Viewers bribed: paper
By Jane Chen |
July 2, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME regional television stations have allegedly padded their viewership data by bribing sample households to watch their channels, according to People's Daily yesterday.
They earmarked tens of million yuan a year to hire private companies to promote their brands, mostly bribing the households to fake higher rating points, the report said.
Since US Nielsen Media Research's withdrawal in 2008, CSM Media Research is the only TV rating researcher in China.
CSM installed a box on TV sets in selected sample households to gauge the percentage of viewers for each program.
In a first-tier city with a population over 10 million for example, about 500 local households will be selected as the sample targets.
Normally, regional TV stations attract audiences of 0.2 to 0.3 percent.
But data indicated some stations have more than double the ratings of others, even during such national broadcasts as the Chinese People's Congress sessions and the national memorial service for the Yushu County earthquake, the report quoted insiders as saying.
A taxi driver whose family was selected as a sample household told People's Daily he was offered 200 yuan (US$29) a month by a local TV station to watch its channel. The family has been disqualified from further research.
In Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a CSM Media Research technician surnamed Wang was sentenced to 15 months jail and fined 200,000 yuan last year for conspiring with TV station workers to bribe households to get higher viewing rates, according to Xi'an Intermediate People's Court.
They earmarked tens of million yuan a year to hire private companies to promote their brands, mostly bribing the households to fake higher rating points, the report said.
Since US Nielsen Media Research's withdrawal in 2008, CSM Media Research is the only TV rating researcher in China.
CSM installed a box on TV sets in selected sample households to gauge the percentage of viewers for each program.
In a first-tier city with a population over 10 million for example, about 500 local households will be selected as the sample targets.
Normally, regional TV stations attract audiences of 0.2 to 0.3 percent.
But data indicated some stations have more than double the ratings of others, even during such national broadcasts as the Chinese People's Congress sessions and the national memorial service for the Yushu County earthquake, the report quoted insiders as saying.
A taxi driver whose family was selected as a sample household told People's Daily he was offered 200 yuan (US$29) a month by a local TV station to watch its channel. The family has been disqualified from further research.
In Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, a CSM Media Research technician surnamed Wang was sentenced to 15 months jail and fined 200,000 yuan last year for conspiring with TV station workers to bribe households to get higher viewing rates, according to Xi'an Intermediate People's Court.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
