Audience Analysis Measurements

With the expense of advertising and broadcasting in mass media, knowing if the product is actually being viewed or used as well as enjoyed or disliked is crucial. This is why audience analysis measurements are extremely important to companies in mass communications to decipher their audience, or even if there is somebody consuming the material. Different techniques and principles of analyzing an audience have been determined for each medium, though some are more accurate than others, making them more effective.

Out of all of the principles, the probability sampling and newspaper and magazine audits seem to provide the most accurate response of viewer’s opinions. The probability sampling is conducted by interviewing a sample of people, usually 384 exactly, that represent a large population. This has a 95% accuracy rate compared to principles such as evaluating surveys and latter-day straw polls that are not reliable and need the population to willingly participate. Also, newspaper and magazines audits clearly know their audience as they can measure through circulation, or how many unsold newspapers come back to the printer. For techniques, they are all useful as tools alongside the principles such as interviews and people meters, though it depends on how much they are used and accepted by mass audiences.