OzTAM has announced it will introduce a demographic for grocery shoppers to its TV ratings database from January 2017.

The new variable will be in addition to the long-standing ‘Main Grocery Buyer’ demographic, and is a reflection of the changing shopping patterns in Australia, according to OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer.

“The traditional ‘weekly shop’ by a main grocery buyer is increasingly less typical in Australian homes,” he said.

“People now shop multiple times during the week, with duties often shared between parents and other family members. There are also more shared households in which people do their own grocery buying.