A new era in audience measurement arrives: VOZ, the most complete picture of Total TV viewing, to become trading currency from 29th Dec 2024

Pictured L-R: Alicia Olson-Keating, Sam Buchanan, Donna Lennox, Karen Halligan and Sophie Madden.

A new era in audience measurement arrives with the announcement today that Virtual Australia (VOZ), the most complete picture of Total TV viewing, will become Australia’s trading currency from 29th December 2024*.

 

This significant milestone in audience measurement enables trading on truly national, all-screen Total TV audiences for the first time.

Following unprecedented levels of industry consultation and collaboration across TV networks, Regional TAM, the Media Federation of Australia (MFA), Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA), the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Nielsen and third-party software suppliers, VOZ will become the official trading currency from Sunday 29th December 2024.

TV network annual rate negotiations for calendar year 2025, which start from the fourth quarter of 2024, will be based on VOZ Total TV data for the first time.

VOZ brings a number of firsts to the industry:
• Produces a national picture of viewing for the first time, bringing together OzTAM metro TV ratings data and Regional TAM TV ratings data with a new ‘Rest of Australia’ market into one database
• Introduces a currency for BVOD viewing for the first time including co-viewing on connected TVs
• Delivers de-duplicated audience estimates across all broadcast (linear) TV and BVOD viewing, a significant advancement in audience measurement
• Enables de-duplicated trading on all viewing to all broadcaster content across all screens
• VOZ is constructed with future-facing design to evolve with industry wants and needs. OzTAM is currently in exploratory discussions with big data partners to further enhance VOZ audience measurement.

Produced and delivered by Nielsen, an independent third-party measurement provider, VOZ measures all free-to-air and subscription TV networks.

VOZ has reached a number of milestones in its journey to become trading currency, after it was first made available to the market in May 2023.

From January 2024, OzTAM moved to the delivery of Total TV reports as the public source of audiences consuming broadcast (linear) TV and BVOD content across all platforms and devices.

Third party software suppliers (TPSS) have built the analytical software to process VOZ data to achieve VOZ Gold Standard accreditations, allowing for both consistent results and an open software market. OzTAM has provided VOZ Gold Standard accreditation to modules within Broadcast Map, Day 8, Nielsen Landsberry & James and TechEdge.

OzTAM has collaborated closely with the MFA, agencies and advertisers to incorporate media agency needs in the construction and utilisation of VOZ.

OzTAM will now conduct an extensive industry education and training program to ensure a smooth transition to VOZ as trading currency.

The move to VOZ as currency has been supported and celebrated by the industry, who are united in their support for OzTAM’s VOZ launch.

OzTAM CEO, Karen Halligan, said: “It is with great excitement that we announce VOZ will be the official media currency from 29th December 2024. This significant milestone would not have been possible without extensive industry collaboration and the common desire for positive change from the networks, Regional TAM, the MFA, IMAA, AANA, Nielsen, our TPSS partners and other key suppliers. We would like to sincerely thank everyone for their efforts to realise VOZ as trading currency.

“It’s an extraordinary achievement that VOZ has been conceived, developed and built in Australia, delivering the clearest picture of viewing on all screen types ever. Australia is the only country in the world that has a product like VOZ, with fully integrated broadcast TV and granular BVOD measurement for both content and campaign performance. I would also like to congratulate the entire OzTAM team who have worked relentlessly and passionately on the development of VOZ.

“There is no doubt that VOZ will be a gamechanger for the television industry. VOZ as official currency also sets a great platform for the launch of our VOZ Streaming solution for enhanced, multi-network programmatic BVOD trading next year. OzTAM not only continues to move the industry forward, but we also now have the world’s best Total TV audience measurement system.”

MFA CEO, Sophie Madden, said: “VOZ represents a quantum shift in total TV audience data capability and is a remarkable achievement. Overcoming the complexity and technical challenges to bring this to market has been no small feat, made possible through the substantial investment by broadcasters, third party software suppliers, and MFA members collaborating on an industry solution for all clients. Industry education and training is the next crucial step to ensure a successful rollout and we will continue to partner with OzTAM until this goal is met.”

IMAA CEO, Sam Buchanan, said: “On behalf of the IMAA and our members, we welcome the launch of VOZ as currency in the market and the advancements that VOZ will provide, including the growth in BVOD viewing. We would like to congratulate OzTAM on its collaborative industry approach in bringing VOZ to fruition.”

Nielsen CEO, Alicia Olson-Keating, said: “It’s great to see intensive development work and new measurement infrastructure culminating in a world-first, total TV audience measurement system, with data delivered daily. A long-term vision and collaborative approach have resulted in a market solution that’s not only tailored to nation-wide multi-screen measurement at scale but is future-proof and ready to meet the challenges and many opportunities ahead.”

AANA CEO, Josh Faulks, said: “In a tough economic climate, it is no surprise advertisers are looking for more accurate audience measurement to ensure their marketing investment is delivering results. Congratulations to OzTAM on their herculean effort in bringing the industry together to achieve a step change in audience measurement for TV through VOZ.”

Regional TAM Chairperson, Donna Lennox, said: “VOZ marks a significant milestone in Regional TAM’s measurement journey and we are pleased to be partnering with OzTAM in the delivery of a truly national, world class product. With more than eight million people residing in regional Australia, it was critical that we were engaged in the development and delivery of VOZ. Regional TAM looks forward to trading on VOZ as the official currency in 2025.”

Final details on the transition will be announced soon. For questions regarding VOZ as trading currency please go to virtualoz.com.au/contact

* 29th December 2024 marks the start of the 2025 research year.

VOZ Essentials
• Brings together OzTAM’s metro TV data, Regional TAM’s regional TV data, and OzTAM’s BVOD viewing into one de-duplicated database, providing a complete understanding of content consumption across screens, regardless of how it is viewed.
• Australia’s only source of true national, de-duplicated audiences across all broadcast (linear) TV and BVOD, delivered in one dataset.
• Enables networks, advertisers and marketers to plan, trade and post-analyse advertising campaigns by individual metropolitan and regional markets, and nationally.
• Australia’s only service that provides cross-platform reach and frequency across broadcast TV and BVOD, revealing for the first time the incremental audience watching only on BVOD.
• Provides reliable and robust demographic audience estimates for network content, bringing together broadcast viewing of 20,000+ actual people every day from a representative panel of TV homes across Australia, plus 16+ million connected devices, wherever those devices are located in Australia.
• Measures all TV sets, internet-connected or not, in homes (approx. 21% of household TVs do not have at least 1 TV set connected to the internet).
• Measured by Nielsen, an independent third-party measurement provider.

VOZ Components & Capabilities