TV ratings error: Earlier in October OzTAM revealed to the market that over several weeks it had been working closely with Nielsen TAM as Nielsen investigated its misallocation of spill viewing in certain overlap areas between metro and regional markets.
OzTAM advised clients in early September that the audience counting TV ratings error began in early June and spanned approximately three months.
While Seven and Nine were impacted, it seems that Seven suffered the biggest hit, according to a detailed breakdown of the ratings impact, released on the eve of Seven’s 2023 Upfront.
In a statement, OzTAM’s chief executive Doug Peiffer said: “OzTAM shares your concern that such errors occurred, the great inconvenience this has caused, and that nothing similar should happen again.”
In the statement released at the start of this week, OzTAM stated:
Nielsen TAM has begun reissuing data for the period 8th June–9th September, to correct Nielsen’s misallocation of spill viewing in certain overlap areas between metro and regional markets.
This meant that viewing to Network 7 (all markets where spill occurs) and to Network Nine Sydney/WIN 9 (Wollongong) was allocated to spill – and therefore not included in ratings estimates – whereas that viewing should have been allocated to Network 7 or, in the case of 9 programming, WIN.
The first batch of Nielsen’s reprocessed, corrected data (covering 8th June–2nd July) will be released to Third Party Software Suppliers (TPSS) for provision to data users on 24th October. Subsequent re-releases are scheduled for 7th November (3rd–30thJuly) and 21st November (31st July–9th September).
Seven News Sydney (above) and Home and Away (top) were some of the Seven programs impacted
Impact on 7 Network and 5 City Metro Total TV | Top Line Results, Data Reprocess
Metropolitan Total TV viewing, 8th June–2nd July (‘Period 1’), Consolidated 7 for Total Individuals incl. Guests.
Note: the misallocation of spill viewing for Network Nine Sydney/WIN 9 (Wollongong) did not occur in Period 1.
Overall
• Total TV Audience: static at 2.57m viewers in prime time
• Spill Audience of 9,000 across the day (2am-2am), or 21,000 (6pm-midnight), has been re-allocated to metro channels, representing 0.8% of all viewing in Period 1.
• Average Audience ‘000s | Change in Period 1
7 Network 5 City Metro (5CM) rose
+9,000 (3.6%) all day (2am-2am)
+21,000 (3.7%) 6pm-midnight
• 7 Network Sydney increased
+7,000 (13.7%) all day
+15,000 (13.4%) 6pm-midnight
• 7 Network Primary Channel audience in Sydney increased
+4,000 (10.3%) all day
+9,000 (11.4%) 6pm-midnight
• Average Audience ‘000s | Survey Year to Date (YTD) Through Period 1*
• Seven Network rose
+4,000 (0.6%) 5CM 6pm-midnight:
+3,000 in Sydney; +1,000 in Brisbane Total TV Share | Change in Period 1
• 7 Network 5CM rose
+0.7 Total TV (TTL TV) Share Points all day
+0.8 TTL TV Share Points 6pm-midnight
• 7 Network Sydney increased
+ 2.1 Share Points all day
+ 2.2 Share Points 6pm-midnight
• 7 Sydney Primary Channel share increased ○ +1.2 Share Points all day
+1.2 Share Points 6pm-midnight
• 7 Network Brisbane share rose +0.5 points 6pm-midnight
• 7 Network Melbourne share rose +0.3 points 6pm-midnight
• 7 Network Perth share rose +0.1 points 6pm-midnight
No change for 7 Network Adelaide
No change for 9, 10, ABC, SBS and STV channels/networks in all markets
• Total TV Share | Survey Year to Date (YTD) Through Period 1*
• 7 Network 5CM increased 0.1 Share Point
+0.4 in Sydney
+ 0.1 in Brisbane
• Programming | Change in Period 1
97% of all free-to-air (FTA) programming remains unchanged
0.09% (87 programs out of a total of 18,352) increased by >10,000: the highest was to a single episode (30/6/2022) of Home and Away in Sydney, gaining +27,000, so moving from 90,000 to 117,000
• 7 News Sydney (Sunday to Saturday) increased by just over 16,000 during the period
No change to other markets *06/02/2022 – 02/07/2022