The newly-launched TAM Vision sets out to measure viewing across all devices by 2017. Jill McGrath says the objective is ambitious and is on a par with TV measurement globally. The pilot means TAM moving in several directions at once, including the development of tagging to identity content across all platforms and return path data fusion with the panel.
American author and humourist Samuel Longhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, famously said “the report of my death was an exaggeration”. Jill McGrath’s job as chief executive of Television Audience Measurement (TAM) Ireland, is to extol the virtues of TV as an advertising medium. She says not only is TV not dead, or in a coma, it doesn’t even have flu symptoms. TV is in rude health, fending off attacks that come its way.
TAM measures time shift viewing in Ireland and has weekly reports. With 91 per cent of all viewing live, McGrath insists it would appear the channels are doing things right. People are conscious of what they are recording and sport, current affairs and business stories need to be watched live. As TV is such a mass medium, it’s about seeing the big hitters live as no one wants to get the spoilers, they want to part of the conversation, water cooler moments.
Despite suggestions to the contrary, most young viewers still consume TV on the set. They may have mobile and tablet devices on the go at the same time but TAM research points to 75 per cent of 15-24 year olds are watching the Irish channels each week. McGrath says like their more adult counterparts, the difference between youths’ time shift and live TV viewing is largely similar, with just a slight bias towards time shift, which is to be expected.
Major TV spenders like Unilever and Procter & Gamble are only charged for the ads viewed in ‘real time’. Advertisers pay for time shifted viewed ads but only for the spots watched at normal speed, there is no charge for ads if they are fast forwarded. TAM know all about this from the way they measure TV viewing. McGrath claims that many people who record shows forget they are watching a recording and don’t bother to fast forward the commercial breaks.
Recently Ipsos MRBI did a second study on total viewing habits and found that viewing to all video (TV live and recorded, catch-up, on-demand, paid for services such as Netflix, short form such as YouTube) had grown from 216 minutes a day in 2012 to 230 minutes a day, an increase of 14 minutes. Of those viewers, 95 per cent watched content on a TV set and 27 per cent watched on another device as well as a TV set, up from 15 per cent in 2012.
So, says McGrath, there has been significant growth to viewing on other devices. Of the 230 minutes spent on total viewing, 193 minutes (84 per cent) was spent viewing on a TV set (up one minute) and 37 minutes (16 per cent) were spent on another device, up 13 minutes.
“What’s fascinating about this is that TV viewing time is unaffected and we’re growing total viewing time with extra viewing on other devices,” McGrath says. “It’s good news for broadcasters and advertisers as there are now more viewing opportunities.” The most popular non-TV device is the laptop/PC which accounts for 19 minutes (eight per cent) of viewing time followed by smartphones on four per cent and tablets with just a two per cent share.
While sales of Smart TVs is growing, their usage in terms of viewing habits has yet to change in any meaningful way. McGrath says consumers await the right TV hardware – a set that is intuitive, easy to use and with the least amount of buttons to press. Smart TV will give more control to the viewer. Viewers will become more engaged with their favourite TV shows, all part of a gradual move away from TV being a passive medium to being more interactive.
New media and technology is having an impact. Reality TV allow viewers to influence the outcome of shows. Following shows on Twitter and other social media adds an extra dimension to the viewing experience. TAM commissioned Colourtext to survey all tweets sent in Ireland during April. They found 43 per cent of all people who tweeted did so at least once about TV. McGrath says the same study also looked at the link between TV advertising and web traffic and found a synergy, with TV playing a direct role in driving web traffic.
While the internet has caused mayhem for the press business model, TV has gone relatively unscathed. The most recent internet trends report by Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers (KPCB) and formerly of Morgan Stanley, shows TV enjoys an enviable reach, visible to 78 per cent of the world’s 7.2 billion people. It accounts for 43 per cent of all ad spend, compared to press at 22 per cent and the internet on 19 per cent.
While mobile is all the rage these days, and marketers are urged not to miss the bandwagon, it still only accounts for four per cent of global ad spend. But audience habits are changing. A recent McKinsey report on TV viewing habits in Brazil, entitled How Long Will TV Live?: New Formats and Traditional Viewing in Brazil is an eye opener. The spiritual home of football is a thriving market for soaps and broadcast TV has scored highly up to now.
The report shows a move away from live TV. In the years from 2011 to 2013, the average minutage spent watching ‘the box’ every day dropped from 141 to 120. Brazilian viewers are taking more to video on demand (VOD), set-top digital video recorders and devices like tablets and mobile phones. They now spend an average of 104 minutes a day watching TV content using over the top internet video and VOD services, up from 55 minutes in 2011.
Speaking at New York’s Internet Week, Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said he expected every home to have a Smart TV by 2025. For now, devices like Apple TV, Google’s Chromecast and PlayStation and Xbox consoles will provide the platform for the future content and interactivity. Pictured is Kevin Spacey in Netflix’s House of Cards.
Accessing TV is driven by more affluent viewers who lead the way when it comes to watching TV on tablets and mobiles. Traditional TVs have lost eight per cent of attention share from 2011 to 2013. PCs are up by 10 per cent and mobile phones’ share of viewers attention grew by 45 per cent. It is a trend TAM’s channel members will watch closely.
McGrath believes the channel brand is becoming more important. A seminar with digital champion Lord David Puttnam in the Aviva Stadium announced the new TAM Vision pledge to measure viewing on all devices by 2017. The focus in the TV market is on co-existence. Sure, the use of tablets and mobile phones are growing in polarity as young people multi-task with screens but the TV set is still the dominant feature in most people’s living rooms.
