Television Viewing Preferences: Programs, Schedules, and the Structure of Viewing Choices Made by Israeli Adults

Using analysis of program content and programming features, this study identifies patterns of television viewing preferences that explain why certain shows are frequently watched with certain other shows. Principal components analysis (PCA) of data collected from a sample of 750 Israeli adults was used to identify groups of shows often watched by the same viewers. A further analysis was conducted to uncover common features of these shows. The results replicate earlier findings indicating that program viewing preferences are explained by channel loyalty and genre loyalty, but the study adds a focus on the importance of programming language in non-English-speaking television markets.

[1]  James G. Webster,et al.  The Mass Audience: Rediscovering the Dominant Model , 1996 .

[2]  A. Arian,et al.  Collective Identity and Electoral Competition in Israel , 1999, American Political Science Review.

[3]  Camille Zubayr,et al.  The loyal viewer? Patterns of repeat viewing in Germany , 1999 .

[4]  K. Gleeson,et al.  The Television Audience: , 1995 .

[5]  G. Weimann.  Zapping in the Holy Land: Coping With Multi-Channel TV in Israel , 1995 .

[6]  J. R. Walker.  Inheritance effects in the new media environment , 1988 .

[7]  James G. Webster,et al.  Audience Behavior in the New Media Environment , 1986 .

[8]  Vithala R. Rao.  Taxonomy of Television Programs Based on Viewing Behavior , 1975 .

[9]  David J. Atkin,et al.  The television of abundance arrives: cable choices and interest maximization , 2000, Telematics Informatics.

[10]  Wagner A. Kamakura,et al.  Viewer Preference Segmentation and Viewing Choice Models for Network Television , 1992 .

[11]  James G. Webster,et al.  Ratings Analysis: Theory and Practice , 1991 .

[12]  Douglas A. Ferguson,et al.  Media and audience influences on channel repertoire , 1993 .

[13]  Jacob J. Wakshlag,et al.  A THEORY OF TELEVISION PROGRAM CHOICE , 1983 .

[14]  Robert V. Bellamy,et al.  Television and the Remote Control: Grazing on a Vast Wasteland , 1996 .

[15]  Joseph D. Straubhaar,et al.  Class, Genre, and the Regionalization of Television Programming in the Dominican Republic , 1991 .

[16]  Gabriel Weimann,et al.  The loyalty of television viewing: How consistent is TV viewing behavior? , 1992 .

[17]  Andrew Ehrenberg,et al.  Television and its audience , 1988 .

[18]  S. Cunningham,et al.  Australian Television And International Mediascapes , 1996 .

[19]  Elihu Katz,et al.  The Export of Meaning: Cross-Cultural Readings of Dallas , 1990 .

[20]  Andrew Ehrenberg,et al.  The reach of TV channels , 1984 .

[21]  Gabriel Weimann,et al.  Cable Comes to the Holy Land: The Impact of Cable TV on Israeli Viewers. , 1996 .

[22]  W. Bielby,et al.  "All Hits Are Flukes": Institutionalized Decision Making and the Rhetoric of Network Prime-Time Program Development , 1994, American Journal of Sociology.