Why TV Cume Matters: An Exploratory Case Study of Four Local TV News Brands

Abstract

This article demonstrates the value of analyzing non-duplicated audience data that often are overlooked by television professionals. To that end, this exploratory single-market case study focused on the ratings performance of four competing daily television newscasts. Findings suggest that, despite appearances of audience stability using conventional average-quarter-hour data, substantial audience volatility was found when calculating audience turnover using cume data. In addition, the findings provided circumstantial evidence of the impact of occasional viewers on building and maintaining brand equity. The study concludes with practical implications for media brand managers and recommendations for future research using some custom ratings analysis tools available from Nielsen Media Research.

Key Words:

• audience
• audience measurement
• ratings
• television