The VOZ dataset provides the answers to the fundamental questions of TV in 2020.

The new dataset is not a replacement for the existing TV ratings currency which will continue to provide a robust measurement of overnight and seven day viewing. The new dataset answers questions like:

• How many people watch broadcast video on-demand (BVOD)?
• How much, or how little, do they overlap with broadcast TV viewers?

It’s important because with the BVOD market expected to post double-digit growth for the foreseeable future, agencies and broadcasters need to understand how viewing patterns have shifted.

The combined TV + BVOD viewing data in VOZ will drive fundamental decisions around programming, marketing and campaign spend.

VOZ has found TV’s ‘hidden viewers’

We know that a quarter of the Australian population consume content on BVOD each week. That number is huge, but more interesting was a smaller number released last week: 4.2% of the population watch BVOD only (and no linear television) in an average week. That represents 1.05 million people and importantly, this figure will only rise.  

These are the ‘hidden viewers’ or the ‘missing viewers’ that TV never actually lost but with the way the numbers roll up, these viewers have never been accounted for.

Returning these hidden viewers to total television viewing will underline TV’s benefit for agencies and brands, delivering mass reach quickly across platforms, in brand safe environments.

VOZ sharpens campaign planning and analysis

For the very first time, agencies and networks will be able to use the insights from the VOZ dataset to more efficiently and intelligently plan campaigns across TV and BVOD.

And for the first time, they will also get their hands-on data from the OzTAM Video Player Measurement system, allowing them to analyse and explore the growing world of BVOD viewing.

At its core, VOZ is best described as a dataset for planning.

Some criticism of VOZ is that it isn’t yet a one-stop-shop for the entire TV and BVOD ad technology ecosystem from launch. That is a huge undertaking which will require the entire industry’s participation, but in the immediate term, agencies will be able to use VOZ to plan and post-analyse TV and BVOD campaigns.

So was it worth the wait?

Again, the answer is yes.

Establishing a world-class measurement system takes time. To put it into context, adding time-shift viewing into the ratings currency in 2010 was a multi-year project. The development of the OzTAM Video Player Measurement system has been ongoing since 2015. The introduction of streaming meters, which give us new insight into connected device viewing in TV panel homes, began in 2018.

The moving parts of VOZ are not only incredibly complicated, they are world-leading.

Other countries have total audience measurement, but none to the level of granularity and sophistication of VOZ. Project Dovetail from the British equivalent of OzTAM, BARB, has been in development since 2015 and is still in its initial launch stage.

VOZ is so much more than just a plug-in to a future trading platform. It can be the beginning of an all content measurement system, beyond broadcaster-owned TV and BVOD. It will unlock opportunities for programming and marketing teams to grow total audiences and change how programs are commissioned and broadcast.