Noored Eesti Televisiooni auditooriumina aastatel 2003-2006

The aim of this bachelor thesis (hereinafter referred to as the Thesis) is to analyze the youth as the viewers of Estonian Television through their expectations and considerations towards television in general and, specifically, towards Estonian Television. As to the subject of the Thesis it is also important to analyze the importance of the youth in the audience of Estonian Television during the years 2003-2006 and the characteristics of the youth as audience. In order to define the central concept of the Thesis, a theoretical basis for explaining the term audience has been brought out regarding the context of this work and for defining the concept of public broadcasting television, distinctions between Estonian Television and commercial television have been explained, including differences between the visions of audiences. In addition, theoretical basis for understanding the characteristics of television viewing of the young and the importance of general television viewing and Estonian TV, a general analysis has been written about the media use and television viewing in Estonia during 2003-2006 The current Thesis is mainly based on a questionnaire conducted among students of the 10th grade, aged 16-17, which analyzed the media use of the young and their expectations and considerations towards TV program. In order to achieve the results, a quantitative study methodology was used, which proved to be appropriate for achieving the purpose of the Thesis. The time spent on television is strongly differentiated by age. During 2003-2006, the average television viewing time among 15-19-year-olds decreased as well as their part in the audience of Estonian Television. The youngsters can be described as internet-centered generation and the growing usage time of internet affects the usage of other mediums. During 2003-2006, radio listening as well as television viewing has been decreased, whereas internet is used more frequently. 60 The media use of the youth is strongly influenced by their environment and the restrictions thereupon. All the students who participated in the survey had a TV at home and majority also had a personal computer and internet access at home. Despite the fact that internet dominates over television among youngsters, the television has still refrained it status as the main source for acquiring the daily news. Still, the majority of the students claimed that their television viewing time has lessened due to the growing time spent with computer and internet. Although all the TV channels in Estonia offer the opportunity to watch television programs via internet, youngsters take advantage of this opportunity rarely. The young people in Võru view more television than the youngsters in Tallinn, despite the fact that their choice between different channels in smaller than in Tallinn and the students in Tallinn have better access to television, a lot of students having more than 3 televisions at home. The most trustworthy channel for the youth is Estonian Television, however, compared to other channels, youngsters view Estonian Television the least. Still, a lot of students admitted that they find favorable programs on this channel and a lot of them also has a favorite program on Estonian TV. Regarding the expectations towards television program, the answers differed between the youngsters of Tallinn and Võru. The students in Võru regard newscast as the most important program, whereas according to the youngsters of Tallinn, foreign series and films are considered most important. However, the aforementioned fact is not related to their actual television viewing. The news is viewed by the youngsters of both cities most often, followed by foreign series and films. Although, the youngsters said that they find the majority of favorable programs on one of the Estonia commercial channels, TV3, the programs chosen by youngsters which they always try to follow are divided quite evenly between TV channels of Estonia. It is important to emphasize that the majority of those programs are not addressed to them as specific audience. Those young people who said that they do not find any favorable programs on Estonian Television, brought out the fact that other TV channel of Estonia broadcast more exciting shows, whereas the youngsters consider the theme of a show to be the most important factor when considering whether to watch the show or not and the choice does not depend on the popularity of a certain channel.http://www.ester.ee/record=b3754698*es