Foxtel Media rolls out new television audience ratings

A comprehensive television audience measurement system will provide granular detail about what viewers are watching on Foxtel’s set top boxes.

A new television audience measurement system that will provide comprehensive viewing data gathered from more than one million Foxtel set-top boxes will be rolled out by the end of the year.

Foxtel Media has joined forces with global data, insights, and consulting company Kantar Media to deliver the new measurement service that will give granular details of what audiences are watching and when on their viewing subscription TV services.

Foxtel Media chief executive officer Mark Frain said the data captured through the set-top boxes builds out a much more detailed measurement service which will be hugely beneficial to the industry.

“Foxtel Group has access to data from over one million set top boxes and more than 3.1 million streaming customers, and we’d be negligent if we leave this data idling for another

minute,” he said.

“In 2023, we should all be able to confidentially measure and trade digital currency in a digital world.

“We’re looking forward to delivering new insight into our audiences to aid media planning.”

The existing OzTAM data tracks 1444 homes nationally for subscription TV and results are released daily.

The new measurement service, which Foxtel Media said is likely to be available to clients from December 1, will also allow retrospective data from the past two years to be provided.

The data will be anonymised when it is gathered to provide daily audience numbers and it will be available to the media and advertising industries.

The new measurement system – announced at Foxtel’s Upfronts event on Thursday – also comes after claims earlier in the year some TV viewing data was inaccurate.

The system also allows a shift away from a market of single currency to one where multiple currencies are operated.

It is the first major stage in an overhaul of TV ratings measurement for subscription TV, and it will be followed by streaming data available on the set-top boxes including Kayo and Binge later in 2024.

Foxtel is 65 per cent owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian.

Kantar Media’s senior director Keld Neilsen said detailed insights of audience viewing habits will be hugely beneficial to the media and advertising industries.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Foxtel Media, leveraging our deep experience in processing operator data to unlock the value of their subscriber data,” he said.

“We are excited to explore new opportunities that serve the Australian media industry, unlocking further opportunities to integrate and enrich more data services in the future.”

As part of Foxtel Media’s new audience measurement service, data will be accessed using AdvantEdge software which is available from Kantar Media’s TechEdge software unit.

The OzTAM subscription TV data will continue to be available when the new Kantar and Foxtel Media measurement service begins.

In June, Foxtel departed its alliance with the Premium Content Alliance and ThinkTV, the body which works with marketing representatives to help deliver advertising.

Commercial networks Seven, Nine and Ten remain stakeholders in ThinkTV, led by chief executive Kim Portrate.