The audience of the mass media is recognized today as a collective entity of difficult appreciation, since the definitive segmentation – such as the appropriation of the messages – occurs in the reception processes themselves. Hence, at present, the analysis of television reception is considered as a multiple, polyform and very dynamic object of research.
According to the Mexican expert Guillermo Orozco – one of the main Latin American researchers of television reception – the traditional socioeconomic criteria to demarcate social strata (stratum, schooling, etc.) allow an entry, a preliminary segmentation, but the multiple identity of an audience can only be captured with categories that explore both identities of origin and the way in which they mediate processes. particulars of reception, appropriation and use of messages.
In addition, by trying to segment an audience beyond age ranges, schooling and social stratum, it is possible to establish notions such as, for example, the school community, to refer to young people, however it is later found that "although several characteristics are shared and there are similarities, a school community does not correspond to a 'receptional' community. That is, it is not the same as an audience segment, although in some cases it can be very similar, "observes the researcher.
In short, the so-called television and its multiple options (access to subscription services, interactive possibilities such as video games, computer networks, etc.) does not name a single way to watch television. Reception is, precisely, a process, not a single moment of appropriation, so that it occurs in time and mixes with everyday life.
In the case of cable audienceing, the difficulties increase given the high cost of monitoring actual television, rather than on appliances or zapping effects as widespread use of the remote control and receiver box.
Either way, the industry requires indicators. That is why the efforts of various companies to offer valuable ratings information are remarkable, although it cannot account for all the complexity of television, at least instructs on trends and preferences that are reflected in the measurements that distinguish between on devices, free-to-air and cable TV services, number of households, socioeconomic levels, sex of the audience and gender of the signals analyzed.
For example, it is striking that the documentary genre, until a few years ago reduced to marginal sectors of programming, has revived in the hands of signals such as Discovery Channel and originated a new generation of related channels.
In this regard, a recent survey by Ibope on the presence of channels in the six largest cable systems in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, reflects the favoritism of children's programming (Cartoon Network), information (CNN and CNN in Spanish), documentary (Discovery Channel), sports (ESPN), music (MTV), movies and series (Fox, TNT) – not necessarily in that order – followed by other options such as HBO Brasil y Olé, Sony Entertainment TV, USA and WBTV, among others. (Source: Audits & Surveys Worldwide / Ibope, 1997).
Undoubtedly, these data are similar in other countries of the region and account for the great changes that the TV industry is experiencing and the challenge they constitute to establish the ratings. TV&V
