Opinions About Future Programming Content & Services

2001 Viewership Survey

All 900 respondents were asked to rate their level of interest in each of a series of programming categories on a scale of 1 to 5 with a "5" being "very interested" and a "1" being "not interested at all." Both viewers (340 respondents out of the total sample size of 900) and non-viewers (560 out of the total sample size of 900) were most interested in the category of emergency information, as 49.7% of viewers and 36.6% of non-viewers said they would be "very interested" in watching this type of programming. However, when looking at the top five programming categories first ranked by just the number of respondents giving a "5" or "very interested" rating then ranked by combining the "5" "very interested" category and the "4" category to gauge a more general level of interest, fascinating differences between viewers and non-viewers emerge, as shown below.

Viewers Non-Viewers

Ranking based upon % saying "Very Interested" in Category

1. Emergency Information (49.7%) 1. Emergency Information (36.6%)

2. Neighborhood Information & Issues (32.9%) 2. Public Safety Programs including Police & Fire
  Information (22%)

3. Public Safety Programs including Police & Fire
  Information (30.3%) 3. Military News (20.2%)

4. Candidate Debates & Election Information (30%) 4. Candidate Debates & Election Information (17.7%)

5. Selected Highlights of City Council and Other Public
  Meetings (28.5%) 5. Neighborhood Information & Issues (17.3%)

Ranking based upon % saying "Very Interested" or "Interested" in Category

1. Emergency Information (68.2%) 1. Emergency Information (57.9%)

2. Public Safety Programs including Police & Fire
  Information (56.2%) 2. Public Safety Programs including Police & Fire
  Information (44.1%)

3. Neighborhood Information & Issues (54.1%) 3. Military News (36.1%)

4. Candidate Debates & Election Information (52.9%) 4. Recreation & Leisure Activities (34.6%)

5. Selected Highlights of City Council and Other Public
  Meetings (51.5%) 5. Candidate Debates & Election Information (33.9%)

All respondents are quite interested in Emergency and Public Safety programming. However as the following two graphs show, respondents who are not currently viewers of CTTV appear to favor Military News programming while showing little interest in Public Meeting programming. In fact, Military News programming is the only category of the 17 categories tested in which non-viewers showed more interest than viewers.
Survey Response Graph

As CTTV continues to build its viewer base, these findings may, indeed, prove significant. However, a note of caution is in order: this viewership survey was fielded in the latter part of November, well after the tragic events of September 11. However, the general public still appears to have a heightened interest in matters relating to emergency & public safety information and the military. To what extent this interest may abate or when it may do so is impossible to predict and points to the value of regular viewer and non-viewer measurement in the future.

All respondents were then asked whether they prefer programming that is packaged in short segments similar to a "video news magazine" or programming that covers live public meetings similar to a "video window on the government." Interestingly, almost six out of 10 (59.4%) of all respondents prefer the news magazine style programming. Further, as shown below, non-viewers prefer this "news magazine" style of programming more than do current viewers of CTTV.

Some people prefer to see programming on Tampa's CTTV channel 15 that is packaged in short segments that are both informative and entertaining similar to a video news magazine, other people prefer to see programming that is live and covers public meetings from beginning to end similar to a video "window" on the government. Which type of programming do you prefer?

Next - Computer & Internet Awareness and Use

Survey Home