Chapter 10
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What are different ways that electronic
media companies promote
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How about feedback?
 What types of feedback do they get
 What is it good for
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Promotion
 Is very important in electronic media
▪ Occurs mostly when something new happens
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New TV show
New Movie
Radio Contest
Video Game
 Promotion today occurs year round
▪ Due to year round release of media products
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Promotion
 Promotional Spots (promos)
▪ One of the easiest methods
of TV & Radio promotion
▪ Cross Promote
▪ When companies with multiple media forms
 Promos across the media they own
 What is a company that cross promotes, give example?
▪ Snipes
▪ Pop-ups that appear along the bottom/corner during program
▪ Developed to counter ad/commercial skipping
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Trailers
 At beginning of movies & DVD’s
▪ To promote other products by the same company
 Media forms use each other for promotions
▪ TV -> Radio
▪ Movies -> Internet
▪ Movies - > TV
▪ Other forms of media are also used for promotion
 Billboards
 Busses
 Newspapers
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Source Code Trailer
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The best promotion is
▪ Word of Mouth
 Promotion is often combined with
▪ Advertising
▪ Public relations
▪ The building of good will
 Station Tours, Answering e-mails, Public Service Activities
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Publicity
▪ Similar to promotion, except it’s free
▪ Movie/Music review, news coverage
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Forms of Audience Feedback
 There are numerous feedback methods used
▪ Fan Mail – Historical method of getting feedback
▪ Internet – Allows a lot of feedback
▪ Comments, Chatrooms,
▪ To help with plots & storylines
▪ Unwitting feedback
▪ Purchasing products
▪ Albums sales, Internet downloads
 Determine radio playlists
 Audience Research Companies
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Nielsen
▪ Started by doing market research for drugstores
▪ Launched National Radio Index in 1942
▪ Reported how many people listened to various programs
▪ Began adding reports for TV audiences in 1950
▪ VCR & DVR
▪ Required adjustments to determine program viewing
 DVR made tracking easier
 Internet tracking
▪ Nielsen bought “NetRatings” to track popular sites
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Audience Research Companies
 Arbitron
▪ Formed in 1948
▪ Initially measured local television & radio audiences
▪ Dropped TV in 1994
 Focus now on commercial radio
▪ Other companies
▪ Have tried to compete with the top two
▪ Cost & expense often results in failure
 Media Ratings Council
▪ Formed to approve new equipment & gathering techniques
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Sampling
▪ Using a segment of the population to determine viewing habits of the
whole
▪ Areas selected match the make-up of the U.S. populations
 Random Sampling
▪ Where selected homes are picked through a randomized
process.
▪ College students became a part of this sample in 2007
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Sampling
 Sample sizes
▪ Sample sizes have increased
▪ As the number of households and TV options increased
 Focused samples
▪ Where only a specific audience is sampled
▪ ie, Spanish speakers
▪ What would be an example of another specific audience
 Replacements
▪ After data is collected
▪ Households need to submit it
 If they don’t alternate homes are used to replace them
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Collecting Data
▪ Most data collection requires the use of equipment
 Peoplemeter
▪ Device used to determine who is watching
▪ & what they are watching
 Local People Meter (LPM)
▪ Smaller device that is worn
▪ Monitors audio being played nearby
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Collecting Data
 Diaries
▪ Written survey that all members over 12 use to record
their daily viewing habits
▪ Accuracy has been difficult to maintain
▪ Has led to increased use of meters
 Discrepancies
▪ Changes in methodology
▪ Person completing surveys
▪ Consistency of people meter use
▪ All result in possible inaccuracy in data
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Quantitative Data
 The two most common statistics reported
▪ Ratings
▪ The percentage of households watching a particular TV program
 Or listening to a radio station
▪ Share
▪ Also a percentage but based on the number of homes
 With radio or TV turned on
▪ Hyping
▪ Used to increase ratings during important survey periods
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Qualitative research
▪ Research used to learn more about those being reached
 Psychographics
▪ People’s lifestyles and characteristics
▪ How these relate to media preferences & buying habits
 Engagement
▪ How effective is the brand communication
▪ Are the commercials being recalled
▪ This is valuable to advertising
▪ Can determine ad rates
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Pre-testing
 Music preference research
▪ Used by stations to select songs to retain listeners
▪ Conducted through
 Phone calls and surveys
 Kiosks in malls
 Minitheater/Focus group
▪ Used for radio/TV/movies
▪ Groups of people are invited to consume media
▪ Complete questionnaires (minitheater)
▪ Discuss songs (focus group)
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Pre-testing
 Used to weed out
▪ Weaker programs (reviewing pilots)
▪ Unappealing commercials
 Helps to identify fixable problems in
▪ Leads to additional editing
▪ Then pretested again
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Other Forms of Research
▪ Q-scores
▪ Results from surveys sent to random people
▪ Performers and shows/programs are rated
▪ Educational
▪ Tests are conducted before & after
▪ To see if information shared is being learned
▪ Pay Channels (HBO, etc)
▪ Test to see find ways to retain subscribers
▪ Websites
▪ Tested for navigation and poor design
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How audience measurement is used
 Selling Time
▪ Most important use of data is to determine ad rates
 The higher the rating the greater the cost
 Industry Health
▪ Helps to determine strength of networks and other media formats
 Comparison
▪ Measurement helps media companies know how they are
comparing to their competitors
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How audience measurement is used
 Program decisions
▪ Helps executives decide which shows continue and which
shows are pulled
▪ Weak shows are quickly removed from the air
 Product Placement
▪ Companies use research to determine where the
placement of their products will be most effective
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Issues and the Future
▪ Snipes are often considered annoying
▪ Promotion & Sales departments often clash
▪ Both want primetime for their spots
▪ Accuracy of measurement services
▪ Is often questioned
 DVR’s, Time shifting, Error in data collecting
▪ Poor sample group
▪ Media outlets and forms is increasing
▪ Current sample size may not cover all types of consumers