Glossary

The audience to any program or time band is the average number of people viewing in any minute. Expressed in absolute figures for a demographic.

·         Total TV Audience is the viewing by people via broadcast TV and/or via BVOD.

·         Broadcast TV Audience is the viewing by people via broadcast TV to television sets.

·         BVOD Audience is the viewing by people via BVOD live and on demand to any connected device.

Broadcaster linear content received over-the-air via aerial, satellite or cable, and viewed on an in-home TV set, as distinct from broadcaster content delivered via the internet (BVOD). Broadcast TV can be watched Live, As-Live or Time-Shifted (Playback).

Broadcaster content delivered online and watched on an internet-enabled device such as connected TV, computer, tablet or smartphone. BVOD includes viewing watched Live (‘live streaming’) or at a time the consumer chooses (‘on-demand’ or ‘VOD’).

The treatment of viewing to network television content that is attributed back to the matching broadcast content. Also known as ‘What Watched’, the time frame for consolidation is defined by the period of ‘Time Shift’ viewing e.g. Consolidated-7 (Live + As Live + Time Shift to 7).

The measurement and reporting of broadcaster content consumed (including reach and frequency) across screens, capturing viewing on TV sets (whether connected to the internet or not), computers, smartphones and tablets.

A connected TV (CTV) is a TV set that is connected to the internet, enabling the streaming of video content.

VOZ provides national, de-duplicated audience and reach & frequency estimates of all-screen broadcast TV and BVOD viewing.

There are three types of duplication addressed in VOZ methodology:

1. National view of market areas
   • VOZ consolidates metropolitan and regional viewing into a national picture, accommodating viewing by people within areas that overlap between the metropolitan and regional markets. The people in overlap areas can contribute to two markets. This is sometimes referred to as ‘spill’ viewing.
2. Service measurement duplication
   • VOZ deploys a model to remove the duplication of viewing that can arise from bringing together two measurement services to a TV set i.e. TAM (broadcast TV) and VPM (BVOD).
   • It is possible for current TAM measurement devices in TAM panel homes to pick-up BVOD streaming viewing on connected TV sets that corresponds to broadcast TV references. The same BVOD viewing is also being measured in VPM.
   • VOZ introduces a modelled approach to identify and remove matched viewing sessions from broadcast TV audiences and preserve them in BVOD audiences – creating a de-duplicated measurement for Total TV dayparts and programs.
3. Person level duplication
   • VOZ supplies person-level exposure to broadcaster content (TV programs) and advertising across all screens (TV sets, computers, tablets and smartphones), allowing unique viewers to be counted. This means that people who have been exposed many times across multiple screens can be counted as just one viewer in VOZ Total TV reach measurement.

OzTAM is deploying Streaming TV Meter (STVM) technology into panel homes which will allow for the introduction of an enhanced technical solution to address service measurement duplication for future VOZ updates.

Determines the types of television audience measurement (TAM TV ratings) panel homes needed to reflect the overall Australian population and conducted via 65,000+ random mobile phone interviews annually. Questions include the number of working TVs in the home, presence of subscription TV services, who does the grocery shopping etc, in addition to age, gender, occupation category and household income. Every home in OzTAM, Regional TAM and Rest of Australia coverage areas has an equal chance of being contacted to participate in the national Establishment Survey.

OzTAM’s software accreditation system ensures all clients using VOZ data achieve consistent results. The Gold Standard specifies the arithmetical procedures to deliver uniform calculations as well as standard industry terms and language. Only Gold Standard accredited software may be used to analyse VOZ data.

Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) watched as a live linear stream on any connected device. The content may be a simulcast of the corresponding broadcast TV channel or exclusively streamed via the broadcaster’s BVOD (online-only) service.

The unique identifier for a piece of content, typically a single episode of a program. Program analysis can occur at an individual media ID level in the VOZ database.

The VOZ service delivers a national Total TV database.

·       National covers all metropolitan and regional TV markets (including overlap areas) as well as the new regional aggregate market, ‘Rest of Australia’.

o    Rest of Australia refers to all other regions of Australia outside of the existing OzTAM and Regional TAM markets, including the combined TV markets of Darwin, Remote Central + Mt Isa, Griffith, Mildura, Spencer Gulf (Port Pirie/Broken Hill) and Riverland/Mt Gambier.

·         Total TV covers broadcast TV and BVOD across all screens (TV sets, computers, tablets and mobile phones).

The database produced from the VOZ service brings together this national Total TV activity for analysis via OzTAM VOZ Gold Standard accredited software.

Describes the participating metropolitan and regional free-to-air (FTA) and subscription networks (STV) included in the VOZ measurement service including:

·         Broadcast TV including multi channels, watched on television sets (both live and played back up to 28 days later). Includes ABC, Seven, Nine, 10, SBS and Foxtel.

·         BVOD platforms watched on connected devices including TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones. Includes ABC iview, 7plus, 9Now, 10Play, SBS On Demand, Foxtel Now/Go and Kayo Sports.

VOZ does not currently include SVOD (Netflix, Stan, Disney+, Prime Video, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Binge).

An individual has been reached by an event (such as an advertisement, program, or time band) if they satisfy the minimum viewing criteria. The event’s reach corresponds to the total number of distinct individuals who meet this requirement.

The minimum viewing criteria for an event via broadcast TV is 60 sec of continuous viewing.

The minimum viewing criteria for an event via BVOD is 15 sec.

·         Total TV Reach is the distinct count of individuals who are reached via broadcast TV or BVOD. Of those individuals reached, some were only reached via broadcast TV, some only by BVOD and some by both broadcast TV and BVOD.

·         Only, Only, Both Reach is the distinct count of individuals reached via the following mutually exclusive categories:

• Broadcast TV Only includes people viewing content exclusively via broadcast TV (i.e. no BVOD viewing)
• BVOD Only includes people viewing content exclusively via BVOD (i.e. no broadcast TV viewing)
• BOTH includes people viewing content via both broadcast TV and BVOD

 ·         Total Broadcast TV Reach includes people viewing content on broadcast TV, including people that have viewed the same content on broadcast TV and BVOD.

·         Total BVOD Reach includes people viewing content on BVOD, including people who have viewed the same content on BVOD and broadcast TV.

·         Incremental BVOD Reach is the distinct count of individuals who were exclusively reach via BVOD (who did not watch any content via broadcast TV).

OzTAM defines the Research Day as a 24-hour period spanning 2:00:00am to 1:59:59am. For example, research day 1st January 2024 spans 2:00:00am 1st January 2024 to 1:59:59 2nd January 2024.

The VOZ Respondent Level Data (RLD) dataset provides the viewing information to content by individual people for the specific times they are viewing, for both broadcast TV and BVOD across all screens/devices. The RLD can be processed via Third Party Software Suppliers to calculate the audience of broadcast TV spots and BVOD impressions, as well as driving audience measurement for programs and dayparts. RLD is also referred to as Minute x Minute (MxM) or Elemental datasets in some industry tools and systems.

Spill viewing and overlap markets are two closely related but distinct concepts.

Unlike the distinct OzTAM and Regional TAM TV ratings service databases, which could only be analysed separately, VOZ now offers the opportunity to analyse metropolitan and regional markets together in a single, national Total TV database. This requires additional consideration on when to include or exclude spill viewing when analysing VOZ data.

Spill Viewing

Spill viewing is a Free-to-Air broadcast TV-only concept that relates to viewing of broadcast channels transmitted from a market that is outside of the market being analysed. Note in the TAM broadcast TV ratings service, program audiences are always to local market broadcast TV channels, and therefore no spill viewing is included.

Overlap Markets

Market areas are defined by the ACMA broadcast TV licence areas. Some of these licence areas overlap between metropolitan and regional markets, specifically:

• Sydney/Newcastle
• Melbourne/Gippsland
• Brisbane/Northern Rivers
• Brisbane/Maryborough

The viewing by people in these distinct overlap areas contributes to the market that the broadcast originates from as local market viewing. For example, people viewing broadcast TV channel Seven Sydney within the Sydney/Newcastle overlap area will have that viewing contribute to the Sydney market as local market viewing. Conversely, people viewing broadcast TV channel Seven Sydney within the Sydney/Newcastle overlap area will have their viewing contribute to the NNSW Market as spill viewing.

The following examples provide guidance for analysing viewing within VOZ:

• The viewing to a broadcast that originates from Sydney by a viewer in the regional Wollongong market is spill viewing (noting that Sydney and Wollongong do not overlap meaning this is unambiguously spill viewing).

• In the case where markets do overlap, such as when there is viewing to a broadcast that originates from NNSW Northern Rivers market by a person in the Brisbane markets:
  • If that person is within Brisbane but not within the overlap area, then their viewing to the NNSW Northern Rivers market broadcast is spill viewing.
  • If that person in Brisbane is specifically within the Brisbane/Northen Rivers overlap area, then their viewing to the NNSW Northern Rivers market broadcast is:
    • Spill viewing if reporting the Brisbane market
    • Local market viewing if reporting the NNSW aggregate market.

Importantly, the broadcast TV quarter hour files from the VOZ service excludes spill viewing.

A metering solution used within TV ratings (TAM) panel households to measure the streaming activity within the home network via connected devices (e.g. connected TV, computer, tablet or smartphone).

A modelled representation of the entire Australian population using anonymised information from the national Establishment Survey to which broadcast TV and BVOD viewing is attributed.

Television Audience Measurement refers to OzTAM and Regional TAM’s TV ratings. A data input into VOZ.

Third Party Software Suppliers that access and process OzTAM, Regional TAM or VOZ data on behalf of subscribers. Only TPSS with Gold Standard accreditation can be used to analyse VOZ data. Subscribers have a choice of Gold Standard accredited TPSS.

Quantifies the total amount of time that an audience spends watching a particular television program, channel, or network over a specific period. It is calculated by summing the viewing of all individuals in the audience. For example, 100 viewers x 60 minutes = 6,000 total minutes viewed equally 60 viewers x 100 minutes = 6,000 minutes.

The viewing to network/s content across all screens (TV sets, computers, tablets, and smartphones) including live or played back, through the TV set (broadcast TV) and also internet-delivered broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) live streamed or on-demand.

The Virtual Australia (VOZ) service Total TV universe estimates (UEs) provide the number of people in each market across Australia, categorised by age group and gender and include people in zero TV homes. These estimates are projected for the upcoming year using the trended official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates of the resident population. OzTAM and Regional TAM’s large scale rolling Establishment Survey serves as a crucial source of additional population characteristics including details about people, their households, and relevant in-home technologies.

OzTAM’s Video Player Measurement (VPM) service measures and reports all BVOD viewing played to connected devices, wherever those devices are located in Australia. A data input into VOZ.

Refers to how viewing is calculated and reported e.g. consolidating all viewing in relation to a specific broadcast event (Consolidated on a What Watched basis) or the time the viewing actually occurred to specific content or time period (When Watched).

Refers to how content is being viewed i.e. via broadcast TV live or playback (Time Shift) or via BVOD live or on demand (VOD), or combined as Total TV.

The minimum time a viewer needs to have watched broadcast TV content (> 60 seconds) and BVOD (>15 seconds) to be included in reach for VOZ.

Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) watched at a time the viewer chooses (on demand) on any connected device.

BVOD viewing events which occur prior to the research day of the first matching broadcast TV event. For example, Network XYZ releases the first episode of a new series on their BVOD player the day prior to that same episode going to air on their broadcast TV channel.

Virtual Australia, or ‘VOZ’, is the foundation of Australia’s ‘Total TV’ measurement standard. VOZ brings together broadcast viewing on TV sets and granular BVOD viewing on connected devices to provide truly national, de-duplicated, all-screen, cross-platform planning, trading and reporting for Australia’s media industry. VOZ will become Australia’s trading currency from December 29th 2024.

Measurement and reporting of viewing to broadcast TV content, whether live or in playback, attributed, or consolidated, to the time of original broadcast (e.g. Consolidated-7 or 28 data). Also refer to Content Consolidation.

Measurement and reporting of viewing to broadcaster content at the time it was viewed.