How do television networks know viewer statistics?
In: Technology
Different countries have different methods.
In the U.S. (and I believe the UK) as some others have mentioned households hook boxes up to their TV set up and their viewing behaviour is captured and sent to the ratings company. Household members have a little remote to indicate which members of the household are watching the set. I believe diaries have been phased out in the US though I could be wrong.
In Canada, household members agree to carry around little devices that pick up silent codes from TV programs and send this data back to the ratings company. This technology is used in other countries as well and in Canada it’s also used to measure radio listening. In smaller markets household members fill out diaries detailing their viewing (there are two waves, one in Fall, one in Spring).
Can’t speak to the other countries, but there are a few other ways I’ve seen other groups measure it including next day telephone surveys.
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