Total TV Measurement has been used with multiple GroupM clients already but was given its official go-to-market launch in June after receiving a stamp of approval from PwC, which conducted an exhaustive assurance review of the end-to-end processes and methodology used. This covered everything from data cleaning to data fusion, de-duplication and quality checks, with all nine categories of investigation passed.

Total TV Measurement first measures and de-duplicates addressable TV audience exposures across the entire Finecast supplier ecosystem, which includes linear broadcast addressable TV plus BVOD, AVOD and other ‘TV-like’ (i.e., high-quality, broadcaster equivalent standard) streaming. This is achieved by combining Finecast log-level data with measurement provided by AudienceProject, which runs its own viewing panel (complete with establishment survey). This cross-channel addressable audience view is then combined with BARB data via TechEdge to show de-duplicated reach and frequency across the addressable and classic linear portions of a campaign.

Currently the new product does not attempt to de-duplicate audiences between one streaming addressable source and another, with the focus on showing the difference a combined addressable buy makes on top of linear. This more granular de-duplication may come later.

The outputs from Total TV Measurement are: cross-channel addressable TV reach and frequency; linear campaign reach and frequency; overall de-duplicated reach and frequency; Finecast (addressable) and linear TV 1+ cover curves (with other custom cover curves considered).

Samantha Lister, Head of Marketing Science at Finecast, comments: “This is a solution for brands that want to understand how reach interacts across addressable TV and linear TV and how they can optimise reach across the two. It helps them consider the impact of budget allocation.”

She adds: “Historically, linear TV has been the most cost-effective medium when it comes to reach, but declining linear audiences and deflating [addressable TV] costs mean brands are leaning more into addressable TV. When we launched Finecast, it was ‘linear-first’ [on the plan] and then you added incremental reach [via addressable], but today it is not always linear first, depending on the audience you want to reach. There are some audiences where you should plan for addressable first or where you can invest less in linear before you move budget to addressable.”

As for the PwC verification to ISRS 4400 (Revised) standards, this was a proactive move, since the GroupM clients using the solution (and the GroupM agencies) were happy with the outcomes and their own due diligence. Lister wanted to get ahead of the curve. “As more budget shifts from linear to addressable, addressable comes under greater scrutiny. We are so proud of what we have done we wanted a seal of approval. There was no huge demand for an assurance review from our clients.”

One study for a GroupM client shows what they gain in terms of knowledge. It demonstrated +2.3% incremental reach into the 18-34 age group and +1.3% incremental gain across all adults when addressable was added to standard linear TV. Savings were also indicated – based on what it would have cost to achieve that level of incremental reach through continued linear buys. Total TV measurement is free on selected campaigns and the ambition is that it becomes standard practice for qualifying campaigns where linear and addressable are being combined.

In 2011, physical records accounted for $8.3bn of global revenue, a big drop from $24.1bn in 1999. But when streaming services were launched, the record industry collectively decided to go all-in and embrace digital change. The subsequent diversified content delivery and revenue streams brought revenue back up to $26.2bn in 2022 with an onward upward trajectory. (RIAA data)

The record industry’s embrace of digital also helped it gain deeper understanding into how audiences consume and engage with (not just buy) artist content, helping it better serve the consumer. Vevo’s network of distribution was created as a result, learning not to resist, but to lean into consumer behaviour, delivering content at their request, how they want to watch.

The fall and then recovery of the record industry, caused by digital disruption, has many transferable learnings for the evolving TV landscape right now and gives an indication of what is still to come.

Be where your audience is

Today, the battle isn’t stealing content in this scenario – it’s a fight for attention. Too often media entities adopt the stance of creating a walled garden the consumer must come to, but it disrupts natural flow of consumption, especially in a post-pandemic world flooded with high-quality content services and multiple options for over-saturated consumers. Content awareness, ease of discovery, and ease of consumption win when content is not exclusive and judged as a ‘must have’.

Enders Analysis paints a very stark prospect for 2027 where only 12% of 16-24s’ video time will be spent watching traditional broadcaster content, with the majority of the rest of their time spent with SVOD or YouTube. Not cultivating a relationship on the platforms that these consumers predominantly spend time on is surely a massive oversight.

While the broadcasters have begun to adapt, taking note of BARB and Ofcom reports, Channel 4 has taken the leap to lean into pure behaviour by distributing via YouTube – where they see incremental audiences for their content. This builds a relationship that would otherwise be absent and delivers content to them through the path of least resistance.

Reluctance to distribute everywhere is understandable

Vevo distributes freely because the language of music is borderless, therefore it benefits from economies of scale. Local broadcasters can’t export their content in quite the same way, but it seems counter-productive to not have a local presence in the environments that audiences are more frequently using. If producers of quality content boldly lean into pure behaviour in this way, they will benefit from increased programming reach, but some key principles must be followed to remove risk, as not all content is the same.

It’s the source of the content that counts

Anyone with a camera phone can make a monetisable video, talented or not, but broadcasters have strength in all the legacy points we would expect: trust, quality, high production standards, attention, regulation, editorial oversight, absence of fraud, etc. This must continue to be a strength in our industry and the cornerstone of TV screen campaigns.

Simultaneously, the net by which we define TV has got to widen (no one would doubt Netflix was TV, for instance), while still providing guarantees for viewers and advertisers alike. For example, a Channel 4 show, regardless of how it got onto a screen (via Channel 4 Streaming or C4 YouTube channel), still upholds expectations and values around quality. From an advertiser perspective, we create more legitimate TV opportunities, to reflect the modern consumer, whilst mitigating the challenges of audience fragmentation, inflation and reduced scale.

To ensure this happens, premium content still needs to be rewarded accordingly, otherwise it can’t be made, or quality will suffer in a vicious cycle. We all know it is costly to make good content. It is critical that the industry and premium content makers collaborate to define, safeguard and ring-fence quality content providers.

Industry agreed measurement is key to breaking down the TV siloes

BARB are forging a path forward on this, with ‘fit for TV content’ allowing for a more inclusive TV definition, where publishers new and old can co-exist within TV measurement. The industry needs to support initiatives like this, from publishers to buyers to tech collaborators. If we can independently define TV, based on the source of the content meeting defined standards, then the shackles are off. Studios and broadcasters alike can define their reach of viewers based on natural consumption, and advertisers can be sure of guaranteeing large scale reach in environments where they know what content their advert appears around.

Maximising premium quality

In a time where anyone can watch anything, it is ever more important to be sure that we are maximising the opportunity with high-quality, safe content and attentive environments. This is not to belittle the longer tail of a video campaign; there are different campaigns with different functions. They absolutely work together like they always have.

We can still achieve those amazing, brand building, mass-reach campaigns that uphold everything we expect from a TV screen campaign, but we need to lay down principles. This frees up those content providers that live by traditional, high-quality production values to lean into the viewer and not be stuck rigidly to certain measurement siloes. Importantly, by doing so, it creates a healthier, bigger TV opportunity for advertisers to reach their key audiences.

Kantar says the move is the latest development in its efforts to measure and report on viewing on all platforms, as well as to deliver a single, people-based measurement of media consumption, performance and value.

In October 2022, Netflix signed up to BARB for audience measurement in the UK. BARB’s daily reporting includes aggregate-level viewing to SVOD/AVOD and video-sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services. This major innovation has been underpinned by technology developed by Kantar.

Antonio Wanderley, CEO of Latin America, Spain, APAC & Africa, Media Division at Kantar, says: “It has never been more important for media companies to seek a single view of their audience in order to unlock sustained growth. Netflix’s decision to join our service further strengthens our industry-accepted audience measurement.”

Pablo Perez De Rosso, Netflix Vice President, Strategy, Planning & Analysis, comments: “As viewing habits change, we’re supportive of Kantar’s efforts to deliver cross-platform measurement that improves our understanding of audience behaviours, and we’re excited about the opportunity to grow our share and entertain more members with must-watch shows and films.”

BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined. BARB considers itself to be the definitive, trusted measurement of what people across the UK are watching.

Since November 2021, streaming services have been an integral part of BARB’s gold-standard reporting for linear and on-demand services. Its daily reporting includes aggregate-level viewing to SVOD/AVOD and video-sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services. This major innovation has been underpinned by technology developed by Kantar.

From the second week of November 2022, BARB will publicly report the monthly reach and share of viewing for broadcaster groups and SVOD/AVOD services which account for more than 0.5% of total identified viewing. Also from November, BARB will extend its weekly reporting of the top 50 shows to include programmes across all linear channels and SVOD service providers. “This will reinforce BARB’s rankings as the most comprehensive and representative record of the most-watched shows in the UK,” the company says.

BARB observes that broadcasters continue to account for the lion’s share of viewing in the UK. “Across 2022, broadcasters’ linear channels and on-demand services have accounted for around two-thirds of all identified viewing, while SVOD/AVOD services comprise about one-sixth of all viewing. The average daily viewing time to broadcasters’ services was 159 minutes in September 2022, and the average for SVOD/AVOD services was 36 minutes per day.”

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and NOW all saw quarterly declines in the number of UK homes with access to their services. Amazon Prime Video lost the largest share of its UK base, with the number of UK households with access to the service falling from 13.35 million to 12.76 million – a decline of 4%. The number of Netflix households decreased from 17.29 million to 17.08 million (losing just over 1%) while NOW households fell from 2.13 million to 2.07 million (losing almost 3%).

In contrast, Disney+ and AppleTV+ experienced small quarterly gains, with Disney+ reaching 6.62 million UK homes (up from 6.53 million) and Apple TV+ reaching 1.61 million UK homes (up from 1.57 million).

Justin Sampson, BARB’s Chief Executive, said: “Our latest data confirm other sources which have reported declining subscription levels for SVOD services during the first half of 2022. We don’t ask households why they choose to add or drop subscriptions, although the sharp increase in energy prices in March/April must have been a catalyst for people to review all their monthly outgoings. The numbers we report today show SVOD services aren’t immune as households work hard to make ends meet.”

BARB says The Establishment Survey enables it to “understand the characteristics of UK households, part of ensuring that its daily reporting of television audiences is representative of the whole population.”.

The audience measurement company also reports that, in Q1 2022, Disney+ and AppleTV+ saw the largest gains in terms of number of UK homes with access to their services. Disney+ experienced a 19% quarterly increase, rising from 5.49 million homes in Q4 2021 to 6.53 million in Q1 2022, while Apple TV+ enjoyed a 27% quarterly rise, from 1.24 million homes to 1.57 million.

With a smaller quarterly gain (3%), the number of households with access to Netflix rose from 16.79 million to 17.29 million. Amazon Prime Video and Now experienced quarterly increases of 6% and 4% respectively, with a penetration of 13.35 million homes for the former, and 2.13 million, the latter.

BARB says the Establishment Survey “enables [it to] understand the characteristics of UK households, part of ensuring that its daily reporting of television audiences is representative of the whole population.”

16.8 million UK homes had access to Netflix – up from 16.7 million in Q3 2021 – and 12.6 million had access to Amazon, increasing from 12.5 million. Now TV saw the number of households it is available in rise from 2 million to 2.1 million.

BARB also reports that the number of UK homes with access to at least one SVOD now stands at 19.1 million as of Q4 2021 – 66.9% of households in the country. Significantly, the number of households that subscribe to two or more SVOD services have risen to 12.4 million up from 12.3 million in the previous quarter.

Justin Sampson, BARB’s Chief Executive said: “We have been providing valuable insight into SVOD services since 2014, when we began reporting on the uptake of these services in our Establishment Survey.

Last November, we took a big step forward when we upgraded our daily audience reporting to include SVOD and video-streaming services. As well as reporting the total time spent watching these services, we deliver audience ratings for programmes on Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix. This is the first time audiences for streaming services are being reported with all the hallmarks of a joint-industry measurement system: independence, objectivity and transparency.”

The BARB panel consists of a sample of 5300 homes (totalling 12,000 inhabitants) that are representative of household types, demographics and geography in the UK. Panel members use a handset to register when they sit down in front of a viewing device so the company knows who is consuming content at any given moment, and to ensure the integrity of the data, BARB regularly reviews data gathered to detect anomalous viewing behaviour or failures to appropriately register by viewers.

In a sample of its data, BARB revealed that Netflix’s Squid Game – despite its enormous global success – only ranked in tenth place in the UK for most viewed programmes in October 2021, with 5.477 million viewers. Only three Netflix shows and one Disney+ title made the cut for top 100 most watched programmes, while Amazon Prime Video did not contribute a single show to the list. The podium positions for most popular shows in the UK were dominated by three broadcaster programmes – BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing (10.435 million viewers), Channel 4’s The Great British Bakeoff (8.889 million) and ITV’s The Larkins (6.58 million).

To reflect its enhanced measurement reporting, BARB has also updated its audience viewing categories. The category of total broadcaster viewing denotes time spent watching linear broadcast channels and BVOD services, including live-viewing, pre- and post-broadcast viewing and archived BVOD content. Total SVOD/AVOD viewing is time spent viewing 16 video-on-demand services (including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and Disney+) on up to four screens – however, this only includes viewing through household Wi-Fi. Total video-sharing viewing includes viewing time on platforms such as TikTok, Twitch and YouTube – again, on up to four screens and through the home’s Wi-Fi.

Based on the updated viewing categories, BARB reported that the total identified viewing time by everyone aged 4+ averaged at 231 minutes per day for October 2021. Out of that viewing time, 156 minutes (68%) was the total broadcaster viewing, 35 minutes total SVOD/AVOD viewing, and 40 minutes was the total video-sharing viewing.

“It’s great news for the television and advertising industry that we’re upgrading our always-on measurement service to include SVOD and video-sharing platforms. For the first time there is audience measurement for these services that bears all the hallmarks of a joint-industry currency: independence, objectivity and transparency.”

Viewing data for BARB-subscribing SVODs and video-sharing platforms is available to BARB clients through viewing analysis software and data-processing bureaux, while data for non-BARB-subscribing services are accessible for clients that hold a section 9 license. The company will feature a monthly breakdown on total identified viewing (as well as archive reports and trend data) accessible to clients through its subscriber portal, What People Watch.

The UK ratings body’s latest annual Viewing Report said that 12.3 million homes in the UK had at least one of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Now TV in Q4 2018, based on BARB Establishment Survey data.

“Netflix is the main driver of this increase, having added 2.2 million homes compared to Q4 2017,” according to the report. “Amazon too has shown impressive growth, adding more than a million homes, while Now TV has added just under 100,000.”

The number of UK homes with two or more SVOD services was also up 32% year-on-year from 3.26 million to 4.3 million.

Although SVOD companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime don’t allow BARB to measure viewing of their services, the measurement company did note that time spent on ‘unidentified viewing’ was up from 41 to 48 minutes per day on average in 2018.

This means that 20% of all TV set activity was dedicated to watching unidentified content, up from 17% a year earlier, with BARB claiming to have a growing body of evidence that points to SVOD services being the “primary catalyst” for this.

“It’s important to bear in mind that unidentified viewing is still a fifth of the time spent with the TV set, and not all unidentified viewing is to SVOD services; it also includes games playing on consoles and watching programming more than 28 days after broadcast,” said BARB. “However, it’s clear that SVOD services are very likely to account for a significant proportion of this viewing.”

“We recognise the industry’s desire to unpack unidentified viewing, regardless of whether the service provider wants to be measured by BARB. This is why we are investigating the use of router meters in panel homes as a potential solution for identifying SVOD viewing.”

To access BARB’s May 2019 edition of The Viewing Report, its annual “exploration of the UK’s viewing habits”, click here.