Listener/viewer ratings in media audience research

Audience ratings techniques are used to measure the interest of the audience, usually of electronic media, to a certain channel or media product. Emerging from the first decade of the 20th century, these techniques quickly gained the attention of various managers, media producers, advertisers, policymakers and media researchers in an effort to grasp undertanding of the audience, media market and the relationship between these two elements. In the context of this article, we aim to summarize these audience measurement techniques with the desire to help readers understand better and may consider using them in their own research in the future.