tv & radio ratings ?

[the 12 th man]

re the amount of people who watch/listen to the different stations:
can anyone explain in plain english htf these are worked out.

[cullenswood]

TV ratings are found out from boxes that are placed in the houses of a certain percentage of the countries population, which monitor what they watch. If you have one of these boxes you are not allowed to tell anyone, which is why no-one seems to know anyone who has one!

The radio is just done by street surveys as far as I know

[paul_oshea]

not being funny but this was one of the ways in teh past, tvs use up a certain amount of electricity, and whenever a certain programme came on if that unit was being used for a half an hour etc, they would break it down from there. im sure things have changed but that used to be it a good while ago.

[paul_oshea]

that is also the way they knew people were making tea during the adverts of coronation street etc. kettle uses up a certan uniquely identifiable amount of units also

[Dawn_Run]

TV ratings are found out from boxes that are placed in the houses of a certain percentage of the countries population, which monitor what they watch. If you have one of these boxes you are not allowed to tell anyone, which is why no-one seems to know anyone who has one!

The radio is just done by street surveys as far as I know

Thats all well and good for survey style ratings. As for the volumes of people that watch a particual programme I havent a clue how they monitor it. Probably a hell of a lot easier with digital tv. But. How, for example, do we know that the denis taylor steve davis match broke television records in sporting circles?

[paul_oshea]

Thats all well and good for survey style ratings. As for the volumes of people that watch a particual programme I havent a clue how they monitor it. Probably a hell of a lot easier with digital tv. But. How, for example, do we know that the denis taylor steve davis match broke television records in sporting circles?

the total unit of electricity used, was more than at any other time previously. its an estimation remember its never exact. give or take 10%

[Bald Student]

The telly survey is done by set top boxes, I know a lady who has one.

The radio survey is done by someone who rings you up and askes what you listened to yesterday.

[fosterdollar]

not being funny but this was one of the ways in teh past, tvs use up a certain amount of electricity, and whenever a certain programme came on if that unit was being used for a half an hour etc, they would break it down from there. .
I would argue that you are completely misinformed on this one Paul. There is absolutely no way of telling the use of a tv over any other electrical load. What you are saying follows along the reality that when ad breaks come on it can be observed by changes in the load on the National Grid and likewise when popular sports events are televised but there is no conceivably accurate way of determining the amount of people viewing a particular program at any time by looking at electrical load.

[drinkfeckarse]

I aways thought that a certain percentage of T.V's had a device built into them when manufactured that relayed the information to the relevant authority. That's why no-one knows if they have one or not :confused: