Viewers’ Perspection of Entertainment Programs on EBS
Chapter One
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain viewers’ perception of the quality of the entertainment rendered by EBS
- To ascertain viewers’ perception of the quality of programmes offered by EBS
- To determine if there are age group differences in the perceptions of viewers
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Television Viewership
Television viewership may be defined as the number of persons viewing the programmes of a given TV station at a particular point in time. Webster and Lichty (1991) stated that it can be measured using ratings provided by the old Nielsen meters or the new people meters. From a marketing standing point, viewership is important because it has implications for advertising reach which refers to the number of persons that are exposed to an advertisement at least once during a specified period (Agbonifoh, Ogwo, Nnolim & Nkamnebe, 2007). Advertising as a source of revenue today is a multi-million business all over the world. Reddy et al (1996) found that a swing of only one rating point in viewership could translate into a loss or gain of millions of dollars in advertising revenues for a network. They further noted that the competitive ratings game, with respect to viewership, had essentially become a game where the gain of one network could mean big losses for another. Therefore, understanding audience behaviour – whether they are satisfied, what satisfies them and how to retain them – is of crucial importance to TV stations. As Reddy et al (1996) explain, there has never been a more urgent need to schedule prime-time TV programmes carefully to maximize network’s ratings and profits
Audience Satisfaction
Television audience satisfaction is the viewer’s fulfilment response to a television experience, or some part thereof (Gray & Dennis, 2010). Lu and Lo (2007) investigated the antecedents and consequences of audience satisfaction in television broadcasting. They found that antecedents of audience satisfaction include television audiences’ expectations, involvement, connectedness and programme performance. On the other hand, repeat watching intention, viewer voice, and likelihood to watch embedded advertisements appeared to be some of the consequences of audience satisfaction. TV programme presentation, often referred to as programming, has also been found to affect audience satisfaction (Gardial, Clemons, Woodurff, Schumann, & Burns, 1994; Eastman & Ferguson, 2013). Programming is the process that involves selecting, scheduling, promoting and evaluating programmes on broadcast stations, subscription channels or online services (Eastman & Ferguson, 2013). Other determinants of audience satisfaction include audience involvement (Zaickowsky, 1994), connectedness (Russell, Norman & Heckler, 2004) and programme performance (Oliver, 1980). Audience involvement refers to viewers’ perception of the relevance of a television programme based on their inherent needs, values and interests (Zaickowsky, 1994) while connectedness is the level of intensity of the relationship that viewers’ develop with the characters and contextual settings of a programme (Russell, Norman & Heckler, 2004). O’Neil and Palmer (2004) assert that, service quality and the degree of satisfaction derived from service quality are becoming the most important differentiating factors in almost every service sub sector.
Service Quality
Siddiqi (2011) asserts that service quality is one of the critical success factors that influence the competitiveness of an organization. Fogli (2006) defined service quality as the customer’s overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of an organization and its services. With respect to television stations, service quality may be defined as the viewers’ overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the station and its programmes. As with other service firms, the quality of the services of a television station can be assessed using the SERVQUAL scale developed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1988). The scale assesses service quality in terms of customers’ perception of the tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy of the service/service provider. However, a major drawback of the SERVQUAL scale is that it is somewhat abstract. Besides, the results obtained from such analysis may be questionable with respect to television stations since viewers may not have had the opportunity to physically visit or interact with the television stations concerned. Hence viewers may be unable to assess television stations using the SERVQUAL dimensions.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study viewers perspective of entertainment programme on EBS
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on viewers perspective of entertainment programme on EBS. 200 staff of EBS was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain viewers perspective of entertainment programme on EBS. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenge of viewers perspective of entertainment programme on EBS
Summary
This study was on viewers perspective of entertainment programme on EBS. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain viewers’ perception of the quality of the entertainment rendered by EBS, to ascertain viewers’ perception of the quality of programmes offered by EBS and to determine if there are age group differences in the perceptions of viewers. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staffs of EBS TV. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made HRMS, editors, broadcasters and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
viewer perception, rating and ranking help providers of services and products to know how well they are performing and also help them determine the attributes on which they fall short of customers’ expectations.
Recommendation
it is recommended that television stations strive to improve the quality of their services and quality of programs in order to better satisfy their customers. EBS Television stations, like their counter parts in other part of the world should begin a 24/7 operation. They should introduce audience satisfaction surveys and complaints management systems as strategies for improving on service delivery. It is also important for local stations to utilize digital platforms to ensure improved services. It will also be of great advantage if television stations train their staff in field journalism so that they are betterequipped to provide up-to-date account of events. Management of TV stations in EBS can also venture into segmentation by focusing on viewers’ needs in various sectors like sports and news (as Supersports focuses on sports and CNN on News) so as to better satisfy the needs of viewers in these segments rather than attempting to feature all programmes and ending up not doing any of them effectively.
References
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