The ratings and praise of TV programs used to be the evaluation index of our TV. According to its definition, it is reasonable, and it is an incentive and evaluation method for TV producers. From the communication point of view, these two parameters mainly conform to the following principles:
(1) Pay attention to users' feedback. As a professional communication organization, mass communication flows from the disseminator to the audience, mostly in one direction, and communication itself is the exchange and interaction of information. In order to better produce TV programs that meet the tastes of the market and the audience, it is necessary to consider the feedback from the audience. Program producers can understand the overall trend of the target audience to some extent by collecting TV ratings and favorable comments. For example, in South Korea and the United States, many TV dramas are shot and broadcast at the same time, and the TV story is adjusted according to the ratings and praise to meet the needs of the audience. Due to the low TV ratings, there are also many TV dramas and TV programs that have been stopped halfway.
(2) From sender-centered to receiver-centered. In the history of communication, it experienced strong effect theory, later limited effect theory, and then moderate effect theory, which showed the change of thinking. According to the theory of "use and satisfaction", the purpose of audience using a certain medium is to meet their own needs, which is a process of combining psychological expectations with needs. The ratings and praise of programs are the main indicators for communicators of mass communication to understand the audience's psychology, so as to test whether the programs meet the needs of the audience and adjust the form and content of the programs.
(3) From the nature of media organizations, mass media is also a profit-making organization, and they need to produce cultural products to make profits. The favorable comments and ratings of TV programs are the direction of its business, producing products that meet the needs of the audience, thus gaining more profits and value.
(4) From the perspective of media management, mass media organizations have certain organizational purposes and also need an evaluation standard. The quality of TV programs is directly related to whether the programs themselves can attract more advertisements and produce economic benefits. The ratings and praise of TV programs are innate, and they are used as evaluation indicators for TV program viewers.
Of course, due to the particularity of the mass media organization itself, it is both a profit-making organization and an ideological disseminator, which determines that the praise and ratings of TV programs are not completely reasonable indicators, and there are also many problems in the implementation process. For example, Cui, a former host of CCTV, once criticized that "TV ratings are the root of all evil."
This is because:
(1) Social function and social responsibility of mass media. Television is full of entertainment, suspense, violence and inflammatory content, which is in line with the audience's taste, but it is easy to cause social instability. Lazarsfeld et al. proposed that TV has anesthetic function, which can paralyze the audience in the provision of surface information, excessively focus on the audience, and cause entertainment and repetition of content, such as dating programs and parent-child programs popular in China in recent years.
(2) The cultural inheritance function of mass media. Cultural inheritance is one of the social functions of mass communication, which was put forward by lasswell and later by White. Mass media needs to convey traditional culture, which may not be liked by the audience, but it is of great educational significance. This kind of programs are generally "applauding and not selling".
(3) There are too many variables in TV program ratings, and the praise index is too narrow. If the ratings are only the number of people, it is obviously too one-sided. Because of the program's plate setting, different programs appear at different times, influenced by time and broadcast season. For example, compared with the news at 7 o'clock in the evening, the news in the early morning is obviously higher in ratings; It is obvious that the live broadcast of the World Cup football match and the broadcast of a documentary are more advantageous. Different groups and content aspects may affect the rating and praise.
Therefore, the ratings and praise of TV programs should be viewed objectively and dialectically. Before there is a new and more reasonable index to replace it, more variables need to be considered as the evaluation index. Only in this way can our producers be more motivated and their data can be better used by the mass media.