Behind the Scenes of TV Ratings Measurements (Part 2)

In Part 1, you were introduced to the vocabulary used in measuring television audiences and to the application of statistics as a relatively reliable way of providing quantitative and qualitative information about the viewers. BBM and Nielsen Media Research combine their efforts to measure audiences in Canada. The second part of this series explores the ways used to obtain information, an introduction to the "sweeps" and the exploration of Joost as a solution to many sources of inaccuracies.

The source of raw data is obtained through the use of television diary surveys, the people meters and the PPM's. BBM conducts Canada-wide surveys in the Fall and in the Spring in both major and minor markets. In major television markets, such as Montreal, Halifax, Kitchener and Vancouver, just to name a few, an additional Summer survey is conducted. The Fall surveys, also known as the November sweeps, are arguably the most influential of all. It is conducted during the span of four weeks, usually starting in late-October. In order to carry out the sweeps, BBM provides its panel (or sample) with the Television Diary and gathers audience data from each person in the sample households. As previously indicated, the data is not only quantitative, but also qualitative. BBM collects demographic information (age, gender, languages, employment, education, marital status, etc.), general household consumption, lifestyle activities and basic media usage, among others. People who voluntarily participate in these surveys are asked to record all the television watching activity for a specified period of time during the survey's total length. All the data is sent back to BBM, where it is processed and published about three months later. The sweeps are important because they are used by the television networks to set advertising prices in the form of cost-per-thousand for each and every broadcast show.

The people meters are used in Canada throughout the year to measure daily audiences. They are devices installed in the TV sets, and more recently in modern television devices, such as satellite receptors and digital video recording devices. When a person in a household wishes to watch television, he or she must press a button on a remote control that tells the meter who is in front of the television set. When the individual leaves the room, another button is pressed to indicate that he or she is no longer watching. A newer device is being used now in Quebec. It is called the portable people meter or PPM. Its success in measuring audiences is the result of a joint effort of television and radio networks, BBM NMR and the sample audience. The networks encode an inaudible sound signal in their broadcast shows that the PPM picks up on. Each program has a different sound code attached to it. Each viewer in the sample is given his or her own PPM. When they are watching TV, the PPM will record the sounds encoded in each program and then send the information to BBM NMR. Since each program has a specific sound code, all the data collected is used to count viewers for a specific program. This video shows how it works.

In Canada, both the people meters and the PPM's collect the data throughout the day in a minute-per-minute form, and send it over to BBM NMR on a nightly basis. Other systems, which are not used in Canada but are available in other countries, include the Real Time People Meters, which collect minute-per-minute information and send it to the measuring companies with a small three-minute delay. Since it is not processed, the data may not be as accurate as other daily or weekly information provided by BBM. The implications of real time measurements are immense. Producers have the power of modifying programming according to audience reactions instantly. Television becomes this two-way conversation with its audience and approximates, in a sense, to live theatre performance.

A while back, E. G. Media reported on the creation of Joost, the internet-based television software. This new generation of broadcasting systems has an important strength as audience measurement is concerned. When watching a show on Joost, all the viewers count. At least quantitatively, measuring the audience of a program becomes almost as accurate and effortless as it can be. Qualitatively, because the higher level of anonymity in Internet, some statistical methods and surveys must still be used in this case.

This wraps up the theory behind BBM NMR's television ratings coverage. Next time, in the last part of the TV ratings series, we will dig deeper on the ethics and the social consequences of rating measurements.

Stay tuned!