Sources of research

Introduction:

In this blog post, I am going to explain the what the purpose of media research agencies and organisations are and I am going to explain three different types of media agencies and organisations. The three organisations I have chosen to research are the BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board), Ofcom (the Office of Communications) and the NRS (the National Readership Survey).

Purpose of Media Research Agencies:

The purpose of media research agencies are to help gather information and statistics on the level of viewers, readers or listeners a program or channel has.

This is a important factor in post-production of a media product because it allows the makers to see how popular or what the viewer retention rate is that the product made/making. The purpose of collecting viewer hits also depends on how much the company makes in terms of profit and whether or not the program/channel should be continued on air or not.

Some media research companies also offer services to the public that allow them to comment or complain if the audience feels that the prgramme was inapropriate and not following broadcasting legislation. Audience have the power to complain and take action (through the media agency) to stop the programme being aired, or changed to a different timeslot/channel.

BARB:

The BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) is a media angency which is based within the United kingdom that collects and presents data on television ratings and audience viewer figures. The company is owned by the BBC, the ITV companies, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.

The BARB collects data by gathering a wide range of volunteering target consumers, and they fit a device within their television sets which allows them to detect the channels and programmes they watch

"Currently, BARB have approximately 5,100 homes (equating to approximately 11,500 individuals)1 participating in the panel. The box records exactly what programmes they watch, and the panellists indicate who is in the room watching by pressing a button on a remote control handset. The data are collected overnight and published as overnight ratings at around 9.30 the following morning for use by TV stations and the advertising industry. The following week, final figures are released which are a combination of the overnight figures with 'timeshift' figures (people recording a programme and watching it within a week)." (1)

"BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) is the primary provider of television audience measurement in the UK. It covers all channels broadcasting across all platforms - terrestrial, satellite and cable in both analogue and digital. BARB audience measurement data underpins the trading currency for broadcasters, advertisers and their agencies." (2)

(3)One example of the kind of data that the BARB collect and present are:

Ofcom:

Ofcom is a media research company that is approved by the United Kingdom Government on legislations and laws on what can be broadcasted within the UK. They also deal with media products such as telecommunications, radiocommunications and postal products.

"Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002 and received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003.

Ofcom has wide-ranging powers across the television, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from what might be considered harmful or offensive material. Some of the main areas Ofcom presides over are licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse." (4)

(5)Some of the services that Ofcom offer to the public, consumers, stakeholders, analysts, licensing and the media are:

NRS:

 

The NRS (National Readership Survey) is a media research agency which collects information and data on audience viewing and reading for print advertising trading (newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc) within the UK.

"The survey covers over 250 of Britain's major newspapers and magazines, showing the size and nature of the audiences they achieve." (6)

"The National Readership Survey is a joint venture company in the UK between the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising(IPA), the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) and the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA)." (7)

(8) An overview on what methods and what kind of data the NRS collect are:

Bibliography:

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasters%27_Audience_Research_Board (19/09/2012)

(2) http://www.barb.co.uk/about/structure?_s=4 (19/09/2012)

(3)http://www.barb.co.uk/index/index (19/09/2012)

(4)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom (19/09/2012)

(5)http://www.ofcom.org.uk/ (19/09/2012)

http://www.nrs.co.uk/ (19/09/2012)

(7)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Readership_Survey (19/09/2012)

(6)http://www.nrs.co.uk/purpose.html (19/09/2012)

(8)http://www.nrs.co.uk/interview.html (19/09/2012)