May 2011
Kensaku Saito
In the January issue, the author reported findings of an in-depth survey on how television is viewed at each household in the morning. Following that, the author outlines the TV viewing behavior in the morning from a qualitative perspective by precisely compiling per-minute ratings in Kanto area surveyed by Video Research Ltd. and respondents’ viewing/recording diaries used in the above in-depth survey.
The following traits were analyzed from the per-minute ratings:
(1) Households which do not watch television routinely in the morning accounted only for approximately ten percent, and the majority of households watch television in the morning for long hours;
(2) At the same time, different households watch television at different time slots; and
(3) Much less “changing channels” were observed in the morning than expected. More than half of the households change channels only once during the four hours of morning while nearly 20 percent of households change channels more than five times, showing polarization of viewers in this regard.
The author also reports the results of respondents’ viewing/recording diaries including the
following aspects, along with their remarks at the interview:
(1) The reality and background of zapping, or changing channels during a period of one minutes or less, that are not recorded in the per-minute ratings (distribution of zapping frequency and temporal development, reasons for zapping, and categorization of zapping behaviors);
(2) How viewers’ knowledge on TV schedule, or “mind table,” influences changing channels; and
(3) How individual viewer’s viewing history and/or accumulated viewing experiences affects the formation of “mind table.”