Every morning, TV executives pore over the ratings from the night before. Here’s how Australia measures who’s watching, how streaming changed the numbers, and why ratings matter so much.
TV ratings estimate how many people watched a program. They matter because they’re the basis for how TV advertising is bought and sold. Networks charge advertisers more for shows that attract larger audiences, especially in groups advertisers want to reach.
How they’re measured
Australia’s TV ratings are produced under a system called VOZ, which brings together the metropolitan ratings body OzTAM and Regional TAM, using data from research company Nielsen.
At its core is a panel of thousands of homes across the country. Each home has a meter attached to its TVs that records what’s being watched, and each person in the household logs in when they’re watching using a remote control, so ratings can be broken down by age and sex.
The results are then scaled up to estimate the viewing of the whole population.
Total TV
Viewing habits have changed dramatically. Many people now watch TV networks’ programs on their phones, tablets, laptops or smart TVs, through broadcast video-on-demand apps such as 9Now, 7plus, 10 Play, ABC iview and SBS On Demand.
The VOZ system was introduced to measure that viewing too. It combines the panel data with information from devices streaming programs through the networks’ apps, producing a “total TV” audience.
That’s why headline ratings often include viewing on all screens, and why the numbers are revised in the days after a broadcast, as people catch up.
Key measures
The national total TV reach measures how many different people watched at least part of a program. The average audience measures how many people watched on average across the program.
Networks also report audiences in key advertising groups, such as viewers aged 25 to 54.
What’s not included
Ratings mainly capture viewing of the free-to-air networks and Foxtel. Streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Stan generally don’t publish detailed audience figures in the same way, which has made it harder to compare their audiences with traditional TV.
Why they matter
Strong ratings help a network win advertising, attract talent and promote its other shows. Big events such as the AFL and NRL grand finals, the State of Origin, the Australian Open and the Melbourne Cup are among the most-watched programs every year.
Weak ratings can see shows axed within weeks.
Networks often spin the same figures differently, each highlighting the measure that makes them look best, which is why ratings stories can seem contradictory.
