Following the confirmation that Foxtel Group and Foxtel Media are exiting OzTAM, there have been a number of comments.
We reported on the message to the market from OzTAM chief executive Karen Halligan earlier this week.
Yesterday Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain shared his thoughts on the move with the trade via a statement.
One interesting comment also came from another significant player in the video space. See below for the thoughts of Andrew Gilbert from Yahoo.
Commentary from Mark Frain, CEO Foxtel Media:
“Following consultation with the industry we have decided to move away from legacy measurements, that have been built and are owned by free to air networks, and partner with a progressive digital first analytics consultancy to provide our valued partners with the transparency that digital measurement affords. Foxtel linear TV will continue to be plagued with the same instabilities in audience reporting, should we remain under the new VOZ measurement system.
“As we announced at last year’s Upfront on October 26, we have engaged globally renowned market research firm Kantar Media to unlock the power of big data from over 1 million Foxtel set top boxes in Australia. This will provide richer, more accurate subscription TV data for clients who want a greater understanding of the audiences engaging with their brands.
See also: Kaboom – Foxtel Media Upfront announcements destined to shake-up TV sector
Over half Foxtel Media dollars come from digital video
“Now, more than 50% of our revenue comes from premium digital video, this revenue comes with a responsibility to report back to our clients with the most accurate data we can provide. We understand that the free to air networks must continue to leverage existing services, as there is no alternative to a panel of audio listening devices to understand how many people are still watching television via an aerial connection.
“We are not being contrary for the sake of it, we are leveraging the data we have available to partner with a global business with experience of delivering a new and authenticated standard of reporting for premium digital video.
“We have been working hard to ensure we are in the best position to begin trading using Kantar as our official currency in 2025. A new measurement solution we have proudly stood up in just 12 months, with more to be announced at our Upfront in three weeks time. Watch this space.”
Mark Frain
Foxtel move ‘will change way measurement being done’
Additional comments came from Andrew Gilbert, director, commercial & platforms AUSEA, Yahoo.
“The fact is that the Australian market has been a multi-currency market for a couple of years already. The news that Foxtel is withdrawing from OzTAM will undoubtedly change the way TV measurement is being done, and importantly Foxtel are bringing other people on that journey.
“While linear TV viewership is consistently decreasing, digital TV is increasing, and not just across BVOD platforms owned by the networks. We have to face the reality that OzTAM does not measure the full picture of TV viewership. VOZ only accounts for a part of the pie – that of the Australian broadcast networks.
“We have HBO [Max] coming into the market at the start of next year, Disney+ soon, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are also on the rise. Prime has about 4.8 million customers right now that they push straight onto an ad-supported tier.
“One-to-two years from now, I suspect we’re going to have two or three different types of measurement solutions. It’ll be similar to the US, where there need to be different approaches that help paint the whole picture, that won’t be done by one solution. Advertisers are going to have to tap into multiple different tools to get the whole picture.”
Andrew Gilbert