A very important statistical index to reflect the viewing situation of TV viewers by sampling the target audience is "viewing rate". Statistically speaking, the definition of ratings refers to the percentage of viewers (families) who watch a certain channel (program) in a certain period of time. Sometimes it is also expressed by the number of target audiences.
In fact, the ratings survey is a statistic of the number of viewers. Theoretically, ratings are measured by population. In fact, due to the limitation of survey means and survey system, at present, we can't really count by people, but mostly by households. The audience survey work of Guizhou TV, Guizhou investigation team and Guiyang dispatching team is mainly based on household sampling survey. Although the survey of CCTV- sophomores takes individuals as the sample unit, it is impossible for every family in China to have a TV set, and most families still watch TV as a whole family. Therefore, the "audience rating" data obtained by the audience rating survey agency is actually closer to the audience rating percentage, which is the product of the audience rating and the average number of households in the survey area.
Let's look at an actual data. According to the survey data of CCTV- sophomores, the audience rating of Guizhou Satellite TV Channel in Guiyang is10: 30 on July 2, 1999, which means that there are 236,000 people watching Guizhou Satellite TV programs out of a population of1685 million in Guiyang at this time. Each viewing point represents16,850 viewers, while the viewing rate of 14 indicates that there are 235,900 people watching the program.
Audience rating is the main basis used by TV editorial department to judge and evaluate the TV audience's love for a channel or a program, and to decide the adjustment or selection of the program, so as to make the production and arrangement of the program more reasonable and provide objective basis for the improvement of the channel and the improvement of the program quality.
When planning an advertising plan, an advertising agency should decide to buy different advertising time slots or specific TV programs or put on different TV channels according to the predicted ratings and audience distribution, and can calculate how many people the predetermined advertising information can reach and how many times these people contact the advertising information, so as to reduce the blindness of advertising.
In advertising management, TV stations also need to take ratings as the main basis for determining advertising fees for different program periods or a specific program, and provide advertising agents with advertising prices for different channels, different time periods and different programs according to the expected ratings and audience structure distribution, thus standardizing their own advertising management. According to the principle of market economy, when the average audience rating of the same TV channel is high, the advertising price is relatively high. Between different TV stations (or TV channels), in addition to different coverage, advertising prices will vary greatly due to different average ratings. Due to the change of program content, the ratings of some programs broadcast by TV channels for a long time will rise and fall, and the actual broadcast price will fluctuate, which is also a flexible market principle.
It should be pointed out that there are many factors that affect the change of ratings, among which "time", "region", "channel" and "program" are the most important.
Time factor: the audience mainly watches TV according to their living habits, and generally watches TV at night and holidays. In advertising management, TV stations divide the daily advertising time into four periods: A, B, C and D, and some even subdivide the A period into special A period, A 1 period and A2 period. The ratings in different time periods vary greatly, and accordingly, the advertising prices in different time periods will also vary greatly.
Geographical factors: Because the target audience of the sample survey is different in different regions, the distribution of viewing situation will be very different. For example, there will be differences in ratings between urban and rural areas; The ratings of Guizhou Satellite TV Channel in Guiyang, Guizhou Province and the whole country will also be different.
Channel factor: Because each TV channel is liked by different audiences, the average ratings among TV channels will vary greatly. According to the survey results of CCTV- Sophomore in various provinces and regions of China, among the numerous channels of Shangxing TV, except CCTV, basically the local channels in this province have the advantages of local audiences. In different regions, due to the different number of programs and channels that viewers can see, the ratings of each channel will naturally be scattered.
Program factor: Program quality is an important factor affecting the overall ratings of the channel. Especially when a channel broadcasts TV dramas that most viewers like at a certain time, it will have a certain impact on the ratings of other local channels. Under special circumstances, programs generally recognized by the audience will get better ratings in a larger geographical scope. For example, CCTV's Spring Festival Evening, in addition to the party, the national ratings are very high; Hunan Satellite TV's weekend variety show Happy Camp also has high ratings in other provinces and regions. When Guizhou Satellite TV broadcast a TV series in June of 1998+00, the audience rating in Beijing had reached about 14%.
It can be seen that ratings are so important for TV programs, advertising business planners and advertisers. Any powerful and well-managed advertising company will spend a lot of money to collect and buy audience survey data from social survey institutions and carefully analyze and study the ratings of various TV stations. For TV stations, doing well in programs and advertisements may cost more than any advertising company.