OzTam will boost the number of homes in its television audience measurement panels by 50%, making Australia the world's largest per capita people metered market.
The move will see OzTam's metropolitan panel boosted from 3500 homes to 5250 and its subscription television (STV) panel from 1413 to 2120, with work to be completed by the start of 2017.
Ratings are a key indicator of a TV show's popularity and is often relied on by media buyers when it comes to deciding where to place advertising spots and integration.
OzTam CEO Doug Peiffer says the new agreement will provide continuity and “even greater accountability”.
“Australia is a highly dynamic media market, and television is the most scrutinised and analysed of any segment,” Peiffer says.
“To reinforce the confidence the industry retains in OzTam TV ratings we continually invest in the service to reflect changes in the television landscape and audience behaviour.”
A number of key figures in the media industry tells AdNews that as data becomes more important to the industry, it is good to see OzTam coming out ahead of the curve.
Deeper data
Carat Sydney MD Dan Sinfield says the deeper data set will help buyers make better decisions based on consumer behaviour.
"In a world where data is becoming more and more available for all media channels it's great to see OzTam boost its survey size to make the information they provide on TV more robust and accurate,” Sinfield says.
"While advertisers will gain greater accuracy from this information they are focusing on deeper data on who their consumers are what cultures are forming and equally what action consumers are taking from seeing their communications."
Carat Melbourne head of commercial and investment Paul Wilkinson says he agrees it's a great move by OzTam - if not a little overdue.
"Anything that helps improve our reporting and accountability when it comes to campaign delivery and market insight is invaluable, particularly in this increasingly data fuelled world," Wilkinson says.
"We have to make so many decisions when creating campaigns and strategies for our clients, and the more robust the data upon which we based these decisions, the better.
"Admittedly, I would actually like to see this grow further still. At the end of the day we base many of our choices for the estimated $3 billion of advertiser TV spend on data provided by OzTam, so we do need to see the most accurate picture possible. This move definitely helps pave the way for deeper, more accurate analysis – and that can only be a good thing."
ThinkTV CEO Kim Portrate says: "The OzTam initiatives announced today meet and exceed the demands of advertisers and their agencies in the modern media marketplace. Access to world class, best practice data gives all parts of the marketing community an opportunity to better navigate changing consumer behaviour, in real time, to get the most from every dollar invested in TV.”
The flexibility to adjust
Network Ten chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey says OzTam is already "the best television audience measurement system in the world" and the expansion of the panel will ensure it retains that title.
"Just as importantly, it has the flexibility to adjust to changes in television consumption habits and changes in the information advertisers and agencies need about television viewing across all screens,” she says.
"Today’s announcement is great news for the television industry and for the media and marketing sector in general.”
Kurt Burnette, Chief Revenue Office at Seven says: “OzTam is the most robust and effective media measurement in the country and on a per capita basis delivers on a global scale . The evolution to now capture AVOD and live streaming along with this panel expansion makes the measurement for Television an even more representative and fact base measurement, capturing true viewability across screens.”
Chief investment officer at Ikon Communications, Bryan Magee, said while the increase is a positive story and makes the sample size more robust, he too would like to see things go further.
"Sure we will get better sample sizes for some of the niche demographics, but I’m not sure how much of a benefit this is when cross-device measurement is a bigger issue that needs answering," Magee said.
"BARB in the UK is much further ahead in areas such as cross-device with many of the panel homes already set up to measure this type of media consumption which arguably is more relevant and sought after than an increased panel size.
"Nielsen in the US measures both TV and digital so the cross device measurement issue is easier to overcome as you are working with one panel it would be great to see this in Australia rather than separate companies trying to develop a solution."
IPG's Magna Global MD Victor Corones says: "We view the increase in the panel as an extremely positive step forward for TV audience measurement that will boost sample sizes across multiple demographics.
"Audiences are increasingly fragmented across more channels and platforms, so it’s critical the sample size, for any demographic, is robust. A key benefit would see the sample size of smaller demographics being bolstered and providing improved stability and certainty around ratings."
MCN chief data officer Mark Brandon says: "MCN are entirely supportive of developments that can improve the trading currency in this market. Investments which boost the granularity of the survey has to be good news for advertisers and the way the industry trades audiences.”
Refining the ratings
OzTam's current sample is already one of the largest internationally, given size relative to population, but the additional homes in the panels will make it Australia the world's largest per capita people metered market.
Peiffer says the additional panel homes will also refine the ratings estimates as Australia's population grows and new channels emerge.
It follows OzTam's extension of Nielsen's contract to supply TAM services in Australia, with the three year agreement running from 2018 to 2020.
The new agreement with Nielsen allows OzTam to expand its 'iPanel' which is used to test how households respond to new technology.
The move comes as Network Ten announces the sponsors for its hit show The Bachelor. Ten director of revenue and client partnerships Rod Prosser says an increase in sponsorship yield and strong demand from advertisers has contributed to a “record breaking year” for revenue.
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