Average minute audience (AMA) is a type of measurement that directly reflects the television audience size. It is calculated by averaging the number of viewers for each minute of programming throughout the event. It is commonly used by broadcasters, advertisers, and researchers to evaluate the performance and popularity of TV content. AMA can vary depending on the target group, but generally the higher the value, the greater the popularity of the program. Target groups could include age, gender, ethnicity, religion, or any combination of these. AMA can also be reported for different time periods, such as live, same-day, or delayed viewing. The term "average minute audience" is a standard metric used in television audience measurement. According to

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, it is defined as "the average number of individuals or (homes or target group) viewing a TV channel, which is calculated per minute during a specified period of time over the program duration." It reflects the ''average'' size of the ''audience'' on a ''minute''-by-''minute'' basis ''throughout the length of a program''. It is often used to compare the viewership of different programs or events, such as

sports league A sports league is a group of individual athletes, sports teams or clubs who form a league to compete against each other and gain points in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among them ...

s or awards shows.

Description

AMA is one of several ratings metrics provided by

, the leading company in TV

audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

measurement in the United States. Nielsen uses a sample of 40,000 homes and about 100,000 people that is demographically representative of the population as a whole to estimate the AMA for various TV channels and programs. Nielsen also provides other ratings metrics, such as rating, share, reach, and

gross rating point In advertising, a gross rating point (GRP) measures the size of an audience that an advertisement impacts. GRPs help answer ''how often'' "must someone see it before they can readily recall it" and "how many times" does it take before the desired o ...

s. AMA is often used to compare the viewership of different TV programs or events, especially in genres such as sports, news, and awards shows. For example, AMA can be used to rank the most-watched

s or events in a given year or season. AMA can also be used to measure the impact of social media or other factors on TV viewership. For instance, AMA can be used to analyze how Twitter activity influences the audience size of live TV events. The AMA has some limitations as a measure of TV audience size. For one thing, it does not account for the quality or engagement of the viewership. For example, a program with a high AMA may have a lot of viewers who are not paying attention or who are switching channels frequently. Conversely, a program with a low AMA may have a loyal and attentive fan base. Moreover, AMA does not capture the full extent of

TV consumption Television consumption constitutes a significant aspect of media consumption in Western culture. Similar to other high-consumption lifestyles, habitual television viewing is often driven by a pursuit of pleasure, escapism, or psychological numbi ...

across different platforms and devices. For example, AMA does not include

online streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

services,

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

, or mobile devices. Therefore, the AMA may underestimate the total audience size of some TV programs or events that have a significant

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

or mobile presence.

History

The history of Average Minute Audience (AMA) is closely related to the

history of television The concept of television is the work of many individuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Constantin Perskyi had coined the word ''television'' in a paper read to the International Electricity Congress at the Exposition Universelle ...

audience measurement, which is the process of estimating the number and characteristics of viewers of TV programs or events. AMA is a standard metric used in television audience measurement that was introduced by

in 2007 as a way to capture the average audience across all platforms, including

live TV Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television where all viewers watch the same stream simultaneously, rather than watching video o ...

, DVR,

, and

. AMA replaced the previous metric of average quarter-hour (AQH) ratings, which only measured the audience in 15-minute intervals. AMA is now widely used by broadcasters, advertisers, and researchers to evaluate the performance and popularity of TV content.{{Cite web , title=Media Average Minute Audience {{! Adobe Analytics , url=https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/media-analytics/using/media-reports/media-workspace-panels/average-minute-audience.html?lang=en , access-date=2024-01-30 , website=experienceleague.adobe.com , language=en

References

Audience measurement