Research Methods #10

Research methods

We can measure media audiences through sales, subscriptions, ratings and figures.

Who measures audiences?

NRS - http://www.nrs.co.uk/     The National Readership Survey provide audience research for print advertising trading in the UK.

ABC - http://www.abc.org.uk/    Audit Bureau of Circulations

BARB -  http://www.barb.co.uk/  Broadcasters Audience Research Board  "BARB is the official source of television viewing figures in the UK. We continually develop new ways of measuring what you and the rest of the UK are watching."          
New media can measure audience through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. They also use video sharing sites such as Youtube  that have a like or dislike system in place. Youtube also keep a record on how many views each video has accumulated which is another way to record the audience size each piece of media has.
There are two main types of research when looking at audiences.
Quantitive research is questionnaires and is number based which is very factual.
Qualitative research is things such as interviews and focus groups.

Audience engagement describes how an audience reacts with media texts. Different people react many different ways to the same piece of text.
Audience expectations are the ideas an audience have in advance of seeing a media text . This especially applies to genres pieces. Producers continually play with or shatter audience expectations .