ITV Ratings Are Not a Commodity Product
Susan ReadLaser, UK
BACKGROUND
Television in the UK
Until relatively recently, television in the UK was unique. There were two public service channels, BBC1 and BBC2 and two commercial channels, ITV and Channel 4. Advertisers were able to decide when and where they wanted to advertise (unlike most European countries) and were able to obtain large audiences to a single exposure and to reach the large majority of their target audience with just a few exposures over a few days (unlike the USA).
However over the last few years the situation has...