TV Today

Group members:

Aditi Verma

Brenda Yeoh

Brandy Chai

Chelsea Orie

Brynn Z. Lovett

A Presentation on:“TV PROGRAMS ON AIR”

• Television: Most widely-used means of

mass communication.

• There are 112.3 million television

households in the United States; the

average home has more television sets

(2.73) than people (2.55; Average, 2006)! {Baran, S.J., 2010}.

Organization of the

Broadcast Industry• Two types of television systems in the Broadcast

Television Industry:

1. Commercial Television system

2. Non-Commercial Television system

• FCC – Federal Communications Commission

• The TV industry is classified into

1. Production

2. Distribution

3. Exhibition

Ownership In The Television Industry:

• All major networks in the industry are owned by

conglomerates such as NBC, ABC, Fox etc.

• Telecommunications Act allowed a person or organization

to own unlimited number of TV stations < 39% of the US

population (2008).

Producing Television Programs:

• A TV station divided into 5 departments namely Sales,

Engineering, Production/Programming, News and

Administration.

• There is a station manager who is the chief of all the station

activities.

Getting TV Programs on Air:

• News

• Interview programmes

• Prime time shows

• Reality shows

Almost every station has a studio that contains a

set for one or two anchor-people, a weather

forecaster, and a sports-caster (Dominick, J. R., 2011).

News director for the station allocates the stories

to the reporters and the camera crews.

They then do the video-recording of the report by

going to the scene of the story.

Meanwhile, the newscast producer and the news

director decide what stories would be aired and in

what time slots.

This schedule is drawn up while the reporters and

the camera crews arrive with their stories.

It is then the job of the reporters to write copies of

the stories and the editors to prepare the

segments of the videotape.

• CNN• CNBC• BBC• FNC (Fox News

Channel)

POPULAR NEWS CHANNELS WORLD-WIDE

Slides by Brynn

Two individuals

A host and an artist / experienced

individual

Example : Charlie Rose / Jeff Randall Live- Local Program presented by WNET

- One hour show every night

Consists of segments videotaped on

location

Later edited into final form

Provides a variety of topics

Format in an interview or commentary

America’s Next Top Model

- appeal to both men and women

- competition, age and popularity

- emotional attachment

American Idol

- celebrity judges

- appropriate for all ages

PILOT.

Pilot is the first episode of every series.

Pilot is very important because we do not know if the audience may like it. Thus, “If the idea looks promising the network and the producer will enter a contract of a pilot” (Dominick, J.R.,2011).

When a pilot show gets good attention from genuine audience, five or six episodes that are produced may be ordered by the network and may show them in the next fall schedule.

Slides by: Brenda

Two And A

Half Men

“From the hundreds of ideas that are sent to the network, only a few ever make it to prime time”. (Dominick, J.R.,2011)

If the ratings of a program is successful, then as expected, few episodes will be ordered by the network for the rest of the season.

In the meantime, network executives carefully going through the hundreds of program ideas for the coming season and the whole process will repeat once again.

Slides by Chelsea

Prime time is when the viewing of television is at

its highest.

In the Eastern and Pacific time zones, it is from 7

– 11 pm and in the Central and Mountain time

zones prime time is 6 – 10 pm. (Mitchell E.

Shapiro, Primetime, viewed 17 September

2011, http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?ent

rycode=primetime)

It all starts from an idea.

Hundreds of ideas are received every year (ex. From independent producers, network employees, amateurs)

From hundreds, 50 – 75 would be selected

The list is trimmed again after examining the plot outlines and background sketches of the potential series.

A request of a sample script is made by the networks.

An American sitcom about the main character, Ted Mosby, telling his kids in 2030 of how he met their mother

Broadcasted by the network CBS

Show starts at 8pm

Very popular

Reasons why – it reminds most viewers of another show called ‘Friends’

the actors and actresses acting in it already had their fan base from other shows

the way of how the story is told intrigues viewers –keeps them wanting to know who Ted will eventually marry

Where Did The Money Go?

Network programming is quite expensive and the

cost varies on the type of show. Quiz and reality

shows are much cheaper to produce than sitcoms,

dramas etc.

Rating And Network Executing:

• National Advertisers

• Local Advertisers

• National Spot Advertisers

Slides by Brandy

Measuring TV Viewing

Nielsen Ratings

are coupled with detailed analysis of

consumer viewing behavior and

demographic information.(Nielsen.nd)

Deciding factor in canceling/ renewing

television shows by television networks.

Nielsen Media TV Rating

Collect data through Nielson Television Index

Using a device called People Meter (>12000)

Portable People Meter

Local- Market TV Rating

Surveys more than 200 markets

Diary & electronic meter techniques( Set Meter & Local

People Meter)

Collect more than 2 million papers diaries during the

“sweep” every year.

“Sweep” happen 4 times a year (Feb, May,

July,& Nov) to measure the local television

market in the entire country.

Nielsen long-term plans call for the phasing

out of paper diaries.

C3 rating defined as the rating of the

average commercial minute including live

viewing & DVD playback within 3

days.(Dominick.J.R.,2011,pg 252)

Ratings Reporting

Rating= Number of households watching

a program divided by total number of TV

household (TV HH)

Share of Audience = Number of

households watching a program divided

by households using television at that

time. (HUT)

Determining accuracy of Rating

Media Ratings Council (MRC) previous named Electronic Media Rating Council(EMRC)

Monitors

Audits

ratings

Broadcast ratings are still criticized by the public.

Participants may have different viewer habits

Nielsen reports based on the 55% of the diaries sent out, it is possible that “returners” behave differently from “nonreturners” .(Dominick.J.R.,2011,pg 253)

Ratings companies having difficulties to measure the viewing of a certain groups.

Exp: Stations that are being measured engage promotions to “hype” the rating.

Example of the diary that used to collect the rating of TV

program.

Television Audiences

TV set has become firmly entrenched

in America.

In year 2009, 99% of all homes in the

country have at least 1 working TV

set; 75% have more than 1.

TV audience change in daily, it’s grow

from 7 A.M., reaches high peak from

8.A.M to 11 P.M. and drops again

after 11 P.M.

Viewing is heaviest:

Winter months & smallest during July and August(outdoor activities)

Preschool & female viewers dominate during day time hour, from Mon-Fri

Saturday morning viewers are under13; prime time viewers are those in 18-49 year-old.

People with low in-come

Female viewers

Factors affect viewership: Age

Sex

Social class

Education

Career Prospects

• Not very bright

• Further declines

• Better at Local level

Presenters:

Brynn Z Lovett

Aditi Verma

Slides by:

Brenda Yeoh

Brandy Chai

Chelsea Orie

Brynn Z. Lovett

Aditi Verma

References:

• Baran, S.J., 2010, Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy

and Culture, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill.

• Dominick, J. R. (2011);The Dynamics of Mass Communications: Media in

Transition, 11th edn; McGraw Hill; Boston

• CBS, 2011.Most Popular Reality TV Shows. Interactive inc. <

http://www.tv.com/reality/genre/9/summary.html>

• Nielsen, ND, Television Measurement.

http://nielsen.com/us/en/measurement/television-measurement.html

viewed by 13th September 2011.

• Museum TV,

http://www.museumtv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=primetime

• Quora,

www.quora.com/Why-is-How-I-Met-Your-Mother-so-popular