Report: Broadcast Television Reach Remains Strong in Oz

March 9, 2016 Kristin Brzoznowski Top Stories

SYDNEY: The latest Australian Multi-Screen Report finds that while Australians are increasingly using connected devices to watch television and other video content, approximately 85 percent of all video viewing still takes place on in-home TV sets.

In terms of other devices and platforms, 15.5 percent of the time Australians spend viewing any video—including broadcast and non-broadcast content—is on computers, tablets or smartphones: an average 15 hours 42 minutes (15:42) per month—up from 12:18 in Q4 2014. This includes broadcast content (e.g. television network catch-up and streaming sites and apps) as well as non-broadcast video such as YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. In Q4 2015 Australians on average watched 85:17 of broadcast television on in-home TV sets each month, down 5:10 per month year-on-year and reflecting the way Australians are spreading their viewing across multiple options. 91.4 percent, or 77:57, of broadcast TV viewed on TV sets in the quarter was live to air while broadcast TV playback through the TV set within seven days was 7:20.

Though the proportion of time Australians spend watching linear broadcast TV has declined in the past five years, most television is still watched at the time of original broadcast (live): 11.2 percent TARP (target audience rating point) in the latest fourth quarter period. Playback of broadcast material through the TV set rose 0.2 percent TARP year-on-year to 1.3 percent TARP.

Deborah Wright, the chair of Regional TAM and Nine Entertainment Co.’s director of regional strategy, said: “The Australian Multi-Screen Report continues to provide a holistic national overview of consumers’ viewing habits across platforms and devices. In a market where consumers have an ever growing list of options to view video content, the in-home TV set remains the predominate screen of choice. Our Regional TAM audiences in particular are spending almost 95 hours a month on average watching television, which is almost 9.5 hours more than the national average.”

Craig Johnson, the head of Nielsen’s reach solutions for Southeast Asia, North Asia and Pacific, said: “TV broadcasters are still the custodians of the highest quality content and have the biggest opportunity to reach the most people. Device and platform choices are greatly expanding those opportunities and broadcasters are making good use of the opportunities to ensure their content is available to those audiences anywhere, anytime.”

OzTAM’s CEO, Doug Peiffer, said: “Connected devices are the new PVRs. As penetration rates for conventional personal video recorders level off, the number of PVRs actually in the market has grown dramatically: people now use their desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones to watch catch up TV—just as they’ve grown used to time-shifting their broadcast viewing. Today, access to content means anywhere, any time, any connected device. OzTAM’s new VPM Report tracks this emerging behavior, revealing how the audience to a piece of content travels across all platforms.”