The entertainment and TV news industry will launch a new viewing ratings system which will see consumers counted even if they only watch 15 seconds of free to air or streamed content on a multitude of devices.
TV ratings firm OzTAM has revamped the way they capture and analyse data with the new information set to deliver additional information on how Australians view content.
Some observers claim the move could inflate numbers which is seen as being advantageous to struggling free to air TV stations.
The new data will be published daily on the VOZ website and TV networks will then share their own interpretation of the viewing data with advertisers.
Foxtel, which is 65 per cent owned by News Corp, has also joined forces with global data, insights, and consulting company Kantar Media to deliver a new measurement service.
This will allow the Foxtel Group to access data from one million set top boxes and more than 3.1 million streaming customers and provide its own comprehensive viewing data.
OzTAM chief executive officer Karen Halligan told The Australian the changes were a “significant milestone” for the industry after a “highly complex” overhaul that has been years in the making.
“OzTAM and the broadcasters have been investing significantly in accurately measuring the total picture of what happens across broadcast TV and BVOD and get a true representation of the numbers,” she said.
“As audience migrates from platform to platform including viewing from apps and connected homes, looking at TV-only ratings, it doesn’t actually represent the true level of exposure that the TV networks’ content is actually reaching.”
OzTAM, is owned by commercial networks Seven, Nine and Ten, will deliver total TV overnight viewing top 30 programs and total TV consolidated 7-day top 30 programs.
Demographic breakdowns will also be provided.
As streaming continues to surge in popularity including live and catch-up viewing, Ms Halligan said viewing habits have changed and this needs to be reflected in accurate data collection.
“A lot of people will not watch on the night of release, they may watch a few days later,” she said.
“It’s no secret that there are so many choices for consumers in different platforms from your in-hand device to iPads to connected TV and different demographics are skewing to their preferred device.
“If you are looking at just a point in time – metro TV broadcast – you are not really capturing a huge proportion of the audience that’s actually being exposed.”
Spinach Advertising general manager and media director Ben Willee told the Australian newspaper “It’s a fundamental change in how we report on television and BVOD viewing that is finally in line with how we consume the media,” he said. “Given we are likely to see streamers competing for advertising dollars the TV industry needs new metrics to reflect the new reality of viewing.
“Advertisers will need to ensure they don’t confuse total reach and average reach but all in all it’s a change that needed to happen.”
He noted that it will take time to interpret the statistics and allow them to be compared, like for like, with previous years.
