisons by sex distinctions, age (10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, over 50s), scholastic achievements (high school graduate, college graduate, graduate school graduate) and profession (technical/business operations, office work, service, self-employed, homemaker, student, un-employed) on the 541 related programs to the Beijing Olympic. To attain the purpose stated above, data for the metropolitan area of `AGB Nielsen Media Research` was exclusively selected for the subject of an analysis and for data processing, paired t-test and 1-way Repeated Measures ANOVA were conducted. As the result of the analysis, significant distinctions appeared statistically between the sex distinctions, age, scholastic achievements and the subgroups of professions. The results showed high audience ratings of females over males, audiences over 50s in the age groups, high school graduates and homemakers to be the highest to prove that like the results of the standard TV program ratings, the Olympic contents also had the same results.

Measuring Public Outreach

In the infrastructure planning process, the effective communication of information through media strategies is important in ensuring that the public is aware of and understands various infrastructure projects. To assess what media strategy is effective in involving the public, the information audience rate (IAR) was developed. This index shows the number of citizens who receive information released from government or planning authorities. Although the concept is the same as measuring the audience rate of television programs, IAR is a new and useful way to simultaneously evaluate several mass media sources. It is also applicable in planning a media strategy for different population groups. This case study, estimating the IAR of the Tokyo metropolitan area, illustrates how one group of suburban residents differs from another group–in this case, central business district (CBD) commuters and noncommuters. These groups represent two lifestyles: the CBD commuters tend to spend only nights and weekends in the suburbs. Of the 10 media considered, television and national newspaper columns had the highest IAR. The local newspaper column was effective for noncommuters, while the Internet and advertising posters in trains were effective for CBD commuters. Circulars and city bulletins were effective for both groups.

A Varying Coefficient Model to Measure the Effectiveness of Mass Media Anti-Smoking Campaigns in Generating Calls to a Quitline

BackgroundAnti-smoking advertisements are an effective population-based smoking reduction strategy. The Quitline telephone service provides a first point of contact for adults considering quitting. Because of data complexity, the relationship between anti-smoking advertising placement, intensity, and time trends in total call volume is poorly understood. In this study we use a recently developed semi-varying coefficient model to elucidate this relationship.MethodsSemi-varying coefficient models comprise parametric and nonparametric components. The model is fitted to the daily number of calls to Quitline in Victoria, Australia to estimate a nonparametric long-term trend and parametric terms for day-of-the-week effects and to clarify the relationship with target audience rating points (TARPs) for the Quit and nicotine replacement advertising campaigns.ResultsThe number of calls to Quitline increased with the TARP value of both the Quit and other smoking cessation advertisement; the TARP values associated with the Quit program were almost twice as effective. The varying coefficient term was statistically significant for peak periods with little or no advertising.ConclusionsSemi-varying coefficient models are useful for modeling public health data when there is little or no information on other factors related to the at-risk population. These models are well suited to modeling call volume to Quitline, because the varying coefficient allowed the underlying time trend to depend on fixed covariates that also vary with time, thereby explaining more of the variation in the call model.

Strategic practices by clicks-and-bricks and pure-play audio webcasters

This study applies the ‘attracting, informing, positioning and delivering’ (AIPD) model to determine the strategic practices used by audio webcasters. The content analysis results indicate that AIPD strategies are positively associated with media audience ratings, with the ‘clicks-and-bricks’ audio webcasters demonstrating higher levels of strategic AIPD performance. This study also finds that audio webcasters with better AIPD outcomes usually have higher online audience ratings. The results indicate significant differences in the strategic practices of clicks-and-bricks and pure-play audio webcasters in the dimensions of ‘attracting’ and ‘informing’.

Exposure of children and adolescents to alcohol advertising on Australian metropolitan free‐to‐air television

This study investigated the exposure of underage youth to alcohol television advertising on metropolitan free-to-air television in the five mainland capital city markets of Australia. Exposure levels (target audience rating points; TARPs) were obtained for all alcohol advertisements screened from November 2005 to October 2006 in each capital city market for: children 0-12 years; underage teens 13-17 years; young adults 18-24 years; and mature adults 25+ years. The 30 most exposed advertisements across age groups were then content-analysed for elements appealing to children and underage youth. In each of the five metropolitan markets, mature adults were most exposed to alcohol advertising. Children were exposed to one-third the level of mature adults and underage teens to approximately the same level as young adults. However, there was considerable variation in media weight between markets, such that underage teens in two markets had higher advertising TARPs than young adults in other markets. All 30 highest exposed advertisements contained at least one element known to appeal to children and underage youth, with 23 containing two or more such elements. Fifteen of the 30 advertisements featured an animal. The self-regulation system in Australia does not protect children and youth from exposure to alcohol advertising, much of which contains elements appealing to these groups.

A Portrait of Food and Drink in Commercial TV Series

This study examines the content and presentation of food and drink on fictional, commercial television. It provides the first comparison of food and drink consumption across different television program genres designated for different age groups. Data originated with a random sample of 50 taped episodes of children's shows, 50 episodes of “tween” programs (shows targeted for 9- to 14-year-olds), 40 episodes of afternoon soaps, and 50 episodes of prime time shows. The choice of TV series was based solely on the strength of Nielsen audience ratings. The study coded the foods for nutritional content and the drinks for alcoholic/nonalcoholic content, how they were used, and in what context. Findings indicate that foods were more commonly offered and consumed on children's shows, and that problematic foods (defined as oils, solid fats, and foods with added sugars) were significantly more prevalent in youth-oriented shows than in adult-oriented shows. Although there was only a negligible presence of alcohol on children's shows, the average hourly use of alcohol on the tween shows matched that of the adult programs; therefore, alcohol was as common in the shows directed at young audiences as in shows for adults. Negative outcomes were largely absent from food and drink behaviors on these TV series.

Las series de televisión de máxima audiencia

El presente estudio intenta analizar los valores educativos que los medios difunden y las iniciativas que se han puesto en práctica para favorecer una televisión de calidad. Así, en una primera parte se examina este panorama a través del análisis descriptivo de dos series de ficción televisiva escogidas en razón de sus cotas de audiencia internacional y en España: CSI y Friends. Las dos series tienen un enfoque común narrativo en cuanto a los personajes. Destaca la amistad y la solidaridad en la interacción social. Se plantean temas éticos, en CSI con máxima referencia a lo profesional.