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Home→The Westburn Dictionary of Marketing→Z→zapping

zapping

Definition:
Also called channel flicking or channel zapping. A description of the presumed behaviour of owners of remote television-channel selectors: using the devices to 'sniff other channels, but only during the COMMERCIAL BREAKS. The idea causes consternation among MEDIA PLANNERS because such behaviour, if proved, could reduce PRESENCE to an even lower proportion of potential than has so far been presumed. A research survey was conducted in 1982, but the validity of the findings is called into question by the somewhat self-fulfilling nature of the research design. Further surveys (or preferably controlled experiments) are keenly awaited.

Cross-References:
[media planner] [commercial break] [presence]

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© Westburn Publishers Ltd 2002, The Westburn Dictionary of Marketing edited by Michael J Baker, ISBN 978-0-946433-01-8. www.themarketingdictionary.com. Entry: [Keith Crosier], [1998].