BEHAVIORAL MEASURES OF TELEVISION AUDIENCE APPRECIATION

We explore the possibility of using minute-by-minute people-meter data to develop behavioral measures of program appreciation. Specifically, we look at the number of minutes viewed out of the potential number o f minutes a program airs. A second measure looks at the proportion of viewers that watch at least 80 percent of a show. Any advertiser, broa dcaster, or ratings supplier with access to minute-by-minute people-me ter ratings can easily perform the calculations we propose, so a separ ate survey of program appreciation is not needed. Furthermore, no addi tional respondent burden is demanded of people-meter panelists, so the measure is completely unobtrusive. Lastly, it does not rely on respon dent recall, as most of the current diary-based methods do.