Originally Posted by
JimmyJoe:
“Anyone any idea how this AI is actually worked out?
Im still a bit 
when it comes to ratings but the AI baffles me even more! 
”
Deep breath and...
Quote:
“AI figures are calculated by using a system called 'The Pulse' (introduced in 2005).
AI figures are designed to measure how people experience programmes - to see what people found good and what they found bad. To get a sense of how the audience perceives the quality and value of what they see.
The Pulse panel, the people doing the voting, consists of a huge 15,000 adults and 1,500 children who log on regularly to complete short surveys on the previous day's TV that they watched.
The panel is put together by an a agency called GFK and is carefully weighted and balanced to ensure that it represents the make up of the viewing audience - with care taken to ensure that even minority groups, and others who's views might be ignored, get included.
Around 5,000 members of the panel give their views each day. Members are asked to log on and register their views with some degree of regularity.
The actual AI score is obtained simply enough. Each panellist scores each programme they watched out of ten. The scores are much as you might expect. If they loved it they vote 8, 9 or 10/10. If they hated it then they might vote 1, 2 or 3/10.
All of the scores are then added together, divided by the number of participants, and then multiplied by ten (purely to avoid confusion with another rating system used by the BBC than gives marks out of ten). That gives us a number out of 100 - e.g. 86 - that tells us how well, on average, a programme was received.
The average AI (that's 'average figure achieved' - not average as in 'average quality') is around the late 70s point. A score of 85 or higher is regarded as excellent (in terms of quality) and 90 or over is considered exceptional.
All episodes of Doctor Who broadcast in 2008 so far scored 86 or more and so gained that 'excellent' rating.
Below 60 is poor and below 55 is very poor.
Drama shows on BBC One get an average AI in the early 80s. Again - this is 'average' as in 'average figure achieved and not as in 'average quality'. A score of 75 or over is a fairly good one (bear in mind that equals an average score of 7.5/10) - showing that dramas tend to score quite well.
Only two Doctor Who episodes from the new series have failed to score higher than 80 - and those were 'Love & Monsters' and 'The End of the World'. Both did much better with their BBC Three repeats.
AI reports also break things down by UK region/country, by economic class, by age and by sex - giving an average AI score for each group. This tends to show that the elderly, women and people in the highest (AB) economic class tend to give higher ratings.
AI panellists are also asked to give answers to a number of other questions for programmes they watched (e.g. did they learn something or would they recommend the show to a friend?).
Generally the more effort a viewer has put into watching a programme, and the smaller the audience, the higher the AI figure.
American imports, on Sky One etc., have had some very high AI figures of 90 and over - but digital satellite channels that are relatively little watched, and get very low viewer numbers, have audiences that have generally made an effort to tune in, watch, and follow the arc plots - making their appreciation greater.
Soaps on the mainstream channels (BBC One and ITV One) tend to get lower AI figures - but they have very big audiences and are more likely, as soaps being shown in early evening primetime slots, to have *some* people watching casually or because there is nothing better one. Obviously those viewers will give lower scores for what they saw.
Few dramas get high ratings and high AI figures. 'Doc Martin' is one, 'Cranford' another, 'Doctor Who' is one of these. It is worth noting that dramas showing in the 9 pm slot (as 'Doc Martin' and 'Cranford' were) are more likely to have people specifically tuning in than shows broadcast earlier in the evening (and thus have fewer casual viewers) - which goes some way to explaining why these shows can get higher AI figures despite large audiences.
We might expect that, by being shown early on a Saturday evening, Doctor Who would have a significant number of casual viewers who aren't that interested in the show and so the AI would be lower than it actually tends to be. That it isn't the case might suggest that the slot is one that largely attracts people specifically seeking the programme out, in the same vein as programmes in the 9 pm weekday slot.
The highest AI figure yet recorded would appear to be 96 - for an episode of 'The Sopranos' - again, on a digital channel with a small but dedicated audience.
The highest AI for a BBC One first showing of Doctor Who has been 91 for 'The Stolen Earth'. The highest AI Doctor Who has ever had was 94 for a BBC Three repeat of 'Utopia' early in 2008.
Because the AI figure is actually compiled from votes out of ten, not one hundred, the jump from an AI of 89 to one of 90 is actually much bigger than that from 88 to 89. For this reason Doctor Who on BBC One has hit 88 and 89 a few times, but has found it much harder to break the 90 barrier.”
Remember - you *did* ask...
”
