Audience measurement : a quick look at its history

Although the ratings industry is a relatively new one in China (since the beginning of the 90's, and with an increasing trend since the mid- 90's), this has existed for a much longer time in Europe and the United States.

1 -  Post-war : the very first needs for ratings

A �C Only limited information available in a (very) small TV market��.

At the very beginning of the TV industry, just after WW1 in most countries (just before in the UK with the BBC), one had only few information : it was limited to the number of TV sets sold and thus the audience potential of��..the single channel as there used to be only 1 channel.

TV stations knew few about their audiences and could only get a glimpse of their likes/dislikes through the letters they received from the viewers.

It was hard to base on the opinion of these people only as they did not represent at all the opinion of all viewers and they were only a few of them writing to TV stations.

(since the surveys exist, it has been shown that taking into account the opinions of these people would bias the results as they are very different from the average viewer).

B �C ��.but  the need for some specific surveys in an expending market

In the mid-50's, the number of TV sets increased fast in both Europe and the US to reach millions of units. As an example, there were 3 million TV HH in the USA in 1950 and this figure rocketed to 57 Million a decade later; at that time it was also high in Europe with 11 million HH in the UK, 5 million in Germany and 2 million in France.

It became necessary to get more detailed, more accurate information regarding the audience. This is at that time that the very first "TV surveys" began to be conducted.

Unfortunately, their results were far from accurate : conducted only at some periods of time during the year (not on a continuous basis), they enabled only to have a quick and better idea on the TV consumption habit, but only roughly like the most viewed timeslots, the most watched types of programs or even a general idea of the number of people having watched a program.

 2 -  The diary era : the sixties and seventies

Only by the mid-sixties did the surveys improve significantly because at that time TV had become a mass media reaching over 50 % of people in the developed countries. At the same time, many countries saw their offer of TV channels increase which meant the end of the "single channel system" and of course the need for information on shares.

Simultaneously, in several countries, the research services of the TV stations began to conduct audience research using a "diary postal panel".

What is a "postal diary panel" ? It is a sample of individuals who have accepted to participate in the survey and who have to fill a weekly diary with the list of programs broadcast by each station.

This system looks like the one used nowadays in the "diary cities" in China except for 2 points :

- the diaries of the 60's included the lists of the programs (there were few of them and     few channels available)

- the diaries were sent back by the post �Coffice
Turnover existed yet in order to avoid a panelist staying too long inside the panel.

With some slight improvements (timeslots rather than programs, nicer format of diaries, pick-up of diaries weekly,��.), this system has remained the major source of audience viewing till the beginning of the 80's.

It proved to be successful for several reasons :

- as long as the panelist filling the diaries do it with care, the information is accurate and reliable and give TV stations detailed figures on their audiences and on their programs.
- as a paper questionnaire, it was possible to include additional questions such as the expectations in terms of programming, the likes/dislikes��in order to improve the knowledge on a more qualitative side.

Anyway, with the increasing role of advertisement, a new type of measurement was necessary in order to have more accurate data (possibly on a minute by minute basis rather than on the 15 minutes or even 30 minutes basis with diaries), and above all faster data (need for audiences the following day rather than having to wait a week or more).
These new needs lead the way towards a new kind of measurement; the electronic measurement.

 3 -  A new system : the audimeter

A �C the start : the early 70's

Although some technical methods had originally been tested in the US by the end of the 50's (the US was by far the most advanced country in terms of TV penetration), the initial tests "in live" with electronic systems called "audimeters" (people-meters now) began jointly in the UK and the US in the early 70's. In the UK, AGB (formerly part of Taylor Nelson) was one of the leading companies. In the US, AC Nielsen was involved a lot.

B �C the methodology : representative sample measured electronically

 The initial method (which has hardly changed since then) consisted in having an audimeter (a little black box) linked to a TV set in a sample of HH representative of the TV population (population with at least one TV set). The audimeter measured with extended accuracy (on a minute basis, and later on a second basis !) the state of TV (on or off) and identified also the channel watched.
Technically, the information were stocked inside the memory of the audimeter and transferred overnight through telephone lines to the processing center.

C �C the advantages : mainly 2 big ones

 Data is available on the following day. This was the main factor for its initial success when compared to the diary data. Channels could adapt their programming faster when they realized a program did poor results.

Data consisted of minute by minute ratings and enabled complementary analysis for both channels and advertisers, especially with the growing role of advertisements spots (when to broadcast the spots, on which channels����).

 D �C the development : a quick and huge success

 Following a period of tests that lasted till the very end of the 70's, the eighties saw a huge development of this new measurement system that began to compete head on head with the traditional diary surveys used in most countries where TV was monitored and measured.

By 1985, all industrialized countries (at that time all the countries with a significant TV and advertisement market) began to switch from diaries to use the people-meter system. Interestingly, only one major market kept a non-electronic measurement system : Japan.

Today, people-meter is widely recognized as the "best" system and is widely used in many countries and constantly expanding.

E �C the challenges : still improving the system

 Although the audimeter/people-meter measurement system is acknowledged as the state-of-the-art technology to measure audience accurately and in a short lap of time, many improvements have began to take place since the mid-nineties in order to ensure always more reliable data. Amongst them, we can mention :

- increase of sample sizes of HH
- additional technologies to include specific watching such as VCR or VCD or even now DVD
- accuracy on WHO is watching TV������

By the year 2000, with the ever changing world of both media and TV, and with the ever increasing needs for the media industry, research is still going on to develop more sophisticated "meters" that could include not only quantitative information but also and above all qualitative information such as "satisfaction brought by a program" or "degree of attention the viewers have in front of a program"����.

Even if it seems now difficult to neither evaluate how this can be done nor give any agenda for the completion, there is undoubtfully a new era beginning for the electronic measurement of TV.