78% never been asked to join in Ratings panel
78% of TV Tonight readers have never been asked to participate in a TV Ratings Survey, according to preliminary data in the annual Audience Inventory.
- Published by David Knox
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78% of TV Tonight readers have never been asked to participate in a TVÂ Ratings Survey, according to preliminary data in the annual Audience Inventory.
The survey which has been operating since Monday is this site’s annual survey of television viewing patterns and issues in the industry.
While there is still one more week to have your say, there are already some clear trends emerging.
22% indicated they had either joined in a ratings survey or been invited to. Half of them did so in the last 5 years.
2% indicated they had participated 5 – 10 years ago, with 5% more than 10 years ago.
Another 4% said they had been approached to join in but had declined.
The Audience Inventory survey is also asking questions about Aussie content on digital channels, on screen clutter, 3D broadcasts, less ads on Pay TV, who is good at rescheduling cancelled shows, which multichannels are you watching…. and much more.
The third Audience Inventory takes around 10 mins to complete and closes on Friday Sept. 9th.
Completed data on the question of Ratings paticipation will be published after the survey has closed.
31 Responses
There is a ratings box sitting in my lounge room as we speak.
You are called as part of a telephone survey and if you fit the bill they tell you that you are eligible and that they will call you again in a few months time. I don’t know how you get onto thir list though – maybe they spy on places like this?
They then call you again and ask if you want to have a box installed (I think they have to wait for boxes to become free and then match them up with the pre selected customers)
You have one box per tv, even if the tv is just for gaming and any time you replace any of your lounge equipment you are supposed to get them out to recalibrate the box.
You can have the box for a MAX of four (4) years. You can opt out whenever you like.
You get reward points for being on the panel and you cash these points in for gifts (not terribly exciting ones).
The box is able to record people that live there every day, viisitors (their sex and age), you can change it to holiday mode and you can also select No Viewer if Carrie Bickmore comes on the telly or you are doing the vaccuuming. It also feeds timeshifted data.
One comment I would like to make about the survey is on the switch to digital tv. I am one of I imagine millions of households that have the main tv (in the lounge, and 16:9) equipped with digital tv (via pvr), but the second tv in the bedroom (4:3) still only has the analogue signals.
We haven’t really had the need to upgrade the 2nd tv, and will probably wait until 2013 and replace it with a new widescreen tv.
I was asked once, around 10 years ago. But they could not handle my setup, multiple component inputs (RGB SCART and YUV), and wanted me to go back to composite connections, so i told them to jam it.
A friend of mine did it a few years ago…
@ Neon Kitten: … we are on the same page … well said!
@ Timmy: I also record all the important shows that I really want to watch so that I can view at my leasure, in fact, don’t most people???
I watch more TV than anyone I have ever met, it is a hobby for me, and what “rates” is not what I watch, or anyone else that I know … it has to be completely inacurate. (I think only David Knox must see more TV than me)
How tragic that the entire TV industry in this country is ruled by false statistics and millions of dollars are wasted on rubish that most TV lovers or general viewers will never watch! It has to be fixed … Now!!!
@steveany: They put in as many boxes as you have TVs. We have 3 TVs, but even though only 1 is connected to an antenna, they reckon they like to know when people are doing other things: playing Wii, watching a DVD etc as this is time when we’re choosing something other than TV .
@NeonKitten: Did you look at the website I added to my last post? Because that seems to me to prove that they’re trying to get an accurate sample of the population, which is the opposite of your assertion. As Ben said, they’re trying to tie it in to the census to make the data accurate, not fake.
And I don’t know why some people think it’s for low socio-economic homes only. Surely if they’re trying to get a representative sample of the population then it would include all demographics?