ITV Scheduling Goes On Line

The ITV Network Centre has developed a computer system which will predict the most effective programming schedule in terms both of size and demographics of audience, David Brennan announced at the TV Summit in Brighton last week.

The Evaluator, as the system is called, will be used to plan real schedules from the beginning of next year. Information for the system was obtained from advertising agencies on their overall TV spending broken down into sub- demographic groups. A relative value was then placed on each member of the BARB panel.

Brennan said that Evaluator would be an important decision-making tool both for the Network Centre and the individual ITV companies, even though decisions would sometimes still be taken despite computerised recommendations.