Australian Teens Dropped from Ipsos iris Measure

In Australia, the IAB and Ipsos are no longer including viewers aged 14-17 in measurement by the latter's iris system. The change was deemed necessary due to privacy concerns and the 'behavioural volatility' of the younger teen age group.

iris launched in Australia in 2023, two years after its debut in the UK. The privacy compliant service combines metered data from a high quality, nationally representative, single-source passive panel with site-centric census measurement via media owner tagging, and promises accurate visitor data across desktops and laptops, smartphones, and tablets.

The latest change was announced some time ago but is just coming into effect this month. Using a bar of 18+ will make comparisons with previous time periods more difficult and will lower figures for the average publisher by around 4% - however demographics are different for different publishers, further complicating the picture.

IAB CEO Gai Le Roy (pictured) told Australian media publication www.mumbrella.com.au that having a trend break was 'never ideal,' but that the change was important. 'We are regularly reviewing ways to ensure the digital audience measurement currency, Ipsos iris, is as sustainable and stable as possible,' she told the paper. 'Recruiting, retaining and ensuring parental consent for panelists aged 14-17 is a difficult process and this smaller, dynamic cohort can impact the overall quality of the measurement data. A decision from IAB Australia's measurement council and board based on auditor recommendation was made to support a move to an 18+ panel.'

Ratings for July were flat versus June, indicating that without the raising of the age bar, viewing would have climbed significantly.

Web sites: www.iabaustralia.com.au and https://irispanel.ipsos.com .

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