The thumbs up or thumbs down in German television is almost always given by a small but select audience. The success of new TV programming is calculated, and existing programs optimized, using test studio audiences. A decisive element in this is the interplay of TV producers and market researchers

Text: Michael Stadik

There is no lack of moderators on German television who would be suitable as TV hosts for a new music program. But which is the right face for a format that can prevail in the high-risk “war for eyeballs?” There are plenty of different answers to this all-important program planning question, but at the end of the day it’s the viewers who decide.

For example, “Stefan Raab would improve ratings” is a key finding that psychologists worked out using extensive in-depth interviews with men aged 16 to 29. Charlotte Roche (“has lots of experience”) and Oliver Pocher (“would add humor to the show”) would also do well as music moderators. “Today, producers don’t just look for any moderator face for a TV format, but instead use research to determine which face fits best with a given format,” says Wolfgang Schlünzen.

The Managing Director of the well-known Monheimer Institute works for almost 25 public and private stations, and has an inside view of what goes on behind the scenes. “In the last decades qualitative viewer research has developed rapidly,” notes Schlünzen, whose psychologists and TV specialists apply a fine-tooth comb to moderators, and not just to them. “Just like in the consumer-goods industry, television stations regularly tweak and improve their programming. ”

Indeed, today TV research labs are central to program planning and design. Special service providers like the Monheim Institut, Mediascore in Cologne, and Psyma in Rückersdorf apply their scientific expertise to illuminating all facets of the small screen, and to experiencing television from the eye of the beholder. With the exception of Hollywood movies, which have usually already gone through US market research, almost all formats and genres are tested in Germany. From telenovelas to series to docusoaps to TV magazines to news shows, the target-group perspective always plays a central role.