Ratings and Audience Measurement

One commonly used, though controversial, approach to conducting research on media audiences involves ratings analysis. Ratings analysis is the analysis of the audience size and composition data produced by audience measurement firms for use in both the commercial and noncommercial media sectors. Ratings data primarily are used by media outlets and advertisers to determine advertising rates, to assess the performance of media content, and to develop and assess strategies related to the production and placement of content. Ratings data are also are used by policy makers to assess media market dynamics and (most important to this chapter) by academics to develop and test theoretical perspectives regarding the dynamics of how audiences consume media and how media institutions navigate the audience marketplace (Stavitsky 2000; Napoli 2003; Webster, Phalen, and Lichty 2005). Perhaps the best-known types of audience ratings that have been used in academic research are the television ratings produced by measurement firms such as The Nielsen Company and TNS Media Intelligence, and the radio ratings produced by measurement firms such as Arbitron and RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research). And, increasingly, internet audience ratings, produced by firms such as comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings, are being utilized in academic research (see e.g. Webster and Lin 2002; Bermejo 2007). As these examples suggest, the term ratings is most often associated with audiences for the electronic media, though print media also utilize audience data produced by commercial measurement firms that indicate the number and demographic characteristics of readers of individual publications. Firms such as Simmons and MRI (Mediamark Research Inc.) produce data for a wide range of print publications. However, for whatever reason (perhaps a comparative lack of academic interest in print media audiences), academic ratings analyses have overwhelmingly focused on electronic media audiences. Thus, electronic media ratings,