Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for nine years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
I've always been puzzled by how the TV companies judge how many viewers they have got. If there are half-a-dozen people round our house on Saturday to watch the Grand National, (errm, there won't be, by the way - canvassing to be done) how do the telly people know that there is not just me with my feet up watching the footie scores on teletext?
Well, there's a minor row going on amongst bloggers about exactly how many visitors pop along to Iain Dale' site, which has been queried by Tim Ireland at Bloggerheads.
If you don't want to wade through this willy-waving contest... Westmonster summarises the issue neatly and gives Dizzy a dig in the ribs in passing, which is always worth reading.
To get back to the TV analogy, I have always suspected that the figures we are given, particularly by the commercial channels, is vastly inflated in order to impress advertisers... and if you are a blogger taking in advertising revenue then I'm sure a spot of creativity would do you no harm at all.
They practically/literally give away advertising to big fish (High St brands or big local names), so the little fish think there's something in it and sign up for their own campaign.
Usually, the litle fish individually go away disappointed, but so long as the big fish continue to play ball and the supply of little fish keeps coming in, there's money to be made.
April 3, 2008 11:38 AM | permalink
Many local radio stations run the following scam:
They practically/literally give away advertising to big fish (High St brands or big local names), so the little fish think there's something in it and sign up for their own campaign.
Usually, the litle fish individually go away disappointed, but so long as the big fish continue to play ball and the supply of little fish keeps coming in, there's money to be made.