Hot off the heels of OzTam and Nielsen yesterday revealing a new “Total TV” database called Virtual Australia (VOZ), AdNews reached out to several top media agency execs to find out what the industry thought of the new technology, with many labeling the announcement a "step in the right direction".
The new offering brings together audience data for Australians’ broadcast TV viewing on TV sets, as well as streamed TV viewing via connected devices.
VOZ will incorporate viewing on seven million connected devices plus minute-by-minute actual viewing behaviour of more than 12,000 individuals in OzTAM TV panel homes.
IPG Mediabrands Australia CEO Danny Bass tells AdNews that VOZ is "absolutely" a positive move for the industry overall, highlighting the significance of being able measure unduplicated reach across TV and video, as well as insights into streaming.
"Having a single national-audience measurement working across linear TV and video is a progressive, positive step for the industry in understanding where consumers are at any point in time," he says.
"VOZ should also bring consistent audience segments to be used by all broadcasters rather than using their self-defined audience segments which may vary from network to network."
Publicis Media Exchange MD Sarah Keith agreed, adding that it will improve accuracy and measurement and increase the confidence with which buyers can recommend a "converged screen approach" to clients.
She added that there were still some questions around non-TV viewing and what that meant for generating a "complete picture" for the industry.
"There is obviously still the question of the ‘non-monetisable’ eyeballs on VOD services, as well as the significant numbers for YouTube and Facebook short form content," she says.
"Assuming that you are viewing YouTube on your connected TV, this will be measured but will it be available? A full picture is our ultimate goal.
"Networks obviously don’t want us to focus on this, but non-TV viewing is of significant interest too, so understanding what the connected TV is being used for outside of the free-to-air channels is key."
Omnicom chief investment officer Kristiaan Kroon says while the focus would seem to be on targeting and attribution, he and his agency also hope, and expect, that "long running issues" will be dealt with too.
"It's important to know if the new product can form the basis for resolving the disconnect between the planning currency (quarter hour) and the post currency (minute by minute) bringing unacceptable risk to delivery," he says.
"If the TV sector, agencies and clients remain disconnected on this issue, adding more data into the mix may simply create more complexity."
However he says should VOZ deal with critical issues that have remained unresolved and enable a more data driven future, then it can only be a positive move for the industry.
Amplifi head of digital and operations Amelia Elston says it's not just agencies that have been "crying out" for a platform such as VOZ, but clients have wanted this as well.
She says a lot of clients are frustrated with the "lack of progressive steps" towards cross device measurement that exists in the market as a whole.
A single source of truth
"Having one tool which allows planners to see traditional and connected device reach is a great start, but mobile app, social platforms and web viewing all still need to be integrated to provide a single source of truth for agencies and their clients," Elston says.
"Ultimately it comes down to education, if clients aren’t aware of the value looking at data has in this way has to them, then nothing will change and this tool will have very little impact, however if we take clients on the journey of screens based planning I believe they will see real value in this tool and the insights it can provide them."
GroupM chief investment office Nicola Lewis concluded that as measurement across a "complex media landscape" continues to improve, the next iteration will be to consider how the industry gets to measuring all online video.
"The focus will be on providing a single view and true cross-platform measurement on the understanding that not all online video is created equal," she says.
Major television network bosses including Nine's Hugh Marks, Seven's Tim Worner, Ten's Paul Anderson and Foxtel's Patrick Delany, all welcomed the move, highlighting the opportunities this would provide advertisers and agencies.
ThinkTV stated that VOZ will allow agencies and advertisers to create media plans for TV inventory on all screens for the metropolitan commercial free-to-air and Foxtel channels. See the launch story here.
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