Ratings Analysis : The Theory and Practice of Audience Research

This second edition of Ratings Analysis provides a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the tools to become savvy, discriminating consumers of the audience information that floods the electronic media --from broadcasting, to cable, to the World Wide Web. Reflecting a highly practical orientation, Ratings Analysis focuses on the types of data media professionals encounter in their day-to-day work. Readers are introduced to the various applications of audience research in advertising, programming, financial analysis, and social policy. The text also covers the growth of the audience measurement business, and how audience ratings information currently is created and packaged, concluding with a discussion of how media audiences take shape and the analytical techniques commonly used to study them.

Key features of the second edition include:
* An overview of the major types of audience research,
* Current examples of the most common audience research reports,
* A complete glossary of audience research terms, and
* A listing of the major suppliers of syndicated audience research.

Appropriate for advanced courses in audience research, media research, and programming, this second edition provides a thorough and up-to-date presentation of the ratings industry and the analysis process.

Ratings Analysis is the most comprehensive and complete book in the marketplace on the many forms and uses of audience research and analysis. Effectively bridging the gulf between the theory and practice of audience analysis, this volume brings both to light.

—Jack Wakshlag
Chief Research Officer, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

Ratings Analysis succeeds because it is a reference for all media practitioners–not just researchers. The authors elegantly balance practical insight with theoretical construct in an easy-to-read volume that essentially demystifies “research”. There is no better source for understanding how audience analysis drives the numerous facets of the media business. Ratings Analysis has been my desk reference volume since the First Edition and required reading for all incoming research analysts in my department.

—Stacey Lynn Koerner
Executive Vice President, Director Global Research Integration, Initiative

From her Open Letter to Students in this volume:

Ratings Analysis could well have as its subtitle 'How to Succeed in the Media Business,' for there is little doubt that wherever your career goals in media lead, understanding the role of audience research will be essential.
—Susan D. Whiting
President and Chief Executive Officer, Nielsen Media Research

The third edition of Rating Analysis unquestionably remains the principal tool for learning about audience measurement in the media business... While retaining the extraordinary lucidity of explanation that has always characterized the book, the authors also bring out the ambiguities, subtleties, and uncertainties of measuring new media audiences...
Teachers will be happy to find that this edition retains the very useful Q&A technique in the beginning chapters so readers cannot help but see many real-world applications of audience measurement. This book will continue to be the dominant text in the media audience ratings field.

—Susan Tyler Eastman
Professor Emerita Indiana University

At a time when major audience-research controversies are swirling across electronic media, Ratings Analysis provides expert, historically-grounded descriptions of industry techniques that are crucial for students and professors who want to participate knowledgeably in the debates.

—Joseph Turow
Professor, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania