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VOZ “total TV” ratings to come in 2020

More ratings data will reflect the explosion in content, platform & device choice.

TV ratings are set to offer more data in 2020 as OzTAM, Regional TAM and Nielsen deliver a new Total TV reporting standard known as Virtual Australia (‘VOZ’ for short) which reflect the explosion in content, platform and device choice.

VOZ will be data in addition to existing reports including Overnight, Consolidated / Timeshifting and BVOD.

Ahead of its arrival a new trade marketing campaign and dedicated website (http://virtualoz.com.au) to be promoted across industry trade media, with supporting broadcasters Seven Network, Nine Network, Network 10, Foxtel, NBN, Prime Television, Seven Queensland, Southern Cross Austereo and WIN, plus ThinkTV.

Phase 1 illustrates how VOZ will bring together broadcast+ viewing on TV sets and connected devices to provide all-screen, cross-platform planning and reporting for Australia’s television industry. Subsequent campaigns will explain the benefits of VOZD and provide examples of VOZ in use, ahead of initial VOZ data being introduced to market in Q1 2020.

OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer said: “VOZ will deliver step change in the way Australian television is measured and evaluated, providing a true national view of how TV content is consumed across all screens over time, and showing the incremental reach that broadcast video on demand (BVOD) delivers.

“It’s been an enormous project to bring the different measurement systems for TV and BVOD together to capture the cross-screen universe, where on average Australian households have 1.8 TV sets and a total of 6.8 screens.

“Accordingly, OzTAM, Regional TAM and Nielsen have undertaken a rigorous 3-year development, testing and rollout program to bring VOZ to market.

“The positive industry feedback on VOZ is gratifying, and we’re excited to launch this trade marketing campaign ahead of initial VOZ data being released next year.”

Regional TAM Chairman Dave Walker added: “The VOZ Total TV reporting standard is a milestone for Australian television.

“Bringing Regional TAM and OzTAM data together will make it easier than ever before to plan, post-analyse and allocate investment nationally and by market.

“VOZ will clarify Australia’s Total TV picture, greatly benefitting advertisers who wish to target viewers in regional Australia and country-wide.

“Regional TAM broadcasters are proud to be part of this important initiative.”

Nielsen’s Head of TV Audience Measurement, David Ellem, commented: “Together with OzTAM and Regional TAM, Nielsen is proud to support the launch of VOZ.

“This innovation means that the industry will soon have independent, standardised and transparent metrics for reporting Total TV, and de-duplicated audience reach and frequency metrics for planning and evaluating Total TV audiences.”

What is VOZ?

Virtual Australia, or ‘VOZ’, is the foundation of Australia’s new Total TV reporting standard.
VOZ brings together broadcast+ viewing on TV sets and connected devices to provide all-screen, cross-platform planning and reporting for Australia’s television industry.

What will VOZ deliver?

  1. 1)  Australia’s first truly national picture of total television viewing.
  2. 2)  Australia’s first de-duplicated audience estimates of the broadcast content Australians are watching, who is watching, the amount of time they spend watching, and the devices they’re using to watch (‘Total TV’).
  3. 3)  A virtual profile of Australian households and individuals.

What benefits will VOZ bring?

VOZ will crystallise Australia’s Total TV picture:

  • Advertisers and media agencies can create and post-evaluate media plans encompassing
    TV inventory across all broadcast channels and devices, and manage cross-screen campaigns – including de-duplicated cross-device audience reach goals right up to a national level. VOZ has been built to allow the industry to agree a common set of advanced targets (audience segments) to support planning and post-analysis beyond standard age/sex demographics in future.
  • TV networks can get a complete picture of the audience consuming their content over time and across screens, determine BVOD incremental reach, and optimise their offer across all channels, markets, platforms and devices.

The media industry gains an objective, independent, transparent and standard metric by which to evaluate the performance of TV content across all screens and platforms, and is consistent with the established TAM and VPM currencies.

Why is VOZ needed?

Australian TV viewing patterns are changing, thanks to the explosion in content, platform and device choice. The average Australian home now has 1.8 TV sets but 6.6 screens in total, and people are using all of them to watch television throughout the day – inside and outside the home. OzTAM, Regional TAM and Nielsen are building VOZ to capture the TV viewing that takes place on all screens. Initial data will be available in Q1 2020.

How does VOZ work?

1) VOZ brings linear TV ratings estimates derived from 20,000+ viewers in OzTAM and Regional TAM panel homes, and 14 million devices streaming TV content (broadcast video on demand, or ‘BVOD’), together in a single, detailed database.

  • )  VOZ creates an anonymised, virtual profile of Australian households and 25 million Australians using:
    • OzTAM and Regional TAM Establishment Survey data (80,000+ surveys per year, conducted since calendar 2000);
    • Gold standard TV ratings calculations based on the actual viewing behaviour of 20,000+ individuals in OzTAM and Regional TAM panel homes;
    • Information from streaming TV meters installed in 1,350 TV panel homes; and,
    • Census level OzTAM VPM (Video Player Measurement) data on 14 million connected devicesplaying TV content.
  • 3)  VOZ has been built to allow the industry to agree a common set of advanced targets (audience segments) to support planning and post-analysis beyond standard age/sex demographics in future.

Should viewers be concerned for their privacy?

User data that contributes to VOZ is fully anonymised. All OzTAM and Regional TAM TV audience measurement panel households opt-in with full consent. OzTAM and Regional TAM collect no information that can identify the person(s) that owns or uses individual devices. With respect to viewing on connected devices, users have given their consent to the broadcasters to use broadcasters’ websites and/or apps. The streaming TV meters only look for broadcast viewing activity and platform level IP addresses for over-the-top and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services. VOZ and the elements needed to deliver it meet Australian privacy standards.

4 Responses

  1. Will be interesting for cultural study, but it’s usefulness is probably overstated for advertising. TV advertising requires an accurate average of how many people in some target demographic watch. Streaming on the other hand is based around the measuring the actual number of a type of person who viewed it and they are competing against the individual profiles that Google and Facebook can sell looks for. Consolidated, the advertising doesn’t matter because people skip it.

  2. You may need to get an intern soon David or at the least add another tab to the Ratings drop-down.

    It’s interesting though to think of the growth this Jetpack/Wordpress site has had to have, News became about FreeView TV as Pay TV needed to be added as separate, then the Ratings had to have Timeshifted added to it (not to mention when Oztam stopped you doing it like you did back in 2011), now possibly VOZ to the drop down to join Timeshfted.

    Ah and to think it was only just over 4 years ago OzTam felt Streamng was just a novelty that would wear off: https://tvtonight.com.au/2015/09/streaming-impact-may-be-novelty-says-oztam.html

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