Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research provides a thorough and up-to-date presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the to

This 4th edition of Ratings Analysis describes and explains the current audience information system that supports economic exchange in both traditional and evolving electronic media markets. Responding to the major changes in electronic media distribution and audience research in recent years, Ratings Analysis provides a thoroughly updated presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the tools for becoming informed and discriminating consumers of audience information. This updated edition covers: International markets, reflecting the growth in audience research businesses with the expansion of advertising into new markets such as China. Emerging technologies, reflecting the ever increasing ways to deliver advertising electronically and through new channels (social media, Hulu) Illustrates applications of audience research in advertising, programming, financial analysis, and social policy; Describes audience research data and summarizes the history of audience measurement, the research methods most often used, and the kinds of ratings research products currently available; and Discusses the analysis of audience data by offering a framework within which to understand mass media audiences and by focusing specifically to the analysis of ratings data. Appropriate for all readers needing an in-depth understanding of audience research, including those working in advertising, electronic media, and related industries, Ratings Analysis also has much to offer academics and policy makers as well as students of mass media.

This second edition of Ratings Analysis provides a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the tools to become savvy, discriminating consumers of the audience information that floods the electronic media --from broadcasting, to cable, to the World Wide Web. Reflecting a highly practical orientation, Ratings Analysis focuses on the types of data media professionals encounter in their day-to-day work. Readers are introduced to the various applications of audience research in advertising, programming, financial analysis, and social policy. The text also covers the growth of the audience measurement business, and how audience ratings information currently is created and packaged, concluding with a discussion of how media audiences take shape and the analytical techniques commonly used to study them. Key features of the second edition include: -- An overview of the major types of audience research, -- Current examples of the most common audience research reports, -- A complete glossary of audience research terms, and -- A listing of the major suppliers of syndicated audience research. Appropriate for advanced courses in audience research, media research, and programming, this second edition provides a thorough and up-to-date presentation of the ratings industry and the analysis process.

With an emphasis on the needs of less developed media markets, this practical & user-friendly handbook examines how radio & television audience research is carried out & used, its purposes & how to interpret its findings. The Handbook provides examples of audience-research questionnaires, up-to-date audience & media data from around the world & training exercises to help the student learn through practice & investigation.

Characterized by its multi-level interdisciplinary character, communication has become a variable field -- one in which the level of analysis varies. This has had important ramifications for the study of communication because, to some extent, the questions one asks are determined by the methods one has available to answer them. As a result, communication research is characterized by the plethora of both qualitative and quantitative approaches used by its practitioners. These include survey and experimental methods, and content, historical, and rhetorical analyses. A variety of tools has been developed in cognitive psychology and psychophysiology which attempts to measure "thinking" without asking people how they do it. This book is devoted to exploring how these methods might be used to further knowledge about the process of communication. The methods chosen have all been used extensively in cognitive and experimental psychology. Each chapter in this book is designed to describe the history of the method being introduced, the theory behind it, how to go about using it, and how it has already been used to study some area of communication. The methods introduced here vary widely in terms of the amount of equipment and training needed to use them. Some require only theoretical knowledge and a paper and pencil; others require more elaborate hardware and software for implementation. These methods also vary widely in terms of what sorts of variables they can be used to measure. Some of them adapt quite readily to traditional communication variables like persuasion, attitude change, and knowledge; others are more applicable to process type variables such as attention, arousal, involvement, encoding, and retrieval.