VOZ Has Arrived – What Does It Mean For TV?

The highly-anticipated Virtual Australia (VOZ) – a new measure of Total TV viewing which combines broadcast content watched on all screens, anytime, anywhere in one data set – is launching today

The launch of the daily overnight viewing data marks the beginning of a transition period for the industry to become accustomed to the VOZ data and be ready to transact on VOZ.

The goal is for VOZ to become the trading currency in the calendar year 2024.

VOZ Total TV delivers the clearest picture of viewing on all screen types than has ever been possible,
inside and outside of homes:

• For the industry: Broadcast TV and BVOD audiences delivered in one dataset, nationally – so
  program and campaign performance can be planned and post-analysed by individual markets
  right up to a national level.
• For media agencies and advertisers: Cross-platform, broadcast TV and BVOD reach and
  frequency – revealing for the first time the incremental audience watching only on BVOD.
  o For broadcasters: A complete understanding of program content performance, regardless of
  platform or device.
• The debut of daily next-day Overnight VOZ data marks the start of a transition period for the industry
  to become accustomed to the VOZ data and be ready to transact on VOZ. The goal is for VOZ to
  become trading currency in calendar year 2024

OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer said: “The entire industry is converging for the start of daily Overnight VOZ data production, and genuinely excited about VOZ becoming Australia’s Total TV reporting standard and transactional currency.

“We firmly believe that seeing the true picture of television performance requires a Total Television view, and VOZ reveals the Total TV picture, powering TV planning, buying and post analysis in our rapidly changing viewing landscape.

“We are proud of VOZ – a world-class all-screen measurement service that has been conceived, designed, and developed in Australia, reflecting its distinct geography and population characteristics.

“We would like to acknowledge the collaborative approach and input from the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) over the past 18 months and also appreciate the enthusiasm from the Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA), and the constructive dialogue we’ve held with media auditors.

“Third-party software suppliers (TPSS), who are building the analytical software to process OzTAM data, have made tremendous strides in building the tools needed to handle the latest iteration of VOZ.

“We also extend thanks to the broadcasters, to Regional TAM, and to Nielsen, who are constructing VOZ to OzTAM’s and the broadcasters’ specification.

Doug Peiffer

Seven West media managing director and Chief Executive Officer, James Warburton, said: “The launch of overnight VOZ data is a critically important step in demonstrating the reach and power of national total TV and its leading role in informing and entertaining all Australians and delivering strong results for marketers.

“For too long, the TV industry has focused on its smallest audience – overnight linear broadcast viewers – and failed to clearly highlight the fact that total TV is much more than overnight ratings.

The rise and rise of BVOD is a game changer for the TV industry and the new VOZ data accurately reflects how many people are engaging with our industry.

“I’d like to thank OzTAM, Nielsen, the Media Federation of Australia and the Independent Media Agencies of Australia on the launch of this innovative, world-leading total TV currency.”

Nine chief sales officer, Michael Stephenson, said: “The launch of VOZ, the measurement of live, live streaming and on demand television is the most significant development we have ever seen in television.

“VOZ measures the reach that BVOD adds to terrestrial TV and proves that Total TV remains the most effective way to build reach at speed and it measures co-viewing for the very first time.

“We are one of the first countries in the world to launch a cross-platform measurement service and our product is more advanced than any other market in the world. Australia is leading the world and our entire industry should be very proud.

“The development of VOZ has been a complex task. I congratulate the teams at OzTAM and Nielsen for their efforts that provides our industry a world-class, future-facing, cross-platform measurement system.”

James Warburton

Rod Prosser, Chief Sales Officer, Paramount Australia and New Zealand, parent company of Network 10, said:

“We’re delighted VOZ Total TV data has officially launched and we can now start to see a complete picture of audience viewing trends across the country.

“As the youngest network, we’ve been an early adopter of VOZ as our audiences are digital natives
who consume content across multiple screens, devices and times that suit their lifestyle.

“We know our live stream and BVOD audiences on our digital platform, 10 Play, regularly increase our
total viewers by more than 20 per cent in our key programs so we’re thrilled to have the industry now see the
true picture and value of these leaned-in audiences.

“We also recognise the complexity behind collecting this information and the persistence OzTAM has demonstrated to ensure data integrity. We thank them for their continued efforts to deliver a worldfirst Total TV audience reporting system that sets a new international standard in accuracy and
timeliness.”

Rod Prosser

All current OzTAM broadcast TV (TAM) and BVOD (VPM) data and reporting will continue to be delivered to data subscribers into 2024.

Top line VOZ Overnight Total TV viewing reports are posted to VirtualOz.com.au at approximately 1pm daily from today.

VOZ Essentials
• VOZ is Australia’s only source of true national, de-duplicated audience estimates with co-viewing and
demographics across all broadcast (linear) TV and full BVOD coverage.
• It measures all TV sets (internet-connected or not) in homes (Approx. 39 per cent of household TVs
are not connected to the internet)
• Captures BVOD viewing on 16m+ connected devices, regardless of location in Australia
• Provides full national coverage, with no bias towards device type
• Enables broadcasters, advertisers and marketers and plan and post-analyse advertising campaigns by individual metropolitan and regional markets, and nationally.
• VOZ is Australia’s only service that reveals Total TV reach – a critical driver of sales and outcomes – including the audience that watches TV content mostly, or only, on connected devices (BVOD ‘incremental reach’).
• VOZ is a third-party, neutral, objective and transparent measurement system that will be
regularly audited.
• VOZ is fully representative.
• VOZ panel homes selected from 65,000+ surveys/year and continually re-balanced to ensure true representation of Australian population by geography, demographic, household characteristics.
• VOZ panel measures viewing of 20,000+ actual people every day plus 16m+ connected devices,
delivering only true and reliable source of demo audience figures.