Audience Research
AgrawaL, Binod C. (1999),
'Feeling the pulse of changing media audiences', Media Asia 26, 3. Methodological
problems in studying audiences in Asia.
Brazil, Jeff (1998), `You
talkin' to me?', American Demographics Dec. Why advertisers should be
more interested in the spending power of the `Grandma and Grandpa Generation'.
Cook, Richard (1998), 'Tackling
the problem of increased TV ad zapping', Campaign 25 Sept. A foolow-up
to the Green article below, speculating on ways of reaching absent TV
ad viewers.
Cooper, Roger (1996), 'The
status and future of audience duplication research:an assessment of
ratings-based theories of audience behavior', Journal of Broadcasting
& Electronic Media 40. Examines prevailing theories on viewer choice
of programmes, arguing that 'both the impact of structure on individual
choice and the impact of individual choice on structure' must be central
to any investigations.
Dickerson, Paul (1996),
'Let me tell us who I am: the discursive construction of viewer identity',
European Journal of Communication 11 (1). Argues that 'Just as viewing
television can be best understood as a contextually located activity,
so talking about viewing behaviour can be fruitfully explored with reference
to the context in which it occurs'.
Eastman, Susan Tyler & G.D.
Newton (1999), `Hitting promotion hard: a network response to channel
surfing and new competition', Journal of Applied Communication Research
27. A model for maximising the effectiveness of on-air promotion.
Edmondson, Brad (1997),
'TV execs to Nielsen: get SMART', American Demographics October. Describes
the new Systems for Measuring and Reporting Television (SMART), an attempt
to overcome the inadequacies of current audience measurement--which
is described as 'like trying to shovel smoke'.
Fairchild, Charles (1996),
'What you want when you want it: altering consumption and consuming
alternatives', Media, Culture & Societyv.18. How, through marketing,
so-called 'alternative' music has become just another genre--or more
specifically--'a category of inventory disguised as a musical genre,
emtirely invented and engineered as a marketing tool'.
Foss, Karen A. & A.F.
Alexander (1996), 'Exploring the margins of television viewing', Communication
Reports 9:1, Winter. Examines viewers at the 'margins', that is, self-defined
heavy viewers and nonviewers who neither own nor watch television. Both
groups to freely and uncritically resort to 'addiction'metaphors.
Fost, Dan (1998), 'Growing
older, but not up', American Demographics Sept. Boys and their toys.
Fetto, John & Jennifer Lach
(2000), 'Let's go to the movies', American Demographics 22:3 March.
Reports on 'A front-row view of America's movie-going audience'.
Frith, Simon (2000), 'The
black box: the value of television and the future of television research',
Screen 41:1, Spring. A very good analysis of where research on television
audiences has been, and could go in the future.
Gosschalk, Brian (1997),
'Research on research: attitudes to the industry', Admap 1997. How market
research is regarded in Britain.
Green, Harriet (1998), 'Half
of UK viewers shun TV ad breaks', Campaign 18 Sept. British research
confirms what we already suspect.
Gwilliam, Jane (1997), 'Baby
Boomers--the same the world over?, Admap October. The 'rules' for communication
with an entire generation, who 'need to be treated as adults' (I thought
they already were!).
Hall, Graham (1999), `Alphabet
soup', Admap July/Aug. Criticises the compulsion to label generations
for marketing purposes.
Hill, Annette (2000), 'Fearful
and Safe: Audience Response to British Reality Programming', Television
& New Media 1:2, May. Rather than bewailing the rise of reality programming
(as most criticism has done), this study investigates what viewers make
of it.
Horsley, Chris (2000), 'The
true cost of change', Admap February. Changes in television audience
measurement in the UK.
Juluri, Vamsee (1998), `Globalizing
audience studies: The Audience and its Landscape and Living Room Wars',
Critical Studies in Mass Communication 15. An evaluation of recent academic
work on television audiences.
Kreitzman, Leon (1997),
'Older people and the media', Journal of Communication Management 2,1.
Information on the media use of the 'older' (ie over 50) segment of
the British population.
Lealand, Geoff (1997), Ratings
and More Damn Ratings: Measuring Television Viewing in New Zealand.
Paper to the Screen Producers & Directors Association conference,
Wellington, November 6-8. A 19pp paper I wrote for my participation
in 'The Ratings Game' panel at the SPADA conference. It details my analysis
and criticism of the structure and use of Peoplemeter ratings, the primary
currency of contemporary television
Lewis, Justin (1999), `The
opinion poll as a cultural form', International Journal of Cultural
Studies 2(2). Rather than taking public opinion polling at face value,
this critiques the agendas of forms of audience research.
Livingstone, Sonia (1998),
'Audience research at the crossroads: thev 'implied audience' in media
and cultural theory', European Journal of Cultural Studies 1(2). Argues
for new directions for audience research, moving beyond the canon of
reception research through challenges to theories of the 'implied audience'.
Livingstone, Sonia (1995),
'On the difficulties of measuring everyday experience', Semiotica 104.
A critique of Kubey and Csikszentminhalyi's Television and the Quality
of Life.
Lunt, Peter & S. Livingstone
(1996), 'Rethinking the focus group in media and communications research',
Journal of Communication 46(2), Spring. A very useful analysis of a
very useful research method.
Macleod, Sandra (1988),
'The power of the media and how to measure it', Journal of Communication
Management 2:4. The standard PR approach to media.
Moon, Nick (1997), 'How
not to misinterpret opinion polls', Admap April. How to sort out the
useful from the superficial in opinion polling.
Nayyar, Seema & J. Lach
(1998), `We're being watched', American Demographics Oct. Describes
the intrusion of marketing research into all aspects of American life.
Nelson, Robin (1996), 'From
Twin Peaks, USA, to lesser peaks, UK: Building the postmodern TV audience',
Media, Culture & Society, v. 18. How market research was instrumental
in the development of the UK series Heartbeat.
Peiser, Wolfram & Jochen
Peter (2000), 'Third-Person Perception of Television-Viewing Behavior',
Journal of Communication Winter. A German study of the judgements people
make about other peoples' TV viewing.
Perse, Elizabeth M. (1996),
'Sensation seeking and the use of television for arousal', Communication
Reports 9:1, Winter. Research which supports the not-very-revolutionary
contention that 'arousal and uses and gratifications' offer ways of
understanding 'the appeal in certain types of media content for different
people'.
Rae, Bernadette (1997),
'Fill in the Blanks Generation', New Zealand Herald Aug 9. Details research
done by Bates Advertising , on the New Zealand 'youth market'. But it
really only posites another set of generalisations, against the much-quoted
generalisations about 'Generation X'.
Riggs, Karen E. (1996),
'Television use in a retirement community', Journal of Communication
46 (1), Winter. A study of television use in a retirement community
of well-educated, upper middle-class Americans shows that they actively
seek out 'quality' and news-oriented programming, as a means of participating
in their own and the wider community.
Silman, Richard & J.
Samuels (1997), 'Who are the TV Rejectors', Admap April. It seems that
even those people who don't watch TV advertisers get shoved into a demographic!
Stipp, Horst (1997), 'Confessions
of a Nielsen Household', American Demographics March. Interesting insights
into how TV ratings are constructed in the US. I wonder, thought, how
an employee of NBC managed to get on the Nielson panel. But he does
make the very pertinent comment, ' Remember, it's just an estimate.'
Syfret, Toby (1995), 'Measuring
television audiences beyond 2001', Admap November. Whether or not peoplemeters
will be adequate in the future.
'What we watched in 1995:
The Top 50 Programmes', National Business Review , Jan 19 1996. A two-page
spread which also appeared in major daily newspapers in early January.
Who put it in is not clear but it could be useful for interrogating
who the 'we' is and what is meant by 'watched'--or compare the results
with what your students watch.
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