«nothing to watch on TV!” What is it – the popular stereotype of the public or a real reflection of the situation in the television industry? The easiest answer to the question, why do you not interested in what’s on TV – you just are not his target audience. But technically oriented terrestrial TV if not all, then the majority of the population. Thus, according to research firm TNS, 99% of Russian citizens have a TV at least once a year, and 71% – every day. Moreover, the average viewing time per night is growing steadily for many years, and in 2013 was 3 hours 58 minutes *. Why, then, and then constantly hear complaints against TV Programming?
The Russian broadcasts, according to various estimates, from 1000 to 1300 TV channels: Cable, regional satellite. The most popular are twenty federal air channels, accounting for almost 90% of the television audience, and 60% – in the “Group of Seven” (first, “Russia 1″, NTV, TNT, STS, REN TV, Channel Five). Program policies of these air channels is aimed at maximizing the share of ratings and that is to attract a wide audience. The essence of this policy is to provide a variety of formats and programs of interest for a variety of target groups. Channels with the program strategy called “universal” or “channels of general interest» (general interest). Formally air channels declare different base audience for which they are guided, and under that sell time to advertisers. But in fact, watching TV very different target groups.
In 2013, children and adolescents (4-17 years) watched television an average of 2 hours 13 minutes a day, and adults over 55 years – almost three times more than 5 hours 48 minutes. We would be pleased to bring these figures for 2014, but to indicate the numbers need industry data, which are usually presented every year in spring in the report of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications “Television in Russia.” The last such report was released in spring 2014. In 2015, similar data have not been published.
And if you look at the dynamics for 10 years, from 2003 to 2013th, the children and young people (4-24 years) began to spend time TV viewing for almost an hour less, young adults (25-35 years) – half an hour . Men generally like watching TV in 2003, 3 hours 30 minutes and continue to do so in the same amount in 2013. But women are spending this much more time – 3 hours 40 minutes in 2003 to 4 pm on 22 minutes in 2013. Television audience measurement reflect the real interests of viewers to programs, this takes into account not only the amount of the beholder, but the duration of the show – in the calculation of the proportion of the target groups that are longer watching television, will be higher. Therefore, despite the fact that the demographic section of viewers is almost equivalent to the demographics of the population of Russia, the share of audiences and their impact differ. For viewers over 40 years old make up 66% of the TV audience, despite the fact that among the Russian population of only 47%. Domination-age target group leads to the fact that the average age of most audiences serials and shows in prime time on the First, “Russia 1″ and NTV is 50-55 years. Thus, in fact, despite claims the universal nature of the audience, broadcast television is focused primarily on women over 40 years.
In the early 2000s, Russian television viewers have researchers have identified two practices of consumption of the TV. The first type – the traditional linear, when people watch television continuously, carefully, rarely switching from channel to channel. The second type – klipovoy when audiences often switch channels or use the TV as a background. Among the representatives of the traditional type were more women and older people. Among those who tend klipovoy consumption of television, there were more young people and men. In those years, the ratio of traditional and klipovoy form TV viewing was two to one. But since then, audiences have become available broadband Internet and a huge variety of thematic non-terrestrial TV, which share since 2006 has increased by 6 times. Young people watch TV has become twice as less. As a result, terrestrial television is still dominated by the audience of the traditional type, and the selection of specific transmission program determines the policy of the federal channels.
Russian TV channels to create schedules using the so-called horizontal strategy on which the entire week on the air on weekdays in primetime is one episode. In Europe and the United States welcome this software called stripping is also popular. But apply it there just for daytime programming, talk shows, soap operas and television series of repetitions. Stripping allows you to create long-term loyalty of viewers (and highest ratings) because of the small gap between the ethers and through the plot. Resists stripping technique called on Russian television vertical strategy. In this case, programs or series episodes are weekly. It is believed that in this way is possible to create a better series and it requires less investment for the year. For example, in the first season of “My Fair Nanny” on STS has been shown 88 episodes, while the American predecessor project, the series The Nanny, in the first season came out 25 episodes.
General Director of Channel One Konstantin Ernst, one of the pioneers of Russian television, tried twice to enter the vertical programming on TV – in 2000 and 2010. Then on the assigned channel each day in one of the time slots came out of an episode of the new series. In both cases, the experiment failed – the ratings were relatively small. The problem is that the Russian terrestrial TV, in addition to a horizontal strategy uses the so-called effect of the vertical flow of the audience. The meaning of this phenomenon revealed the study of audience behavior, conducted back in the 1960s: people do not switch to other TV channels, if the program follows the view, does not meet their objections. Therefore, program directors try to vertically build projects in the grid so that they conform to the preferences of the target audience.
In fact, as the leading air channels are oriented to women older than 40 years, offering interesting they serials and entertainment shows, programs other target groups just do not have time. As there is no and it to strike the appropriate audience to vertical serials. That is why those who are not included in the core interests of the big channels, it seems that “there is nothing to watch on TV.” However, in the software sense, Konstantin Ernst, still unable to solve the problem with a vertical strategy, placing some intelligent series once a week in a special night slot “City Slickers».
In this traditional orientation of daily programming yourself, Russian television is inevitably confronted with the problem of aging audience. How to return the target group consisting of young and successful audience on TV essential? To solve this problem would help to shift to an audience of 18-49 years, and with it – a change of format and content of the program series. This would give up the horizontal series and telenovelas in prime time, leaving them for the day display. Voiced above group of spectators is also important in that it often oriented advertisers. Because TV, sharpened to a younger audience, can be financially successful than federal, running on a wide audience.
According to the newspaper “Kommersant”, in 2014 advertising revenues of the First Channel (14 orients the audience 59 years) decreased slightly and amounted to 23.609 billion rubles. This channel has suffered losses at 938 mln. Revenues TNT (orients the audience 14-44 years) in the same year increased by 8% to 16.9 billion rubles. The profit amounted to 4.9 billion. This figure even TNT by 1 billion rubles overtook another channel holding “Gazprom-Media” – NTV. In all of this on traditional formal group 18+ TNT ranked fourth, and for a group of 18-49 years – the second, almost equaling the first channel.
However, What then to do with the target groups of older, constitutes the main audience now? As soon as they get to somewhere. The audience with the traditional linear TV type will look the same as you did before. On American TV series-air channels, which tell about the heroes of 28-35 years, demand for both young and older audience. The average age of the audience the show “Dancing with the Stars» (Dancing with the Stars, ABC) is 56 years, the series “Law & Order (Law & amp; Order, NBC) – 52 years. Viewers of the series “My generation» (My Generation, ABC), telling about the 28-year-old young men, on average in ’51.
So, “on TV is nothing to watch” because the leading essential channels actually orient primetime female audience older than 40 years with the traditional linear patterns of TV. Why, despite the benefits of targeting young people, the main Russian TV channels (First, “Russia 1″, NTV, Channel Five, REN TV) still initially operate at a viewer’s age? Program policy of our federal channels is not always determined only by financial goals. But this is another reason for the material.
05.01.2016 Author: Alex Zubok
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