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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.

This is the introductory part to the processes involved in measuring television audience. Every week E. G. Media Blog reports on the top ten television programs in Canada based on average minute audience estimates generated by BBM Nielsen Media Research. Although, for practical reasons, I call them ratings, this is not exactly what they truly are. A rating in TV measurement is a statistical estimate of the size of a television program's audience relative to what is known as the total universe, expressed as a percentage. The weekly data presented here on a weekly basis measures the average audience of a program during each broadcast minute.

Here's the follow up of the first critical article I posted last month. This one looks at the semiotics behind advertising and what Roland Barthes calls "myths." Put in simple terms, a myth is, for Barthes, a second-level semiology. A semiotic analysis involves the analysis of the relationship between the signifier (or "thing," as Williamson puts it) and the signified (or social "idea") as they come together to form a sign that is used in all acts of communication. Barthes makes a point about the arbitrary relationship among these communicative elements.

It's big, very big. It's cool, hip, shiny and appealing. It is colourful and fun. It is not a bird, a plane or Superman. It is what critics and beta testers are calling the future of television broadcasting. It is Joost.
Brought by Skype creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, Joost began broadcasting to its beta users in May, and today, the hype can only get bigger. The program doesn't simply deliver video, it turns the computer into a free on-demand high quality TV. It works as a regular p2p by allowing Joost clients to download shows from a server and then share them with other users in real time, lowering the pressure on the server's capacity. The technology is getting people very excited. The reasons for this are abundant.