AUDIENCE
Invariably, when a survey is conducted on how people spend their time, television viewing and, to a lesser extent, listening to the radio feature prominently. The most recent ABS Time Use Survey, conducted in 2006, showed that the most common recreation and leisure activity for people aged 15 years and over was watching television.
Viewers spent almost three hours a day (179 minutes), on average, watching television with males spending about 7 minutes more than females. By comparison, radio listeners spent an average of 123 minutes a day tuned in to the radio. As with television, males listened for longer periods on average than females (136 minutes compared with 111 minutes respectively).
An ABS survey of Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities conducted in 2006 found that in a two week period almost all (97%) children in Australia aged 5-14 years watched TV or videos outside of school hours and did so for an average of 20 hours a fortnight.
Extensive audience research is undertaken for the TV services by Australian Television Audience Measurement (OzTAM) and data is available online at www.oztam.com.au.