About OzTAM
OzTAM is Australia's official source of television audience measurement, managing and marketing comprehensive viewing data that spans broadcast ('traditional', over-the-air) TV; online-delivered broadcaster content (BVOD); and Total TV. Total TV viewing data brings together and de-duplicates broadcast TV and BVOD viewing in a single, national, detailed database known as VOZ (Virtual Australia).
As the foundation of Australia’s ‘Total TV’ measurement standard, VOZ is produced in collaboration with Regional TAM and Nielsen Television Audience Measurement (NTAM). VOZ provides truly national, de-duplicated, all-screen, cross-platform planning, trading and reporting for Australia’s media industry and delivers a significant step change in the way Australian television is measured and evaluated. VOZ became Australia’s official trading currency on December 29, 2024, with audience data available from 2022.
OzTAM audience estimates for broadcast TV (TAM, Television Audience Measurement) and BVOD (VPM, Video Player Measurement) are inputs into VOZ and can be analysed within the Total TV dataset:
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Broadcast viewing from over 20,000 actual people daily across OzTAM’s metro and Regional TAM’s regional TV panels
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BVOD viewing from over 16 million connected devices monthly, wherever those devices are located in Australia
The media industry uses OzTAM data to understand viewer behaviour, support program development, aid advertising planning, and assess the performance of television programs, broadcasters and advertising campaigns. OzTAM delivers a world class all-screen audience measurement service, allowing broadcasters to maximise their audiences and advertisers to reach them.
OzTAM’s TAM and VOZ data is produced and delivered by Nielsen, an independent third-party measurement provider. OzTAM owns and holds the data copyright.
OzTAM’s ownership and governance
OzTAM Pty Limited is an independent company owned by Australia’s major commercial television broadcasters (Seven Network, Nine Network and Network 10). OzTAM operates independently from all broadcasters and has an independent, non-executive chairman. OzTAM also has an external technical auditor who ensures the integrity of OzTAM's panels.
OzTAM's Technical Advisory Committee, composed of representatives from across the media industry, meets regularly to discuss technical issues related to the performance, development and design of its measurement service, with a focus on continuous improvement.
The ABC, SBS, Media Federation of Australia (MFA), and Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) have observer status at OzTAM board meetings.
OzTAM’s history
OzTAM was established in 1999 to manage and market television audience ratings for Australia’s five mainland capital cities, starting in 2001 after the contract with the previous ratings service provider, AC Nielsen, ended.
OzTAM’s three shareholders – Seven Network, Nine Network and Network Ten – put a new seven-year ratings contract (2001-2007) out to international tender, which was awarded to ATR Australia, a subsidiary of Italy-based AGB Group.
Upon launch, OzTAM reported ratings for five Free-to-Air (FTA) channels: ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine and Ten.
Since that time, OzTAM’s service has steadily expanded to reflect the evolving television landscape, new technologies and changing audience behaviours.
In 2003, OzTAM contracted ATR Australia to provide TAM services for the National Subscription Television (STV) service and Australian STV channel ratings data became available in August of that year. Following Nielsen’s acquisition of AGB, OzTAM’s service provider was rebranded as Nielsen TAM.
The initial OzTAM panel, based on 3,000 homes equipped with People Meters in the metro markets (which was an increase of 425 homes on the previous service), began supplying data to OzTAM on 1 January, 2001. A further 35 homes were added to the metro panel in 2004, and in 2012 another 465, taking it to 3,500 homes. At that point OzTAM’s sample was already among the world’s largest relative to the population represented. In 2017 OzTAM's panels expanded by a further 50 per cent, taking the metro panel to 5,250 homes. With Regional TAM also expanding its own panel, Australia is among the world's largest per capita People-Metered markets.
In 2005, OzTAM began measuring digital terrestrial television (DTT) and introduced unique content measurement for DTT-only channels in 2008. By this time, OzTAM was measuring and reporting viewing to more than 100 channels and BVOD streaming services, both FTA and STV.
In 2010, OzTAM introduced its Time Shift Viewing (TSV) service, recognising the increasing use of personal video recorders (PVRs). At the time, this was the most significant change to Australian television audience measurement since People Meters were introduced in 1991. OzTAM’s TSV service measures playback viewing on TVs up to 28 days after the original broadcast, in addition to live viewing of broadcasts.
OzTAM introduced its Video Player Measurement (VPM) service in 2016, capturing minute-by-minute data on participating broadcasters' BVOD content played on connected devices, including tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, games consoles and PCs/laptops - wherever they are located in Australia.
In 2018, OzTAM began rolling out Streaming TV Meters (STVM) in selected OzTAM panel homes. STVMs apply demographic profiling for streamed content on connected TVs and provide total in-home video viewing measurement across broadcast, BVOD, AVOD and SVOD, by demographic and by device. STVMs also underpin a technology-based solution to addressing duplication of viewing to connected TVs and are the basis of future streaming measurement services.
OzTAM, Regional TAM, and Nielsen began the progressive rollout of Australia's new Total TV reporting standard, VOZ, in 2021, crystalising Australia's Total TV picture and bringing together broadcast viewing on TV sets and connected devices to provide the country's first national, de-duplicated estimates of Total TV viewing.
VOZ Total TV currency-ready data was first made available to the market on May 1, 2023, with the Total TV reports becoming the public source of audiences consuming broadcaster content in January 2024.
In September 2024 FOXTEL advised OzTAM of their decision to explore an alternative measurement approach meaning that STV viewing is no longer included in VOZ Total TV data, effective December 15, 2024.
Following extensive industry collaboration, the industry transition date for VOZ as trading currency was confirmed as December 29, 2024.
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