"Ratings Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Audience Research" provides a thorough and up-to-date presentation of the ratings industry and analysis processes. It serves as a practical guide for conducting audience research, offering readers the tools for becoming informed and discriminating consumers of audience information, from broadcasting to cable to the World Wide Web. In its third edition, this essential volume: illustrates applications of audience research in advertising, programming, financial analysis, and social policy; describes audience research data and summarizes the history of audience measurement, the research methods most often used, and the kinds of ratings research products currently available; and discusses the analysis of audience data by offering a framework within which to understand mass media audience and by focusing specifically to the analysis of ratings data. Appropriate for all readers needing an in-depth understanding of audience research, including people working in advertising, electronic media, and related industries, "Ratings Analysis" also has much to offer academics, critics, policy-makers, and students of mass media.