Food for thought (part I)
With just a handful of days left till the Louis Vuitton Acts in Trapani and amid a controversy over the popularity of the "new" America's Cup, Valencia Sailing sheds some light on the TV audience measurements in Italy, the home country of the Trapani Acts, the last for 2005. We never make public any rumors or speculations but always try to present objective and irrefutable data and facts.
The company that measures TV audience in Italy is called AudiTel (www.auditel.it) and is one of the very few entities to provide free access to a general set of data, updated every day and covering the latest seven days. The direct link to the data page is http://www.auditel.it/dati/index_data.html
Data can be viewed in three different modes, "AUDIENCE", "SHARE" and "PENETRAZIONE". The first option gives the number of viewers, in thousands, per network and time period. The second option provides the share of each network, that is what percentage of TV viewers tuned into that particular network. Finally, the third options gives the percentage of the total Italian population (55,695,000 people) that watched each network. By clicking on each button, one gets the corresponding mode.
A drawback these figures have is that it is impossible to deduce the exact viewership numbers of a particular show. In addition, some of the time periods span through many hours, such as the 10:30pm to 2am. Nevertheless, one can see the exact popularity of each network at certain time periods and through some fair assumptions make a considerably accurate guess of the viewership during narrower time periods.
The network carrying the Louis Vuitton Acts in Italy is LA7 (www.la7.it), the smallest of the seven nationwide TV networks, with a TV share of approximately 2.7%. As of today, we are not in a position to know the programming of the network during the Trapani regattas, but once the schedule is published, it will be extremely easy to assess the popularity of the first ever America's Cup sailing in Italian waters .
Obviously, AudiTel provides exact TV ratings for each show, at a fee. This table though, is the best freely-available data and with just one day of delay. It is certainly not a panacea but it will input data on the discussion concerning the popularity of the America's Cup. In our humble opinion, reality lies in the middle of the two opposite views, being neither black nor rosy. The America's Cup is more popular than it used to be twenty years ago but is also far from being a popular sport. Let's wait one week and see whether Italian viewers embrace the new vision of the America's Cup in their own country. Let the numbers speak for themselves.
Tomorrow, we'll cover the French TV market, where a new revolutionary tool presented yesterday provides a real-time overview of TV ratings (30-second delay) as well as some feedback from the Nordic countries.
2 Comments:
Espectacular artículo amigo, felicidades
Paco
Hey, I like your page, but I didn't get the hype for this posting. I don't know where is the controversy over the popularity of the "new" America's Cup. Sailing has never been a popular sport. Neither is the broadcast of the AC. Is more people watching it now? Probably the same considering the statistics. The really aficionados would probably watch it, but you have to remember who is watching TV at the time that the regattas take places. Gime my telenovelas!!!! In TV viewership, It will be a success if you are able to get a rating or share that it's noticeable higher than the normal average in that specific hour of the day.
It's great that you "sheds some light on the TV audience measurements in Italy" but I couldn't find it in your post. Where are the objective and irrefutable data and facts that you present instead of rumors or speculations?
That 2.7% share of the channel that will broadcast the AC is pretty much useless because it's the average of the channel during a whole day. So if you want to have a good reference, you will have to compare the share that the AC gets with the average share that the channel gets for that spot in time. But, man, give me something new... more irrefutable data and facts, please.
Not that I have anything against the Frenchies, but that revolutionary French system is available pretty much everywhere. As you said, the problem is that you have to pay for it. In Spain, there is Geca, or TNSofres A.M. In the US, Nielsen, Arbitron for radio, and so far. But there is a lot of public access to that information (for example http://www.sfgate.com/tvradio/nielsens/)
So, I can't wait for the second of your Food for thought. Let's see if we get some real good rumors and speculations, because the irrefutable data and facts are a little more difficult to get.
Good luck though!!!
P.S. I really like your page, but the hard news is not your thing. I know it looks easy, but the truth is that It's difficult to be a journalist. It's more difficult to be a good journalist. Keep the blog, forget the journalist pose.
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