Ratings Analysis: Theory and Practice (Routledge Communication Series) - Tapa blanda

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.

Much has changed in the ratings industry since the publication of the first edition of "Ratings Analysis: Theory and Practice". In addition to changes in the business of audience measurement, there have been important changes in the electronic media industries themselves. As a result, significant trends have become apparent in the behaviour of mass audiences. Noting these changes, this second edition updates and expands historical and analytical material designed to give students the background information they need to understand audience research. Aiming to end some of the confusion and lead to an improved understanding of both audience research and the ways in which it can be used, this volume is divided into three major sections. Section 1 reviews the many users of audience research and how they tend to look at the numbers. Section 2 considers the audience data itself, reviewing the history, methods and reporting formats of commercial research. Section 3 provides a way to understand and analyze audience data, including general framework for explaining audience behaviour to rather specific analytical techniques.