Download Audience studies in Romania - Transforming Audiences

Name: Poliana STEFANESCU
Institution: University of Bucharest, Faculty of Sociology, Center for Media Studies and New
Communication Technologies
Email: [email protected]
Audience studies in Romania
The sociological approach of the relationship between mass-media and society starts from the
following statements:
1. Media reflect social structure and social values of a society, acting as social change
factors
2. The mass communication research implies a one-to-one analysis of the relationship
media-society
3. Mass media is only one factor of social communication, so the analysis will include
other extra-media factors.
The concept of audience changed over the time depending on new research developed over
two axes‫ ׃‬the sender approach and the receiver approach.
McQuail (2000) defines audience either large aggregates of dispersed and passive spectators,
without opportunities to respond or to participate in a genuine way or constituted
momentarily by the more or less simultaneous contact with a distant source and has no other
existence except in the book-keeping of the media industry.
The sender approach represents the studies conducted by media companies as a marketing
activity. Those companies are interested in the public or audience as a market that buy their
products and provide benefits for the shareholders.
The receiver approach is mainly developed by public and ⁄or academic institutions to
investigate the media consumption and their effects (on short or long term) on the public.
In the last decades, three methods have been used for survey audience measurement ‫׃‬
Inquiry ⁄ survey as interview, panel diary and peoplemeter.
Besides quantitative methods, there are sociological qualitative methods used for audience
studies – focus groups, in depth interviews, participating observation, projective tests.
Audience meaning emerged in time from the concept of social aggregates to the notion of
mass and public, ending with the American approach of market.
Audience market research in Romania
Speaking about audience research we make distinction between comercial surveys like
nowadays peoplemeter and the complex sociological inquiries that investigate audience under
several aspects as – attitudes evaluation, motivations and public satisfaction, life styles and
cultural practice.
On the Romanian market there are or were a number of audiometry companies (AGB Data
Research, CSOP Tylor Nielsen SOFRES Mediametrie, TNS-AGB International, GfK, etc.)
that made quantitative studies on audience, but tried also qualitative methods, like the Media
departments of IMAS, CURS or IRSOP as well as academic research centres in
communication studies like the Center for Media Studies and New Communication
Technologies (University of Bucharest) and others.
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The audience studies began with TV audience measurement that started in 1993. At the
beginning, the National Council of the Audiovisual (established 1992) ordered these studies
(see www.sna.ro)
Until 1997 audience measurement used paper diaries filled by TV viewers from a selected
cohort. Starting 1998, the measurement is done by peoplemeters. In order to provide reliable
data, the measurement is controlled by a large association of media actors – The Romanian
Association of Audience Measurement (www.arma.ro).
The present national study of audience uses a representative panel of 1200 households to
measure TV consumption and the socio-demographic profile of TV viewers.
The print media audience is controlled by The Romanian Bureau of Release Audit
(www.brat.ro) that provides information about the number of copies a journal or magazine
sold at every release. A similar study is ordered for the online media, in terms of Internet
traffic (www.sati.ro).
The studies I mentioned are very technical, providing data required by the Marketing
departments. But in real life there it is not quite a distinct line between academic research and
marketing research because research institutes are often running joined studies, or expand
their interest over transversal axes.
Audience academic research in Romania
In the last decade, the academic field was investigating the audience on the following axes ‫׃‬
• Social composition of the audience
• Media effects, especially on children
• Cultural consumption practices
• Uses and gratification approach of media use
• Analysis of specific groups ( eg children of different ages, or couples of children and
parents, etc ).
In the period 2004-2009, the Center for Media Studies and New Communication
Technologies (CMSNCT) elaborated important studies on the evaluation of violent content of
the TV broadcasting that led to the publication of a book on Televisual violence and child
protection , reccomended by UNICEF and the Romanian Education Ministry, too.
Research reports could be found at www.cna.ro (website of the National Council of the
Audiovisual ).
Other studies investigated media consumption practices of children aged 7-10,11-14, 15-18
years old and the impact of advertising on children and parents. A lot of papers and PhD
theses have been published by the members of our Center on those subjects.
Besides the audiovisual field, a lot of studies investigated cultural practices (including massmedia consumption) as the annual study The Cultural Barometer (www.culturadata.ro) or the
Public Opinion Barometer (www.osf.ro ).
Important studies investigated reading practices and studied traffic visitors at bookfairs .An
example is the traffic study for the international bookfair GAUDEAMUS, in Bucharest that
has been performed by members of our Center in the last five years.
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The results of those studies outline the flexibility of academic research in defining a
consumption behaviour as a combination of statistical-demographic factors and value and
motivation aspects that may determine someone to choose from alternative media.
Although in present days television is the main information channel in Romania, new
media gain the interest of younger and educated people, despite print media. The radio has a
low but stable audience and moved to digital. Dragan (2007) revealed that at family level
people watch TV for relaxation and fun, but at individual level media consumption is
motivated by understanding society and information. This suggests we could orient our future
research on two analysis units –family and individual.
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