Audience Reach of Scientific Data Visualizations in Planetarium-Screened Films

TL;DR

This study estimates the global viewership of scientific visualizations in planetarium films, revealing millions of viewers across numerous venues despite tracking challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a survey-based methodology to estimate viewership of planetarium films and provides the first large-scale impact assessment of such visualizations.

Findings

Approximately 1.9 million viewers in surveyed venues

Estimated total viewership ranges from 16.5 to 24.1 million

Survey approach enables impact assessment despite lack of standard tracking

Abstract

Quantifying the global reach of planetarium dome shows presents significant challenges due to the lack of standardized viewership tracking mechanisms across diverse planetarium venues. We present an analysis of the global impact of dome shows, presenting data regarding four documentary films from a single visualization lab. Specifically, we designed and administered a viewership survey of four long-running shows that contained cinematic scientific visualizations. Reported survey data shows that between 1.2 - 2.6 million people have viewed these four films across the 68 responding planetariums (mean: 1.9 million). When we include estimates and extrapolate for the 315 planetariums that licensed these shows, we arrive at an estimate of 16.5 - 24.1 million people having seen these films (mean: 20.3 million).