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Conclusion2001 Viewership Survey First, this survey of cable subscribers in Tampa has turned up a substantial, knowledgeable and satisfied base of viewers for City of Tampa Television, CTTV. There remain, however, many cable subscribers who are unaware of and have yet to view programming on CTTV, Channel 15. Over three-fourths of the approximately 30,000 households that are current viewers discovered CTTV by "channel surfing" and, no doubt, others will continue to discover CTTV in this manner. However, the growth in viewership that will accrue in this manner will be unplanned, slow and, at best, incremental. To the extent that resources allow, a much more substantial and timely growth in viewership can occur by undertaking an aggressive public education and marketing campaign to make non-viewer cable subscribers in Tampa aware of CTTV Channel 15 and the program offerings available on it. Such a campaign can have a substantial cumulative impact on viewership growth and create CTTV as a "destination" for these new viewers. While some of these marketing efforts, no doubt, require additional resources to be implemented, others can be cooperative and low cost. For example, about 17% of non-viewer cable subscriber households have seen the City of Tampa’s website on their home computer. Prominent mention on this website of CTTV programming which may be especially interesting to non-viewers, e.g., emergency information, public safety oriented programming or military news programming may entice some of these approximately 7,500 non-viewer households to tune in. Second, it seems clear from these results that both viewers of CTTV and non-viewers generally prefer programming that is both informative and entertaining. This so-called "news magazine" programming format is entirely consistent with the leading edge of Government Access programming in general and, certainly, with CTTV, Channel 15, in particular. This finding is especially relevant to attracting new viewers to CTTV, as they appear to favor this "news magazine" format by an even greater margin than current viewers. Finally, continued information gathering and viewership research should provide valuable guidance as CTTV continues to grow and extend its programming lineup and offerings. Gone are the days when Government Access programming consists solely of scrolling city announcements and fixed camera gavel-to-gavel public meeting coverage. As the programming offerings broaden and expand to better communicate with more and more residents of Tampa, research becomes an ever more valuable tool to better understand the needs of a diverse, vibrant community. Clearly, a baseline viewership study such as this should be the cornerstone of any audience research program. However, a survey of this size and length does not need to be conducted every year. In fact, there is great utility in performing other types of research as well, e.g., focus groups, smaller and quicker follow up surveys, etc. Indeed, it may be possible to partner with other Access providers in the Greater Tampa area to undertake many of these research activities, thereby reducing costs and allowing more information to be gathered and shared in a shorter period of time. Gathering information in many different ways on a consistent, periodic basis will provide the best, most complete picture of the residents of Tampa and afford City of Tampa Television, CTTV, the best opportunity to successfully and meaningfully meet Tampa’s communication, entertainment and information needs. |
