Institutional Research: Broadcast

Institutional Research: TV
I decided to summarize my research done on Institutions in two sections: Television and Print. This post shows the institutional research that I found on television institutions that cover the genre of lifestyle. This summary of each institution will allow me to see the values that the institutions hold, the reliability that audiences have on them and what the audience expects if them. This will allow me to understand the sort of expectations that an audience will have of my product and how institutional values may affect the production.

BBC (1922)

The BBC stands for the ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’ and is a mass public service broadcasting statutory corporation. This means that the BBC is a corporation created by a statute (an established law or rule) which broadcasts to the general public. The BBC has the purpose of providing impartial public broadcasting in the UK and Channel Islands which is their legal duty to fulfill and is also a semi- autonomous broadcaster. It is the world’s oldest national broadcasting service (founded in 1922 by John Reith and George Villiers) and serves worldwide, funded principally by an annual television fee which is charged to all British households or buildings which use a line for broadcast.

As well as providing a television service, the BBC also provides radio and online services. In total 9 television stations are broadcasted by the BBC and 17 radio stations. It also provides the service of the ‘red button’ which allows the audience to digitally interact with the television, as well as providing BBC iPlayer where people can watch repeats of their missed programmes. The appeal of the BBC covers all ages including toddlers to OAP’s. This is due to the wide range of genres that it offers from Children’s Television to News. In terms of ‘Uses and Gratifications’ the BBC caters for several different purposes such as: surveillance (BBC News); personal relationships in using the media for personal interaction (dramas such as The Paradise); diversion (Doctor Who) and personal identity. Also gratification can come from the content of the broad array of the programmes on offer, identification to a genre, the social context or identification to the programme or genre being shown (teenagers identifying to Waterloo Road).


The BBC has been criticised that is hasn't stayed true to the purpose of its creation- providing impartial service. Critics have said that the BBC lacks impartiality and objectivity. Competing institutions have argued that the licence fee is unfair as it limits the ability for their competition with the BBC (more people watch the BBC because of no adverts as they are funded by mandatory fees). Furthermore the BBC has been accused of racism and homophobia as well as sex abuse scandals which have recently been uncovered.

Viewing data shows that BBC 1’s average daily reach is 45,940,000. This is the largest daily audience in comparison to other main channels such as ITV (19,604,000) and Sky 1 (2,631,000). Furthermore the average person spends 6.19 hours a week watching BBC 1, almost twice ITV’s audience who spend 3.56 hours.

ITV (1955)

ITV is a Television Institution based in the United Kingdom which was initially created to provide competition to the BBC. It is a network of television channels that operate regional services. ITV is the oldest commercial network in the United Kingdom and is also known as Channel 3 for the sole purpose of being distinguished from BBC 1 and 2 and Channel 4. Three companies hold ownership over ITV: ITV plc, STV Group and UTV Media and most of the income comes from commercial breaks between programmes.

Although ITV is more widely known for television, the institution also provides an e-media service. ITV consists of 5 television channels in total, its own website and ITV Player where audiences can catch up on missed television programmes. This shows the convergence of broadcast to e-media because television programmes which could originally only be viewed on the broadcast platform (such as television) are now being streamed online. Similarly to the BBC, the variety of television channels which ITV offers results in an appeal to a wide range of audiences. For example ITV2 produces reality programmes such as The Only Way Is Essex and Celebrity Juice which have the primary audience of teenagers and young adults. However CITV produces children’s programmes such as Horrid Henry and so appeals to a primary audience of much younger children. In contrast ITV3 produces programmes such as thrillers which appeal more to adults. ITV also provides the channel ‘ITV+1’ which allows programmes to be viewed an hour later.

ITV has received criticism in the past that they do not stick to broadcasting regulations. This is because advertisers do not want to pay to advertise on programmes which are outside of the peak times- and so have a lower audience. This puts pressure on ITV to broadcast these programmes at high peak times and so thwarting regulations such as ‘watershed’ hours. ITV has also been accused on ‘dumbing down’ their programmes to appeal to low demographic categories because of the huge increase in reality shows in broadcasts.

Viewing data shows that the ITV is the second most popular channel in the UK with an average daily viewing reach of 19,604,000. This is 33.9% of the total daily viewing figures for British television.

Channel 4 (1982)

Channel 4 is a British public service television broadcaster that broadcasts throughout the United Kingdom. Although it receives funding from commercial advertising, Channel 4 is publically owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation.

Channel 4 provides 12 television channels of which are most are aimed at a more relaxed and lower demographic category than the BBC or ITV. This can be seen in the channels such as E4 (teenage comedy and drama such as ‘Misfits’ and ‘Skins’), Film4 which shows back to back films and the 7 music channels which Channel 4 provides. However the television station ‘Channel 4’ provides more serious programmes such as ‘Channel 4 News’ and documentaries. The mixed array of channels that Channel 4 provides shows how the institution caters for different audience appeal. Importantly, the essential feature of Channel 4 is that a more laid-back approach is taken than the BBC or ITV. Channel 4, similarly to ITV and BBC, also has its own website in which missed programmes can be watched on 4OD. In addition other channels have been created which show programmes with an hour delay so that programmes are not missed if they clash with other viewings (for example E4+1).

Although Channel 4 is the fourth most popular channel in the UK, it has a weekly reach of only 35,936,000 which is less than BBC1’s average daily viewing rates. Furthermore only 1 hour and 19 minutes is spent watching Channel 4 in a week per person which is significantly less than the BBC. However in terms of younger audiences, E4 is the most popular teenage aimed channel with 3,794,000 daily viewings compared with children aimed channels such as CBBC (produced by the BBC) with only 1,515,000 daily viewings.

Criticisms facing Channel 4 involve its inaccuracy on the programme 'The Great Global Warming Swindle' where it stated that global warming is a big scam. This caused major controversy and bad publicity. Furthermore other programmes which have been broadcasted such as 'Wank Week' has raised a huge mount of criticism and disgust towards Channel 4. In addition  Ahmadinejad's christmas speech on Channel 4 raised a great deal of rage when he aimed some of what he was negatively saying at the United States.

(Viewing data from www.barb.co.uk)

Evaluation
This institutional research has helped me to see what is expected from each institution and what each institution provides to appeal to a certain audience. After analysing these three main institutions I think that Channel 4 would be the most suitable institution to broadcast my new programme with. This is because my aim is to create a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere to the programme- which I have discovered is more acceptable on Channel 4 as it is a more laid back institutuon than the BBC or ITV. Furthermore, Channel 4 caters for a mixed array of ages in different demographic categories, from teenagers to older adults. I think this would benefit my programme because the content of the programme may appeal to different ages. For example the crafts content may appeal to younger adults who are studying arts in university, however the interior and home content may appeal to an older adult or those who are in a lower category as it provides a cheaper alternative to home decor. Also a lot of popular, widely known and respected Lifestyle TV programmes are broadcasted on Channel 4 such as 'Kirstie's Handmade Britain' and 'Location, Location, Location' and so my new Lifestyle programme may appeal to an audience which are loyal to Channel 4's Lifestyle television.