Research The special-interest channel Star TV is
dissatisfied with the Telecontrol figures. The TC-Panel records TV usage
young people is inadequate, he complains. Some shortcomings are
undisputed. But the SRG research service remains silent.
The parents watch in the parlor
"Benissimo" on SF 1, at the same time the 15-year-old daughter is dreaming in the
girls' room in MTV star heaven, while her 17-year-old son
in the craft room at StarTV about new movies. Quiz question: What
the Telecontrol System (TC) of the SRG Research Service via the
TV usage in this household? One female viewer and one male viewer
for SF1. The parallel TV use of young people therefore falls under
the table.
"TC actually measures this in around 14 percent of all households.
way," says Cédric Chollet, owner of the consulting firm Chollet
MediaExpert. He sees this as a
reason why special-interest and youth channels in Switzerland are relatively popular with TC.
perform poorly. The consultant came across the issue because he
commissioned by the private broadcaster Star TV to analyze the relationship between its
usage figures and the TC system. At Star
TV has been dissatisfied with the values collected for years. In 2005
the special interest channel to a daily reach
of just under 400,000 people and had a market share of 0.3 percent.
out. Star TV is convinced that this is far too little.

Nevertheless, the shortcoming identified by Chollet in the TC panel is
largely confirmed elsewhere: According to the Establishment Survey, the
annual SRG basic research, last year 34 percent of the population had
of all Swiss households have at least two TV sets (see
box). The User Commission TV of Publica Data therefore presented the
December that the so-called multi-device households in the TC-Panel
are "clearly underrepresented" with only around 20 percent. But that
The Commission now wants to change this. All difficulties with the
Despite recruitment, it demands that the quota of
multi-device budgets will be adjusted to the planned target in three years' time.

However, Chollet also sees an inherent reason why the
TV use by young people tends to be neglected in the TC system. "Because
When selecting the panel households, the age of the head of the household
person is the main criterion, young people aged 15 and 20
but relatively rarely head a household, older people are
people in the panel are given disproportionate consideration," says the consultant.
That is why this criterion is "an old braid that should be cut off".
He is unable to put a figure on how high the error rate could be.

And Chollet mentions another shortcoming: The TC-Panel seems to be "generally
in a desolate state". At least that was the case in 2003. The
he believes in the 2003 annual report of the Media Science
Control Commission (MWKK) headed by Professor Heinz Bonfadelli from Zurich
to be able to extract the data. On behalf of the SRG Research Service
the TC Panel every year. At that time, the MWKK determined that the
contractually stipulated annual exchange of panel households only
was inadequate, 26 percent of households had been in operation for longer than
agreed in the panel. Chollet's conclusion: "The TC data is no longer
representative. The panel needs to be revised and better maintained."

But what about the panel today? Chollet does not have any
current information, because the SRG Research Service (FD) has not yet
more recent MWKK reports only to the user commissions.
FD manager Manuel Dähler also did not give Werbewoche any insight into
the confidential data. And on the shortcomings pointed out by Chollet
he also did not comment. Because Star TV does not take the route via the
User Commission and have already spoken to a lawyer about the
talks with Publica Data, he would like to take a closer look at this matter.
not contact Star TV via Werbewoche, says Dähler.

Markus Knöpfli; collaboration Andreas Panzeri

How Telecontrol works
The TC device is a small computer that is currently used in 1870 panel households.
connected to any existing TV and video device and connected to the
is connected to the telephone network. It measures around the clock in
30-second intervals everything that is connected to the TV or
video device. The members of the
The start and end of each panel household must be set by remote control.
Enter the end of your individual viewing time. During the night
all data from the central computer automatically via the telephone network
retrieved. (mk)

TV usage in multi-device households
How many TV sets are there in Swiss households? And how often
do several people watch television with them at the same time? To both questions
there is no conclusive answer. The Establishment Survey
not. Because the statement that in 2005 34 percent of all households had more than two
or more TV sets in operation, the
specific question is insufficient. This explicitly refers to TV sets
at the main residence, those in a second or vacation home and also those
at the workplace of the person running the household. This means that
how many households contain several people at the same time.
can watch TV on different devices (parallel use).

More information on this can be found in an SRG study on the media use of
children. According to this, in 2003, the 499 Swiss children surveyed were
Households with 7- to 14-year-old children on average 1.1
TV sets. In 18 percent of the households surveyed, the children even had a
TV set in your own room.

It therefore remains to be seen whether the number of devices in the rooms of young people
significantly from the age of 15 - and the extent to which this difference
on the overall TV usage of 15 to 49-year-olds. (mk)

SF DRS attracts the most children and young people, but the ceiling seems to have been reachedBy Daniel Schifferle Swiss children and young people are not only difficult to reach with television, they are also more dispersed among the numerous channels available than any other segment. This will remain the case, as SF DRS has neither plans nor recipes for a further effort in the two youngest target groups.
Children and young people watch little television and have low channel retention. This is shown by an analysis recently presented by SF DRS. Of a total of 737,000 children (3 to 14-year-olds) in German-speaking Switzerland, only 43,000 could be found in front of the television on an average day. Young people (15 to 24-year-olds) were similarly abstinent. Out of a total of 626,000, only 42,000 watched television on an average day.
Television abstinence is also clearly visible when comparing the daily TV usage of the different age groups. According to SF DRS, children only watch an average of 84 minutes, while the figure for young people is only slightly higher at 96 minutes a day. Compared to the older target groups, these are modest figures. The next highest age group, 25 to 45-year-olds, already invests significantly more time in TV at 133 minutes per day. The trend towards frequent viewing is further accentuated with increasing age. For example, 45- to 64-year-olds spend 153 minutes a day in front of the television and the over-65s even 194 minutes.
Despite these difficult conditions, SF DRS has made gains in the children's segment. Between 1995 and 2001, the cumulative market share (SF 1 and SF 2) in this target group increased from 17 to 21 percent. Things only really started to pick up in autumn 1998, when SF 2 made Nickelodeon its children's program. As a result, the market share, which had previously hovered around 2 to 3 percent, climbed to 6 percent in 1999 and even to 9 percent in the following two years.
The desired stronger connection with young people did not materialize to the same extent. While SF DRS only just missed the 20 percent mark in this target group in 1998, it fell back by around two market share points in the following years. Even with this setback, however, SF DRS remains the market leader among the stations available in German-speaking Switzerland among young people and children.
Overall program attracts more young people than target group programs
Nevertheless, the fact remains that around 80% of daily TV viewing by children and young people is attributable to foreign channels. The two young age groups with as yet little channel loyalty are the most international TV viewers of all. Among children, 13 percent watched SuperRTL, 8 percent each watched the Arte children's channel or the RTL 2 children's program, and Pro 7 and RTL each caught 7 percent of children watching TV, while Sat 1 came in at 3 percent. The discontinued TV 3 was also strong in the children's segment with 8 percent.
The usage habits of young people are similarly dispersed, albeit with different preferences. Right behind SF DRS is Pro 7 with a 16% market share in the youth segment. Third place goes to RTL with 11%. RTL 2, ORF 1 and Sat 1 each achieved 6% and Vox 3%. Among the music channels specifically positioned in the youth segment, VivaSwizz still managed to gain 3 percent, while MTV lagged far behind with a market share of 1 percent. On the other hand, the discontinued TV 3 was also strong, achieving a market share of 8% among young people.
Additional efforts to attract more young viewers are not planned at SF DRS at the moment, says SFDRS press officer René Bardet. "We attract most young viewers with the overall program. The target group programs are an additional minority-oriented offer."
The calculation is simple: programs with high viewer numbers always have a relatively high number of children and young people. This is because most programs have a broadly diversified audience in terms of age. Bardet also does not believe that further expansion of the station's own children's and youth programs in order to become even more competitive is promising. "The big numbers among young people are mainly achieved with new series and sitcoms. We simply can't keep up with the extremely financially strong, youth-oriented broadcasters in Germany."