Blog Post #3: As the Audience Changes Their Methods of Interactivity with Television, the Television Industry Must Follow

Raymond McKenna

CCS 313

Blog Post #3

November 25th, 2014

As the Audience Changes Their Methods of Interactivity with Television, the Television Industry Must Follow

        The LA Times has very recently published an article regarding how the methods by which measurements of the viewership of television is achieved, are facing difficulty because of the changes in how people are consuming media nowadays. The article, entitled “Count the TV audience? Not so easy to do these days” and written by Ryan Faughnder seeks to analyze the why and how of the current struggle to gather metrics regarding television viewing habits. The article also alludes to the change in viewing habits on the part of the consumer audience as they react to a quickly changing market in regards to how television is consumed. As Faughnder explains, “While the majority of viewers watch the old-fashioned way - live and seated in front of a TV screen - new technologies are rapidly transforming the way programming is consumed. The upending of television is being led by digital video recorders, video on-demand and streaming sites such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon that can be watched on mobile phones and tablets as well” (Faughnder). Throughout the piece, Faughnder shares multiple statistics that show the changes that are occurring in audiences and their relationship to the television media that they consume. For example, “Subscribers between ages 18 and 54 watch about 20% less traditional TV than before, according to Nielsen, which for the first time next month will begin measuring audiences for the streaming services” (Faughnder). Faughnder explains that it is not until recently that the television industry is really changing the ways in which they interact with their audiences.“The big broadcasters, CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC, are trying to get the data crunchers who analyze TV ratings to pay more attention to the lifts shows receive from delayed viewing rather than fixating on the initial viewership counts” (Faughnder). This exemplifies shifts in the audiences relationships to the television media that they consume.

        The events outlined in Ryan Faughnder’s article can be analyzed from the perspective of Toby Miller's chapter Audiences in his book called “Television Studies: The Basics,” specifically in the latter parts of his section on surveillance. In the early part of the chapter he makes the important point that “TV producers want to make audiences, not simply attract viewers” (Miller 110). This hints at the concept of audience interactivity with the television industry, as it alludes to how the TV industry is actively trying to react to the audiences voluntary choices in their consumption of television, similar to how Faughnder talks, in his piece, about the movement of television to mobile devices and services, and its effects on audience metrics, like Nielsen Ratings. And even though the audience may feel that they are not interacting with television, they actually are by means of watching one show over another, changing the channel with their remote, or in this case, actively choosing to watch television via mediums other then the actual television itself. Also, as Miller later explains, “Ratings of broadcast shows are the key to determining success in TV - how many people watched and who they were” (Miller 132), and taking into account Faughnder’s article, it's clear that they are key, but that they also currently need to adapt to changes in the market place caused by the audiences interactions with television content, so as to better gauge audience demands and their interactivity with different and newer televisual mediums and media. Again the changes in consumption by the consumer are mirrored by the metrics and changes shown in the television industry. Both pieces ultimately come to the same conclusion which, as Miller puts it well, is that “People who watch TV on different devices and via different services are watching more, not less, television,” (Miller 143) and thus the audience is more involved with interacting with televisual mediums in new ways, and so the television industry must adapt to suit their needs and the needs of the audience.

Works Cited

1. Faughnder, Ryan. "Count the TV Audience? Not so Easy to Do These Days." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 21 Nov. 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2014. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-tv-section-ratings-20141123-story.html#page=1>.

2. Miller, Toby. "Audiences." Television Studies: The Basics. New York: Routledge, 2010. 110-145. Print.