Canwest and Solutions Research Group Release Findings of Landmark Television
Audience Study
New Research Provides Insight Into Audience Engagement, Ad Receptivity & Reveals What Women Really Watch
"This study was designed to provide insight into and context around an ever changing landscape." said
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Channel Attentiveness & Engagement
With regards to channel attentiveness, the panel was asked to rate on a scale of 1-5 "how attentively they watch each channel". For women 25-54 a very diverse group of channels dominate the top five: Mystery TV, Food Network, OLN, Discovery and The Weather Network. While these results are not surprising for the traditionally high AMA ranking Food Network and Discovery, channels such as Mystery TV and OLN were unexpected additions to the top of the attentiveness ranker.
Since the introduction of the PPM methodology last Fall, sports and children's channels have jumped to the top female audience ranker positions. However, when a qualitative engagement filter is applied to the quantitative data, an entirely different story emerges. Using the same attentiveness lens used above, the new picture shows all sports and children's channels ranked in the bottom ten and reporting below average attentiveness scores among W25-54.
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W25-54 Ranked on
Channel AMA (000) Rank Channel Attentiveness
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TSN 30.2 1 Mystery TV 79
YTV 27.7 2 Food Network 75
HGTV 22.2 3 OLN 72
W Network 19.1 4 Discovery 72
Discovery 19.1 5 Weather 71
Teletoon Eng 19.0 6 Space 70
History 16.8 7 National Geographic 70
Sportsnet National 16.2 8 HGTV 70
Showcase 15.3 9 Bravo! 69
Space 14.3 10 W Network 68
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Food Network 13.1 11 Slice 67
Tvtropolis 10.2 12 Showcase Diva 66
Comedy 9.9 13 Newsworld 66
Slice 9.8 14 Dusk 66
MuchMusic 8.1 15 History 65
CMT 7.5 16 Showcase 64
Bravo! 7.3 17 Comedy 61
CBC News Network 5.4 18 CTV News Channel 60
Action 5.3 19 Action 58
Showcase Diva 5.0 20 TVtropolis 57
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MuchMore 5.0 21 CMT 51
OLN 4.9 22 TSN 50
National Geographic 4.7 23 MuchMore 49
Weather 4.3 24 Teletoon Retro 45
Score 4.1 25 TSN2 45
Teletoon Retro Eng 4.0 26 MuchMusic 44
Mystery TV 4.0 27 Teletoon 42
TSN2 3.4 28 Sportsnet 41
CTV News Channel 3.0 29 Score 36
Dusk 2.5 30 YTV 33
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Source: W25-54 F09 STD performance of Top 30 A25-54 (at Oct26/09) BBM
Canada PPM data, Aug31/09-Jan3/10, M-Su 2a-2a, Total Canada
Attentiveness Rank is based on top-two-box % score on a 5-point scale
The research also indicates that lifestyle channels remain the most effective way to reach engaged female audiences. Consider what this study revealed when enquiring about Canadian women's favourite channels. The sample was asked that question directly, and the results show Food Network and HGTV taking the top two positions. When asked which channel 'they usually choose to watch or turn on themselves', lifestyle channels SLICE, HGTV, W Network and Food Network place solidly in the top ten.
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"I usually choose
to watch or turn to "This channel is
Rank this channel myself" Rank one of my favourites"
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1 W Network 1 Food Network
2 Showcase Diva 2 HGTV
3 Mystery TV 3 National Geographic
4 Slice 4 Mystery TV
5 CMT 5 Discovery
6 Dusk 6 Space
7 HGTV 7 Slice
8 Food Network 8 Diva
9 Showcase 9 Dusk
10 Bravo 10 Teletoon Retro
11 TVtropolis 11 OLN
12 Weather Network 12 TVtropolis
13 Much More Music 13 W Network
14 CTV News 14 History
15 OLN 15 Bravo
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Source: Specialty Engagement Study, SRG/Canwest, Nov. 2009 W25-54
Advertising Receptivity
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The study also looked at advertising receptivity. The questions for this portion of the study focused on viewer responsiveness and motivation to commercial messages. The questions ranged from "this channel has ads about things I actually care about" to "watching this channel inspires me to buy things". When asked on which channels do they "pay attention to advertising" and which channels would they be more likely to "purchase products advertised on", the lifestyle category dominates with a top three showing for Food Network and HGTV. In fact, Food Network and HGTV dramatically over indexed for both questions. Mystery TV, National Geographic and Dusk were unexpected top rankers against these attributes as these digital networks have lower distribution levels.
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"I am more likely to
purchase products advertised "I often pay attention to the ads
on this channel" on this channel"
Rank Channel Index Rank Channel Index
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1 Food Network 208 1 Food Network 165
2 HGTV 177 2 Dusk 165
3 Mystery TV 154 3 HGTV 147
4 National Geographic 146 4 Showcase Diva 141
5 OLN 146 5 Teletoon Retro 135
6 W Network 138 6 Much 135
7 Showcase Diva 131 7 CBC Newsnetwork 129
8 Teletoon 131 8 Slice 124
9 Newsworld 123 9 National Geographic 124
10 Slice 115 10 Teletoon 124
11 MuchMusic 115 11 W Network 118
12 Teletoon Retro 108 12 Mystery TV 118
13 Action 108 13 OLN 106
14 MuchMore 100 14 Discovery 100
15 Space 100 15 YTV 100
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Source: Specialty Engagement Study, SRG/Canwest, Nov. 2009 W25-54
Advertising Appropriateness
To explore advertising receptivity even further, Canwest tested the appropriateness of category advertising across various channels. This methodology was designed to shed light on appropriate targeting and advertising environment. The results show that women are receptive to advertising from various product categories on lifestyle channels, news networks and major television networks. However, they are not receptive when advertisers attempt to reach them via channels targeted at children. In fact, 93% of women remarked that they felt it is 'inappropriate' for personal care products to reach them via those networks. In addition, automotive, wireless and airlines each garnered a negative response rate of over 90%. These objections are not just limited to children's programming as 73% of women 25-54 also say it is 'inappropriate' to advertise personal care products to them on sports channels.
About Canwest Broadcasting
Canwest Broadcasting operates Global Television and eighteen of the country's most popular specialty channels, including HGTV, Mystery TV, National Geographic Channel, Showcase, History Television, Food Network and TVtropolis. Canwest Broadcasting is a division of Canwest Media Inc.
About Canwest Media Inc.
Canwest Media Inc. is a subsidiary of Canwest Global Communications Corp. (www.canwest.com), Canada's largest media company. In addition to owning the Global Television Network, operating 18 industry-leading specialty channels and having ownership in 5 specialty channels, Canwest is Canada's largest publisher of English language paid daily newspapers and owns and operates more than 80 online properties.
For further information: For media inquiries, please contact: Deborah Lewis, Vice President Communications, Canwest Broadcasting, (416) 934-8748, [email protected]
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