A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF MEDIA MEASUREMENT MILESTONES

1930-1940 - RADIO BROADCASTING

"Systematic efforts at audience measurement emerged in the 1930s with the rise of widespread radio broadcasting in the U.S. as the Great Depression set in" (Merritt, 2017). Broadcasters needed to understand the size and demographics of their audiences as a baseline for advertising pricing. Radio employees would count "how many pieces of mail were devoted to particular subjects and carefully measure whether the numbers of negative letters were rising or falling" (Kaulback, 2016). These attempts at audience measurement in broadcast were "responsible for the emergence of audience measurement practices" (Webster et. al., 2005). Later on, exposure became the most used insight for audience ratings (Balnaves, et. al. 2011).

1950 - NIELSEN & TV BROADCASTING

We recognize Nielsen from the TV ratings, but the company started out as the "dominant television measurement firm" (Merritt, 2017).  Nielsen ratings highly influenced television executives on what would stay on the air and what would be taken off (Encylopaedia Britannica, 2017). This also influenced advertising, since the higher-rated shows would be prime spots for commercials and advertisements.

1990 TO PRESENT - THE INTERNET

The Internet brought about unlimited possibilities, including for media monitoring and measurement. As more outlets moved their media online, there needed to be new ways to measure their audiences. Measurements began with volume and reach, and has evolved into real-time trends, audience profiling and multi-platform monitoring (H+K Global, 2018). Google launched their analytics tool in 2005, which has since dominated web measurement and metrics (A Brief History, 2014). Social media sites such as Facebook have also launched their own analytics tools for business pages to monitor audience demographics and reactions.