Using a questionnaire developed by Kijkwijzer, broadcasters and distributors rate their own productions. So-called coders - employees trained by Kijkwijzer - watch a production minutely and answer questions about what they seen. An algorithm developed by Kijkwijzer then calculates what rating the production gets.
The questionnaire
The questionnaire was developed by a group of renowned experts and scientists in the field of media and youth psychology. They consulted scientific research into the effects of audio-visual productions on minors, and also considered the wishes of parents and educators.
The questionnaire contains questions about violence, fear, sex, discrimination, coarse language and smoking, alcohol and drugs. An range of possible age ratings is attached to all of these subjects. The subject with the highest age rating determines the final outcome. So: if a film contains scary scenes that lead to a 12 rating and violent scenes that lead to a 16 rating, the production will be rated 16 due to violence.
Four icons at most
A production can get a high rating based on multiple subjects. To keep things clean and simple, the age rating never consists of more than four icons: the age rating with a maximum of three content descriptors. Here, priority lies with the descriptors for violence, fear and sex. Parents find these subjects most important to know about.