The boss of Australia’s television audience data company has conceded a major overhaul of how ratings are measured across the $4.2 billion free-to-air TV industry has taken too long to bring to market.

OzTAM chief executive Doug Peiffer says the new Virtual Australia ratings system, known as VOZ and rolling out on May 1, will drive more money to broadcasters because they will be able to more accurately see how many viewers there are across traditional TV and free-to-air apps.