The document discusses several key issues related to TV ratings and competition between channels: 1) Rating wars occur as channels battle for viewers during primetime by airing their most popular shows. Recent examples include competitions between BBC and ITV shows like Strictly Come Dancing and The X-Factor. 2) Primetime is very important for attracting advertisers, as they pay more to advertise during highly-viewed shows. Commercial channels rely more heavily on advertising revenue. 3) New technologies like on-demand viewing and streaming services have impacted ratings by allowing audiences to watch when they want. This threatens public broadcasters like BBC that rely on license fees.

1. Key Issues and
Debates Affecting
the TV and Video
Industries
Benjamin Karrass
Task 6
Unit 25, 26

2. Rating Wars
Rating wars is where two rival channels will battle out and make an effort to attract more viewers or listeners than its rival. This
though be through the programmes the two channels bring out. One of the most well known Rating wars it between both the BBC
and ITV, recently the BBC have overtaken ITV with the most views, this is the BBC’s first time in leading the rating war. Both Strictly
come dancing (BBC) and the X-Factor (ITV) have been the main viewing tools for each of the channels during the rating wars.
The rating Wars usually occurring during the prime time of its audience viewing TV, this would be where the highest amount of
viewers will be watching TV. Prime time is usually between 7pm Up until 10pm or later. Usually this is for saturday nights as many
people don't have work or school the next day. As prime time consists of its most viewers the channels would usually broadcast their
most well known shows to attract a large number of people. Furthermore in the past the BBC moved BBC News from 9pm to 10pm
as this has attracted a larger audience who watch the news, because of this ITV are deciding to move their news programme to 10pm
too, to compete in the rating wars.

3. Rating Wars
Prime time is also very important for advertisers too, this is because advertisers would see which
programs get the channels most views, this helps the companies of the adverts decide which slots they
should pay for, as they want their Adverts to attract many people and reach a large audience who may
be watching these well known shows.
Commercial broadcasters want high ratings through their advertising because the higher the rating they
get the more money they will make from other companies who then use their products. This allows the
commercial broadcasters to earn as much money as possible through their advertising. Advertising is
different from both the BBC and ITV, this is because with ITV the importance with advertising is also
important to the commercial broadcasters as its a Private service compared to BBC which is a Public
Service Broadcaster which then means they don't broadcast and adverts.
As the BBC uses a Licence fee they need to make sure that their ratings are good and high to attract
more people to purchase their licence fee. For example, in 2010 16.6 million viewers tuned in last night
to witness one of EastEnders' biggest ever "doof-doof" moments as the killer of Archie Mitchell was
finally revealed live on BBC One. this showed that the BBC should carry on with showing these big
moments on Tv to attract such a large audience to receive higher ratings.

4. Rating Wars
Rating wars is all good, but sometime programmes clash and its audience don't know what
channel to watch as they want to watch both shows live. However people can always record the
other show or use catch up but it still means the viewers need to choose which programme
they want to watch more. This means that each channels ratings will most likely drop over
night as people chose to watch a different show instead. This would usually happen during
prime time, meaning they will be losing views and rating at their most important time during
the day.
Channels do have programmes, two of these biggest programmes include both Eastenders
(BBC) and coronation street (ITV), this occured back in 2001, eastenders included a 4th
episode to be aired during the week. The Programme aired at the same time as the rival show of
Coronation Street, because of this the ITV programme lost ratings and views. ITV being smart
decided to move their show to an earlier time to allow people to watch both shows instead of
choosing one. This then gave coronation street its views back and received its ratings. Both
shows now share around the same amount of views each time the programme is aired.
Furthermore back in 2014 both programmes did end up crashing again, this was because of the
2014 world cup, football would be getting aired during the time one of the soaps would usually
be on, this made the shows then crashing and losing views by over a million. This was then
changed back after the World Cup finished.

5. Rating Wars
Advertisers would see which shows get the most views to allow them to
think what slots these advertisers would like to pay for. Having their slot
allows the advertisers to broadcast their advert and gain money and
audience members to view their product. For example, last weeks top
viewed show was Britains got Talent, racking up over 9 million views live on
ITV, as this show has created a large audience advertisers would want to buy
a slot to advertise their products as they will get a number of different
people to watch their advert the time this shows is on. The more viewers on
a show means the more expensive an advert slot ill be, but people need to
take the risk in investing in these slots to hopefully make profit. Advertisers
would pick certain programmes on purpose, for example, you would see an
advert for people aged 50 and above on a children's programme.

6. BARB
Barb creates audidcne profiles which allow advertisers to access. Barb tells us that over £7 Billion is invested in
production and distribution of a commercial and programme.
Barb is put into 4 questions;
Who is watching- Targeting certain people.
What are they watching- Type of Programme
When are they watching - what times and days of the week certain people watch TV.
What platform- How are they consuming TV (Tablet, Phone, Etc.)
Barb have started to take in account with other streaming services such as Netflix as advertisers want to know
what type of people are visiting and watching off these online streaming services, these are not counted in the
Barb statistics though.

7. Technologies
Throughout recent years technology has had a great success on the population, it has become popular with its
features such as using the internet or having devices such as smartphones. Nowadays TV Channels take this to
their advantage as they use these technologies to watch their content in many different ways, this can also
encourage its audience not to watch Tv. This will make people stop buying a TV licence, making Public services
broadcasters such as Channel 4 and BBC lose money. The Technologies allow people to watch what they want
whenever they want, this gives them as much freedom as possible.
All on demand services like BBC IPlayer, Sky GO and ITV Hub allow its audience to watch their shows at a
different time, it gives the audience to watch their shows when it may suit them. On demand is available on a
range of different devices such as, smartphones, computers, Smart TV’s, tablets and game consoles. However as
people still watch the shows, it will still work towards the Programmes rating but not the overnight figure as the
show isn't watched live on demand.

8. Technologies
Tv channel companies have created these on demand services to compete against other
streaming softwares, such as Netflix, Amazon prime and Hulu. Netflix is the biggest online
streaming software today, as it's so easy to access and watch on demand shows it gives it
audience the change to watch their shows wherever they want and whenever they want.
Netflix started as a DVD rental service which made its customers rent DVDs online then
send them back after they are done. Netflix did affect the Video industry as companies
such as Blockbuster went out of business, as many films were easily accessible online,
people didn't see the point in getting a DVD version. This then decreased DVD sales,
making DVD rental services such as Blockbuster no longer necessary.
Netflix has also influenced many viewers in the way that on netflix their series would all
come out at once to allow its audience to binge watch all at once, compared to Tv which
usually release only one episode a week, an example of a programme on netflix that does
this is 13 Reasons Why. All episodes for season 1 was released at once. Its audience still had
to wait for the release of season 2 which just came out a year after season 1. All episodes
were sill released at once allowing people to binge watch all episodes.

9. Technologies
Smartphones have had a large impact on Television in both positive and negative ways, it could be useful for
viewers to have a smartphone to access the internet while watching their Tv show to maybe find out
information. Studies found that nearly half of the audience watch TV while also using their smartphone. Your
smartphone can be very distracting during the time you may be watching your Tv show, as people would often
start searching something and then get more engaged into their phones than what is on TV. not only can they
get distracted via their phone but users most likely have apps such as Sky Sports or BBC News which has 24/7
updates, this can easily distract the TV Programmes audience while their show is being broadcasted.
However a positive impact where smartphones can have on its audience while watching TV is if they are using
social media to interact with other people who may also be watching the show. Studies show that many users
usually use social media platforms such as, facebook and twitter while watching their TV show. Studies also
show that less than half of those people who view social media during the show actually post about the show on
social media. Social media can have a positive impact of people while watching the show as it can also get them
more involved with what is happening, it allows people to discuss their thoughts on what is occurring. In
addition, social media has increased its active spectatorship and also created more of an active audience who
understands the message of the show and wishes to get more involved.

10. Technologies
Social media can also be used to interact with its shows, many shows of cast from
the shows have their own social media profiles or pages, this gives the audience the
feeling to get more involved and be part of the show, this can also improve the
viewing experience from the audience when watching the show live.
Furthermore some shows have created Apps which allow their audience to interact
with the show in their own home. For example, shows such as, X-Factor and im a
celebrity allow its audience to look at the cast and find out information about the,
not only this, but the apps also include features such as a voting option to vote for
audiences favorite act on X-factor or vote who should take part in a bushtucker
trial on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out OF Here! On the X-Factor app, you have the
chance to play along with the show and acts by rating each performance. Also the
X-Factor app hasa special feature of you having your own buzzer to press when you
feel the act isn't good enough. These apps make its audience feel more involved
with the shows as they are actively interacting with it.

11. Technologies
Smartphones can have an impact on certain companies and how they advertise their
products on TV, if people see something they like on TV they will most likely search it
up on their phone, especially if their audience is using their smartphone while watching
TV. if viewers are watching Tv live, they won't be able to skip adverts so this would be
good for advertisers as people won't mind the adverts as they can use their phones, it
also allows people to see adverts and search certain products the viewers may like.
However throughout the years pirate websites have become a lot more popular over the
years, these websites allow people on their smartphones or tablets to watch their TV
shows for free and illegally. Having this available have made viewers not watch their
shows on TV and rather on these illegal websites. This makes the programme not just
lose viewers but also go down in ratings as they cannot track how many people view
their programme, this then distorts the viewing figures. Piracy has been a major issue in
the Television and Film industry, it is when someone makes a copy of a product such as
a movie or Tv show, which is then broadcasted online without permission or
authorisation.

12. Technologies
Piracy affects the Television industry because viewers can watch their shows before it is released in their country, this means that when
it is actually released in the UK or any other country less people are going to watch the show, the channel will then have to decide if
the programme is worth paying for as the views may be too low for the company to make profit off. Piracy also affects the film industry
as people won't need to buy DVD copies of these films or shows as they can just watch them for free online illegally. This will then
decrease the sales in DVDs.
In 2017 the top 10 most pirated shows were, Game of thrones, the Walking Dead, The Flash, The Big Bang Theory, Rick and Morty,
Prison Break, Sherlock Holmes, Vikings, Suits and Arrow, these are all in the order from the most streamed. HBO’s Drama Game of
Thrones was the most pirated show of 2017, they have taken the top spot 6 years in a row with being the most pirated TV series. This
year the 7th season was broadcasted with 7 episodes, each week had record breaking ratings earning well over 10 million viewers
most weeks. The finale, “The Dragon and the Wolf,” is the most watched “Thrones” episode ever with 12 million viewers.

13. Technologies
As piracy has become such a big issue for Television, they have been
taking action a lot quicker as they used to. Television companies have
been trying to take down these pirate websites before many people
download the programme. For example, HBO have been sending out
warning messages to IP addresses where episodes of their series have been
shared, the messages are requesting these sights to take down their
episodes, and sending the copyright breaches to warn them.
DVDs haven't been doing so well as piracy websites have been displaying
their content for free. As this is making the DVD industry lose money,
they have decided to create extra content which is available to people who
buy these DVDs, the content includes deleted scenes, behind the scene
and special features. This creates a way which more people would want to
purchase the DVDs to access all these exclusive features which aren't
available online.

14. Regulation
The office of communications is the communications regulator in the UK. They
regulate the TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line telecoms, mobiles
and postal services. Ofcom has a code for television and radio, covering standards
in programmes, sponsorship, product placement in television programmes,
fairness and privacy. Broadcasters must make sure that all the rules follow the
code, as they could be caught and sanctioned. Firstly, Ofcom may receive
complaints the public viewers if they are not happy with some content that may be
broadcasted. For example, if the content includes offensive material, people may
complain to Ofcom. Ofcom will then look at the complaints, if they find that the
broadcaster has included some of these features which breaks the code, they could
be fined and/or cancel the show.
Ofcom has been put into place on TV to safeguard its viewers in what should be
shown on Tv and what shouldn't. However a disadvantage for the regulatory body
on TV is that there are strict regulations on broadcasting programmes.

15. Moral Panics
Moral Panics can link to TV nowadays as many messages are given out and then over exaggerated in the real
world. People would often think something is as bad as it seems.
An example of a recent moral panic was the ebola virus, this was getting spreaded all around african countries,
but because the news in england were reporting about the virus so much, it started to make people feel as it was
coming to england, this created a big panic fearing the residence in england. This shows that when something
bad is brought to the attention of people in a bad manor people can end up over reacting to what has been
given to them. This can then create panic between people. As many people watch TV it is easily persuadable to
make people think and panic about something which would not apply to them.

16. Encoding & Decoding
People watch certain shows as they could relate to them, an example of 2 well known shows for this are,
Coronation street and Eastenders, both these shows include people's everyday lives of what they do. The shows
can be very believable as the audience can easily relate to what is happening, because of this people may think
whatever happens in the show is real, this then makes people want to known more about the message and get
more involved. For example if the show includes things such as knife crimes and gangs, people in the real world
will start to create moral panics upon themself against gangs, creating fear between them.

17. Uses & Gratifications
The Uses and Gratifications theory can link to TV in many ways, firstly starting with Diversion. People watch
TV the escape the real world, people would often watch TV to think about other things. An example of a show
is Dr Who, the show includes aliens and other adventures which would not occur in the real world, this allows
its audience to escape into another world.
Personal relationships in TV is common as people often get attached to character in TV shows, leaving them
with emotions if the character is killed off. An example of a show which can create attachment with characters
is the walking dead, after a character is killed off you start to have feeling for them and feel sorry.

18. Uses & Gratifications
Personal identity can make an audience feel as they are just like a character in a show. With TV people can
easily see if they can identify themself with a character in a certain programme. This could be in eastenders as
you may act like one of the characters. This is also a reason why people watch TV as they want to feel attached
to a character. Eastenders has a large cast with all different ages and ethnicities, this can make it easier to see if
you relate to a character as there are a variety of people on the show.
Lastly Surveillance is used on Tv as people want to feel safe or to know what is going on in the world. TV show
this through Sky News or other News channels. People would watch these channels on TV to fulfill their needs
on knowing what is going on in the world at the time. People also want to learn about new things, another
programme would be planet earth as documentaries can educate its audience on life and different species, these
documentaries can encourage the audience to watch as they get educated on new things.