ABSTRACT
The Internet poses new challenges to traditional audience measurement techniques. Audience measurement tools yield, at best, gross estimates of audience characteristics and media use, but they are only as accurate as the technology allows. Media outlets need to know who is listening to their stations and who is watching their programs. Used by radio stations, music preference research assesses radio listeners’ musical likes and dislikes to determine station playlists. Radio listening is measured using listener diaries and portable people meters. A. C. Nielsen measures radio and television audiences by geographic regions called media markets. It geographically segments radio listeners and television viewers to gain a clearer understanding of audience differences and similarities across the nation. Television viewers write down the programs and networks they watch in 15-minute blocks over a one-week period. Viewers also provide demographic and sometimes lifestyle information for the diaries.
