OzTAM, the television industry's official source of audience measurement, has called out Foxtel's move to develop a system with US-based company VideoAmp to accurately capture viewing data from across Foxtel services.
Foxtel, holding viewership data for more than four million subscribers, told media buyers at its upfront last week that the US television market has operated with multiple measurement systems for several years.
"We are now seeing the Australian market come around to the concept as more cross-platform audience measurement is required, and brands and agencies flag concerns about economic headwinds,” said Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain.
However, OzTAM says Foxtel risks confusing the market.
"Broadcasters in Australia and internationally are using their first-party data to inform content and advertising strategy and distinguish their respective offers in the marketplace - as highlighted this year in the various broadcaster upfront presentations," according to as statement from OzTAM.
“However, we acknowledge that the introduction of a Foxtel-only audience measurement system poses the risk of confusion in the market. Introducing a new measurement service is expected to raise questions regarding reliability, comparability and integration into agencies’ buying systems. The industry has clearly stated that it wants one service to measure Total TV and that is what OzTAM provides.
“OzTAM is Australia’s only independently audited and world-class service, measuring and reporting all free-to-air and subscription television viewing, in all homes, and measuring all screens and TVs in the home, whether or not they are internet-connected (approximately one third of TV sets in households are not internet enabled).
"For example, VOZ aggregates BVOD viewership across more than 16 million connected devices. As such, OzTAM’s single source-of-truth measurement service underwrites the trust brands and media buyers continue to place in broadcasters’ audience delivery.
"OzTAM values our decades-long relationship with Foxtel as a participating broadcaster and OzTAM data subscriber, and we look forward to that continuing, as evidenced by its recent contract extension.”
Foxtel's partner VideoAmp has a publisher roster for its measurement services in the US, including Warner Brothers Discovery, Disney, NBC Universal and Televisa Univision.
The two intend to have a proof of concept for streaming and linear measurement and currency in 2024 and will work with agencies and brands to define the next phase of work in 2025.
Foxtel has also announced it s using Kantar Media to deliver a new audience measurement service, ingesting data collected from subscribers’ set top boxes.
The service, expected to be available in December with two years of data, will be able to provide a granular understanding of pay-tv consumption and subscriber behaviour in Australia.
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