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Media Studies

Sources for media statistics

Sources for finding often-requested media statistics:

Data/Statistics About: Sources
Advertising Advertising Age, a trade journal, indexed in the database ABI-Inform is an excellent source for information, including statistics, on advertising in media.
Box Office 

IMDb's box office charts

Highest grossing movies at Movieweb. (Remember: worldwide figures may actually be estimates, and sources may not agree with each other.)

The Numbers. which includes box office, dvd sales, and broader worldwide market info.

For articles and statistics dealing with movie box office revenues, also use the trade journals, especially Daily Variety.

Company data

Consult the Business Research Guide. You may research a television or movie company just as you would any other company.

Government data Data Planet Statistical Data Sets provides indexing for every table in every publication published by the United States Government. Requires Java enabled browser.
Movie Attendance

The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) provides a variety of statistics for the US and Canada, 1987 - present. Including:

  • Attendance Trends
  • Total U.S. Box Office Grosses
  • Total Number of U.S. Admissions
  • Average U.S. Ticket Prices
  • Number of U.S. Movie Screens
  • Number of U.S.Cinema Sites
  • Top Movies by Rating
Television Ratings

Zap2It provides access to current Nielsen ratings are available from 

Includes major categories, such as prime time, cable, news, teen, and syndicated.