Public Awareness Survey 2017
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Public Awareness Survey
Date published: June 2017
Research Company: UMR Research Ltd
Introduction
Every two years the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) commissions a survey to measure the percentage of New Zealanders who are aware of the BSA, and aware they can make a formal complaint about an alleged breach of broadcasting standards. This survey enables the BSA to assess its impact and is one of the way it measures the effectiveness of its functions and services.
This year the BSA also included questions to gauge the level of awareness of filtering technology/parental lock capability on pay television, free-to-air television and other platforms. Filtering technology/parental locks are one of the tools that may be used by parents and caregivers to enable them to control children’s viewing and protect children from viewing unsuitable content across a wide range of platforms. The BSA posed questions to test the level of awareness of the availability of filtering technology and the extent of use of that technology across a number of content platforms.
Methodology
The survey was conducted using the UMR Omnibus nation-wide online survey. This is an online survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over. Fieldwork for this survey was conducted from 28 April to 10 May 2017.
Results: The BSA and the Complaints Process
There is a high level of awareness of both the BSA, and of one’s ability to complain and how to go about making a complaint. 92% of New Zealanders are aware of the BSA. 95% of New Zealanders are aware they can take a course of action to find out how to make a formal complaint, and 83% are aware they can make a formal complaint.
These results represent increased awareness across all three measures, compared with the previous survey conducted in 2014. The BSA believes these results may be attributed to a number of factors including its refreshed communications strategy, the launch of @BSA_NZ on Twitter, increased media coverage of BSA decisions, the BSA’s Code Review process, which included public consultation in late 2015, and the launch of the new Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand Codebook on 1 April 2016.
When compared to the 2010 benchmark survey, there has been a 5% decrease in the number of people who are aware they can make a formal complaint. Awareness of the BSA and awareness they can take a course of action that would lead them to find out about how to make a formal complaint have remained relatively consistent.
Awareness was lowest among Asian and Pacific respondents, younger respondents, and those with lower household income – so these will be areas of focus for the Authority in its awareness-raising activities for the 2017/18 year.
Results: Filtering Technology
Overall awareness of the availability of filtering technology on the listed platforms – subscription video on demand, web browsers generally, YouTube, pay television and free-to-air television – is low. Awareness was lowest for free-to-air television (84% of respondents were not aware). Unprompted, less than half of New Zealanders (46%) are aware of the availability of filtering technology on any platform.