While an overhaul of the Australian ratings system has been deemed necessary by most in the TV industry, many are branding the new method as “confusing,” “misleading,” “inflated” and “skewed in favour of Seven Network”.
In what was the biggest shake-up in two decades, in February the TV ratings firm OzTAM implemented the VOZ Total TV audience model and began prioritising total viewership across all cities — including streaming numbers — as opposed to linear numbers across the five metro cities.
Critics claim the new method is mainly benefiting Seven.
“Seven pushed for this new ratings system because they knew they’d come out looking better than Nine,” one TV insider told Saturday Confidential.
“At the time they argued that it makes all free-to-air TV look better so they convinced Nine and Ten to come along for the ride.
“Many people in the industry think the figures are a joke.
“The fact is, Nine is killing it in 2024. They’ve had their strongest first quarter ever, but you wouldn’t know it from the new ratings numbers.”
The new ratings system has resulted in yet another stoush between Nine and Seven about who is the number one network.
Two weeks ago, Seven just stopped short of claiming Total TV commercial share. Nine yesterday claimed pole position.
“Our news programs — across breakfast, afternoons and evenings — are overwhelmingly beating their opposition in Australia’s three largest markets of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (where the vast majority of advertising dollars are spent),” a Nine spokesman said.
In the new ratings system, there’s the option to determine “Total TV National Reach”, which shows data from viewers who watched at least one minute of a program, or 15 seconds online.
Using this ranking, MAFS 2024 debut had a 2.451 million total reach, while Idol had 1.784 million and Survivor 1.126 million.
In comparison, in 2023, MAFS debuted to 840,000 metro viewers and in 2022 it’s first episode lured 869,000 viewers.
In 2023, the Idol reboot had 413,000 metro viewers.
“It’s remarkable how last year’s flop Australian Idol is suddenly a runaway success for Seven,” another insider said.
“MAFS is the number one show on TV, and that’s one thing the new ratings system doesn’t change.
“But for other shows, you have to look deeper to get the real story.
“Nine News is winning Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane this year.
“That’s where the crucial advertising dollars are.
“Those are the numbers media buyers care about.
“But Seven wins the new ratings system thanks to Perth and regional markets.”
While media advertising buyers, TV executives and media writers agree the previous system was not reflecting the way we watch TV, thanks to live streaming and more people ditching aerial connections, many claim the new way of distributing the data is experiencing teething problems.
As a result, media agencies are still 12 months away from adopting the new ratings system.
“The average is a better reflection of actual audience,” one advertising source said.
“But the reach is a joke and ridiculous.
“Advertisers still just care about east coast numbers — Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and that’s where Nine is dominant.”
According to TV Tonight’s David Knox, it is Seven CEO James Warburton who “championed” overhauling the ratings.
“And it may well be his legacy gift to the industry,” he said.
“There are some clashing interests however, with Seven, having acquired the Prime network, focused on national results, and Nine focused on their five city markets.
“The new reporting to media also snubs separate multichannel results, city-by-city results and Foxtel numbers, which is not great for transparency.
“If you’re not talking about ratings performance, for better or worse, the risk is people will care less about their shows and continue to migrate to streaming giants.
“Be careful what you wish for.”
Media analyst Steve Allen asked for critics to be patient with the new system.
“There have been quite a few delays with VOS because nowhere in the world has this been done,” Mr Allen said.
“It has taken a significant amount of work to ensure there wasn’t duplication, for example.”
