Being a student undertaking the Marketing and Advertising major at UOW, I obviously have an interest in the topic, and the way media is positioned is something that interests me especially. Whether newspapers, or prime-time television, I often think to myself the viewing habits of people consuming certain media outlets and who particular media outlets are trying to target. I have read a number of reports by organisations regarding media viewing habits, including the OzTAM 2015 Quarter 1 report, titled ‘Australian Multiscreen report’. Many would be completely bored reading something like this, but to me it holds some interest. I like to read numbers, figures, tables and the like in relation to day to day life. In this case, the report outlines the viewing habits of viewing audiences in regards to how they watch television in comparison to different age groups, based on what devices and length of time programs are viewed. But why are these tables and graphs useful to media outlets? I think to media outlets, this information is highly valuable as it shows how people are watching television. Media outlets must know this information in order to stay competitive to rival outlets as they must know how people want to consume the product as well as to prepare for future trends.
As the main motive of television channel are to generate views of advertisements, it is obvious that the programs are chosen or designed to appeal to a certain audience. The difference between channel 10 and channel 9 are glaringly obvious, and even further out are the public broadcasters, ABC and SBS. Each channel intends to target a particular audience so brands can purchase advertising space if the audience is parallel to the intended audience of the product or service.
But there are numerous issues with this report which I thought reduces its importance. This being the lack of information regarding viewing habits in relation to television channels. It really only talks about the devices used. This is good for channels focused on improving catch-up television services, such as ABC’s iview, but I believe the big three Australian broadcasters would be interested in who watched what channels in relation to devices used. And that is what I don’t understand about the intentions of this report, as it’s composed by an organisation specifically to compose data for Australian broadcasters. But honestly, the article has displayed its information in depth, and I can understand that it’s useful for some sectors of the television broadcasting industry.
OzTAM, 2015, Australian Multi-Screen Report Q1 2015
Daniel Eves 