Media Audiences - Mr Cook

1. Australian Media
Audiences
Unit 2 Media – Area of Study 3

2. What Are We Watching?
https://youtu.be/iYS4QKTfU40

3. OzTAM
 Owned by networks 7, 9 and 10.
 Observes board meetings for ABC, SBS,
Australian Association of National Advertisers
(AANA), Media Federation of Australia (MFA) &
Australian Subscription Television and Radio
Association (ASTRA).
 Collects & markets the free-to-air ratings for the
5 metro markets of Melbourne, Sydney,
Brisbane, Adelaide & Perth and also nationally for
subscription TV.

4. OzTAM
 Monitors the viewing habits of a panel of around 3000
randomly selected homes in regard to what they
watch on FTA Television.
 Collates viewing habits of 1200 homes (metro &
regional) who watch subscription TV.
 These are referred to as ‘people meters’ as they are
seeing the viewing habits of a cross section of society.
 The information is then sent on to television networks
program suppliers, advertisers, media buyers &
advertising agendas.

5. Radio and the Nielsen Company
 22 million radio sets in
the 5 largest Australian
cities combined which
means an average of 4.2
per household.
 Ratings for radio are
monitored by Nielsen; a
market research
company.
 Eight radio surveys each
year where consumers fill
out radio listening diaries.
 Radio ratings report
produced which discusses
audience measurement
and demographics.

6. Demographics
 Commercial media orgs rely on advertising to
make profits and as such advertisers need to
know who and how many people are
watching a program.
 The audience’s personal characteristics
determine how products and services are
marketed.
 This statistical study of media audiences is
referred to as ‘demographics’.

7. Demographics
 Products are not
often marketed to
everyone.
 Products usually
have a target market
(eg. teens, retirees,
etc).
 For example, life
insurance
advertisements
aren’t usually aired
during children’s
shows.

8. Demographics
 Demographics usually
consider categories
such as: age, gender,
occupation, income,
education, types of
family (nuclear,
extended, single-
parent), etc.
 Radio surveys also
consider lifestyle
factors such as
listening to radio
whilst driving.
Nielsen found out
that in the average
working week, 26%
of people listen to
the radio in the car
between 5 & 9 AM,
while 48% of people
listen while driving
between 4 & 7 PM.

9. Modern Audience Viewing Habits
https://youtu.be/EV5jC3GQOkI

10. Media Monitoring
 Advertisers and Market Researchers aren’t
the only ones interested in media audience
demographics & what they’re consuming.
 Governments, corporations and lobby groups
also subscribe to media monitoring services
such as OzTAM & Nielsen.
 This information is used to generate debate
in parliament and in news & current affairs
programs.

11. Activity
Consider the following:
• Luxury Cars
• Dishwashing Liquid
• Aftershave
• Snack Foods
• Toys
• Computer/Video Games
• Insurance (Life/Car/etc.)
• Beauty Therapies
Which group of people (demographic) would buy or use each of these
services (try to be specific and think of age, gender, job, income,
etc)?
Which medium would you use to advertise each product (television,
radio, print, internet, etc)?

12. The Future of TV Audiences
 http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/trans
cripts/s4211467.htm