ABSTRACT
Commercially motivated market research makes up a large part of studies into media audiences. This type of research is primarily concerned with measuring the number of people who consume specific media products. As mentioned earlier when we defined quantitative research, this is useful in determining which programmes and other media products are successful. A prime-time television programme that attracts an audience of 15 million viewers will be considered more successful than one that attracts only 12 million, despite what critics and reviewers have to say about its quality. Having precise information about the size of audiences for individual programmes is an important weapon in the ‘ratings war’ where television channels compete with one another for audience ratings, especially during the early evening prime-time slots.
