Television Audiences Across the World

Tirza Aidar, University of Campinas, BrazilMark Balnaves, University of Newcastle, AustraliaKatrien Berte, Centre for Information on the Media (CIM), the Belgian Joint Industry CommitteeJakob Bjur, TNS-SIFO, SwedenJérôme Bourdon, Tel Aviv University, IsraelHeloisa Buarque de Almeida, University of São Paulo, BrazilSantanu Chakrabarti, Oxfam GBSergey Davydov, National Research University, RussiaTom Evens, Ghent University, BelgiumEsther Hamburger, University of São Paulo, BrazilElena Johansson, Södertörn University, SwedenCécile Méadel, Mines ParisTech, FranceAnn-Marie Murray, Dublin Institute of Technology, IrelandPhilip M. Napoli, Rutgers University, USAPhilip Savage, McMaster University, CanadaMassimo Scaglioni, Università Cattolica, Milan, ItalyStefan Schwarzkopf, Queen Mary, University of London, UKAlexandre Sévigny, MacMaster University, CanadaSusanne Vollberg, Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany

• Introduction; Jérôme Bourdon and Cécile Méadel PART I: INVENTING MEASUREMENT 1. The Politics of Enjoyment: Competing Audience Measurement Systems in Britain, 1950-1980; Stefan Schwarzkopf 2. Still the British Model? The BARB versus Nielsen; Marc Balnaves 3. Canada's Audience Massage: Audience Research and TV Policy Development, 1980-2010; Philip Savage and Alexandre Sévigny 4. The Monopoly that Won't Divide: France's Médiamétrie; Jérôme Bourdon and Cécile Méadel 5. Pioneering the Peoplemeter: German Public Service; Susanne Vollberg PART II: APPROPRIATING AUDIENCE FIGURES 6. Power Games: Audience Measurement as a Mediation Between Actors in India; Santanu Chakrabarti 7. Imagining Audiences in Brazil: Class, 'Race' and Gender; Esther Hamburger, Heloisa Buarque de Almeida, and Tirza Aidar 8. From Referee to Scapegoat, but still Referee: Auditel in Italy; Massimo Scaglioni 9. Domestication of Anglo-Saxon Conventions and Practices in Australia; Mark Balnaves 10. Market Requirements and Political Challenges: Russia Between Two Worlds; Elena Johansson and Sergey Davydov PART III: CONFRONTING CHANGES 11. The Role of Ratings in Scheduling. Commercial Logics in Irish Public Television; Ann-Marie Murray 12. The Local Peoplemeter, the Portable Peoplemeter, and the Unsettled Law and Policy of Audience Measurement in the US; Philip Napoli 13. Challenges of Digital Innovations: A Set-Top Box Based Approach; Katrien Berte and Tom Evens 14. Thickening Behavioral Data: New Uses of Ratings for Social Sciences; Jakob Bjur

"This collection is a most comprehensive book on television ratings systems. It offers a remarkable breadth of case studies of nations from North and South America, Europe, and Asia. These also include a wide variety of types of measurement practices and organizational structures. Such an array offers great opportunities for comparative analyses. Just as important, the book is theoretically, analytically and critically sophisticated. It examines the various critiques of audience measurement, such as the important distinction between substantive and procedural truths and the underlying assumptions in quantification and statistics about human behaviour and social relations." - Richard Butsch, Rider University, USA "The book is an impressive collection of chapters which together provide a wide perspective of perspectives on audiences - and to that degree the book is truly unique - that captures the systems of audience measurement ultimately based on ratings of some kind as well as the scope of ensuing challenges to audience measurement ... this book is certainly a contribution to strengthening the foundation of the field and allowing for much more advanced discussions in the future." - Media Innovations, 2015