2019 Launch Planned for 'VOZ' Viewing Data Service

In Australia, OzTAM and Nielsen have announced plans for an integrated database combining broadcast viewing on TV sets and connected devices, supporting advanced audience targeting: Virtual Australia ('VOZ').


OzTAM is the country's official source of TV audience measurement covering the five metropolitan markets (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth), plus subscription television nationwide.

Tested and developed over eighteen months, the new service will bring together OzTAM's TV ratings and its VPM connected device viewing data to give a cross-screen, de-duplicated analysis of who is watching what in the country, and how. OzTAM says it will incorporate viewing on 7 million connected devices plus minute-by-minute actual viewing behaviour of more than 12,000 individuals, every hour of every day, in its TV panel homes.

Groundwork for the new service has been extensive - streaming television meter data is now being collected from more than 1,300 TAM panel homes, and Australia is already the world's largest per capita people metered market.

VOZ will be securely stored in the cloud and progressively roll out from the first quarter of 2019. OzTAM promises 'an objective, independent, consistent and transparent metric by which to evaluate the performance of TV content across all screens and platforms'; and advertisers and marketers will also be able to overlay other datasets on top of VOZ to support advanced audience targeting.

According to CEO Doug Peiffer (pictured), 'There are 1.8 TV sets but a total of 6.6 screens, on average, in Australian households, and people are using them to watch television throughout the day - inside and outside the home... We're proud to be working with Nielsen on this world-leading development. The positive feedback we're receiving from media agencies, advertisers and broadcasters as we present VOZ indicates we're meeting a significant industry need'. Nielsen's Head of TV Audience Measurement, David Ellem, says his company is 'laser-focused on bringing to the Australian market the very best total audience measurement solutions available in the world'.

Web sites: www.oztam.com.au and www.nielsen.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.