Research in new fields

Graham Mytton

This paper reviews the function of audience research for a world broadcasting service and traces its history since 1936.
  

Research in new fields

Graham MyttonBBC World Service

RESEARCH FOR A WORLD BROADCASTING SERVICE

The BBC has used audience research for most of its 64 years. In Britain it began in 1936 when Robert Silvey established the beginnings of a unit which became a world leader in the techniques of audience measurement and assessment, at least in public service broadcasting (Silvey 1974).

The international services of the BBC, which began with the establishment of the Empire Service in 1932, also began audience research just over a decade after the first international broadcast, when an audience survey was...

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