Foxtel Media has announced its plans to change how media is bought, valued and sold in Australia. The company unveiled a new partnership with US-based, media measurement and optimisation software company, VideoAmp to develop a new measurement system that will capture viewing data from across Foxtel Group services.
Speaking at Foxtel Media’s 2024 Upfront, CEO Mark Frain said that the Group had reached a digital tipping point in viewership, with 66% (3.1 million subscribers) of the company’s customer base coming from its streaming services. Frain explained that existing ratings methodologies were struggling to keep pace with the shift in viewership to digital streaming platforms.
“As a whole, the Foxtel Group has more viewership data than ever before, and we need a sophisticated solution that can leverage these large datasets. VideoAmp is an established, proven entity in the US, and we’re excited to be working with them to create a new measurement system that’s fit for purpose and connects the dots between ad exposures, audiences, and outcomes,” said Frain.
Responding to the news, OzTAM has released a statement reading:
“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.
“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.”