Television for the Promotion of Health and Nutrition Information ‐‐ a Study of Indian Urban Viewers

Abstract

Data obtained on 1,500 urban television viewers in Andhra Pradesh, the southern state in India, revealed that educational programmes, and in particular health and nutrition programmes, could attract the attention of around 50 per cent of viewers. More than 70 per cent of the audience expressed the need for a greater number of well produced health and nutrition programmes. This indicates increased health consciousness among people living in the towns and cities of India today. Programmes via television stimulated 86 per cent of viewers by evoking discussion on the programme content, whereas they were able to prompt only 56 per cent of viewers to take positive action. The number of viewers, as well as the viewing time, were greater at weekends than on weekdays. Programmes telecast during evenings interested almost all the viewers. Short and crisp messages in the form of public service advertising were found to be highly successful, suggesting that television spots can be an effective means of disseminating health and nutrition information.