Dr. Manal Mazahreh from Petra University in Amman joins hands with Danish Broadcast Company DR, Jordan TV and IMS to develop audience research in Jordan. Photo: Osama Al-habahbeh/IMS

As one of but a few, state-controlled TV broadcasters in the Arab region, JRTV has established its own audience research unit. Asking what the viewers think in Jordan is the result of a small pilot project in collaboration between the state-controlled TV channel JRTV in Jordan and Danish DR brokered by IMS

Asking the viewers their opinion about the programmes they watch on TV may not seem particulary innovative. Yet, for Jordan's state-controlled TV channel JRTV, audience research has become the most recent trend. Having seen first hand, how another public broadcaster is using the findings to plan and tailor the selection of programmes as a means to increase their audience, convinced management at JRTV.

- This was the first time a state-controlled corporation like Jordan TV agreed to asking its viewers to share their opinion about the TV programmes on JRTV, explains Dr Manal Mazahreh, who is teaching communication and human rights at Petra University in Amman.

Not only JRTV, but also the viewers were in for a new experience, explains Dr. Mazahreh:

- The viewers were surprised to even be asked their opinion! she says.

Learning from the experience of DR

A year ago, Dr. Mazahreh participated in a media monitoring project conducted by IMS in collaboration with human rights organisations in Jordan and the region under the IMS "Media Cooperation Programme with the Arab Region and Iran". The project monitored and analysed the media coverage of the political campaign ahead of the parliamentary election in Jordan.

Following this, Dr. Mazahreh got involved in developing an audience research project for JRTV which had been initiated by Danish Broadcast Company DR, who - together with JRTV - is a partner to IMS in a project which aims to strengthen professionalism in public broadcast companies in the Arab region.

Meetings between DR and JRTV at managerial level to agree on the objectives of the project had been going on for a while. With Dr. Mazahreh on board, the project took off as she was invited to Denmark to visit DR and tap into the knowledge of the audience research section at DR., a visit that was arranged and hosted by IMS.

- In Copenhagen I participated in focus group interviews conducted by DR's audience researchers. This gave me a first-hand insight on how to handle focus groups interviews in practice, including the need to set certain criteria for selecting participants for focus groups as well as all the minute details involved in the interviewing process, Says Manal Mazahreh.

She took this knowledge back to Jordan and trained staff at JRTV to conduct the audience research based on opbjectivity and qualitative research interviews, and today a separate unit within JRTV is in charge of conducting audience research on a regular basis.

Impact with far-reaching consequences

So what happened? Well, the first results convinced the management at JRTV that audience research could benefit the station, explains Dr. Mazahreh:

- They thought they knew their viewers! But the results were surprising and provided food for thought - to the extent that there are considerations to restructure the programming of JRTV expecially with a view to the youth programmes.

For Manal Mazahreh personally, the project has been groundbreaking. In her personal opinion, the project may have far-reaching consequences in Jordan:

- People in Jordan are not used to be asked about anything. They are brought up to support the views of their parents and the government on any given subject. Consequently, this project goes beyond audience research - it contributes to developing young people's awareness about and interest in analysing and questioning well-known traditions and cultural values, explains Dr. Manal Mazahreh.

As a result of the project, Dr. Manal Mazahreh is now the first certified audience researcher in Jordan, and she hopes to be able to use the knowledge acquired from DR to foster understanding and interest in asking the viewers' opinion on a regular basis.