OzTam has been inaccurately reporting TV Rating numbers for months.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the TV rating numbers have been wrong for several months.
OzTam is an agency that is owned by Nine, Seven and 10. It works independently to report how many people watch free-to-air television in Australia. OzTam numbers are how networks determine what shows are sinking or thriving and also are the numbers the networks use to determine who won the year and how.
This is important because yes every network wants to win, but it’s those results that often determine rates with advertisers. In short, they really do matter.
Currently is unclear how badly the results are incorrect, though SMH has reported that sources have said around the 20,000 mark. Not a giant amount but enough to impact the ratings on the nights in question and change who won and who lost.
An OzTam spokesperson told B&T: “Nielsen is investigating an anomaly in overlap areas between metro and regional markets, in which a small amount of viewing to the metro broadcaster services looks to have been attributed to regional ’spill’ viewing, rather than credited to the metro broadcasters.
“The investigation continues, and once that is complete, Nielsen will reprocess and republish ratings data from early June, when the anomaly began.”
