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/ / Balancing pace of change with
the need to develop robust and
future-proof solutions
Change is nothing new in television, a medium that
has gone from just a few linear channels broad-
casting for only part of each day in black and white,
to a 24-hour, multi-channel, linear and on-demand
offer that covers almost every conceivable human
interest, delivered in ever higher definition to
ever-larger screens. TAM has naturally evolved at
the same time, both in terms of the methodologies
and technologies deployed.
Themost recent shift in viewing, which is discussed
in Part 2 of this report, has seen viewers use an
increasingly diverse and sophisticated range of
Internet-enabled devices to access television
content in new ways, presenting TAM with its
latest – and perhaps most difficult – challenge.
Whilst the panel-based and census-level data
collection techniques developed for Internet
Audience Measurement (IAM) are now being
deployed to capture these new video viewing
behaviours, until recently it has not been possible
to combine these technologies with traditional
TAM to provide holistic audience figures.
It is arguably harder for TAM providers to respond
to these changes than it is for viewers to adapt and
evolve their consumption behaviours.
“To ensure the nex t
generat i on of aud i ov i sua l
aud i ence measurement
meets the needs of
both adver t i sers and
broadcasters , egta
be l i eves i n a v i ewer-
cent r i c approach .”
Inevitably, media agencies and their advertiser
clients require the most accurate, comprehensive
and granular data possible, and broadcasters
want to ensure that every person who watches
their content – and the advertising around it – is
captured, and there is therefore pressure from all
sides for TAM providers to adapt their services
quickly. This presents two challenges for TAM
providers: firstly, they must develop and rigorously
test solutions that are increasingly complex from
a technological and methodological perspective;
and secondly, they require the consensus of many
different actors – sometimes with contrasting
opinions – before they can adopt a particular route,
and in many cases they rely on broadcasters and
publishers to take some form of action, such as the
deployment of measurement tags in their content,
before they can start reporting data to the market.
Above all, TAM operators need to ensure they
retain the trust of all interested parties. Whereas
digital has arguably been able to adopt a more ad
hoc approach to measurement, with incremental
improvements over time, the television industry
stands to suffer potentially irreversible damage
if any next-generation TAM systems are flawed
when launched. In terms of timing, it may be
worth redefining what ‘long/longer’ means
when implementing complex measurement
methodologies.
/ / Television audience
measurement as a quality
benchmark for future systems
To ensure the next generation of audiovisual
audience measurement meets the needs of
both advertisers and broadcasters – and by
extension their sales houses – egta believes in
a viewer-centric approach. Future TAM systems
therefore need to be tailored to make the most
of the combined benefits of television and Video
On Demand (VOD), rather than exposing the
differences between the two. egta therefore