Media Asset Capitals Jeremy Bancroft explains why the current model of measuring TV audiences is all wrong
By Contributor
Published: September 23, 2020
Media Asset Capital's Jeremy Bancroft explains why the current model of measuring TV audiences is all wrong
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Media Asset Capital's Jeremy Bancroft explains why the current model of measuring TV audiences is all wrong
https://www.tvbeurope.com/media-consumption/can-we-really-rely-on-tv-ratings title=Share via Email class=share-email>
The coronavirus pandemic has led to people watching more TV than ever. Content consumption has substantially increased, and many TV channels have recorded some of their best ratings in years.
The TV industry relies upon ratings. These ratings tell the channels and their advertisers which shows are most popular, and which times of the day capture the largest audiences.
Streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, ITV Hub and BBC iPlayer have only recently been added to ratings listings, but each of the operators can measure viewing of content on their own streaming platform. Some, however, are reluctant to release this data.
Traditional TV viewing figures are produced by specialist ratings agencies, including BARB, Nielsen, and Kantar. For free to air satellite and terrestrial TV, the number of viewers for each channel at different times is measured using selected panels of viewers, and everything that the viewers watch is logged.
Unfortunately, these panels represent a very small sample of the viewing public.
For example, in the UK, BARB collects and distributes TV ratings. There are about 5200 BARB-monitored households from a total of around 27 million TV-equipped homes.
In the US, Nielsen is the most widely used ratings agency. There are about 27,000 Nielsen-monitored households from around 120 million TV-equipped homes.
This means that the ratings used by over the air TV channels, programme makers and advertisers are based upon a sample size of approximately 0.02 per cent.
The TV industry makes decisions about which programmes to commission, continue or drop based upon these ratings. How much advertisers pay for particular spots is also based on these ratings. With only one in every 5,000 homes being sampled, there is much criticism within the industry about the accuracy of this data, especially given the financial implications of such potentially misleading information.
Subscription platforms (such as Sky) can measure their own viewing figures with greater accuracy by interrogating their own branded set top boxes. In the UK, Sky collects data from about 500,000 set top boxes, which is approximately 4 per cent of their total subscribers. Unfortunately, this method is not available to non-subscription platforms.
In the US, Nielsen has started providing ratings for popular streaming platforms. Netflix has responded to these ratings based on viewing panels in a statement: The data that Nielsen is reporting is not accurate, not even close, and does not reflect the viewing of these shows on Netflix
As Netflix can measure every single time that their content is streamed to a subscriber (a sample size of 100 per cent), they can be confident in their own conclusions.
Some TV set manufacturers have built software into their devices that detects what their viewers are watching so that they can provide data to third parties. American TV set maker Vizio did exactly this, but ended up losing a $17 million class-action lawsuit for allegedly spying on their customers' viewing habits, violating privacy and consumer-protection laws'.
Within the EU, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) covers information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. Essentially, if you can know who the person is, then you must obtain their explicit approval to collect, store and forward (or sell on) their data. Breaching GDPR regulations can be very expensive for a business, with a maximum fine of 20 million, or 4 per cent of annual global turnover for offenders.
Recently, a small UK company called TVA Group developed and patented a solution that collects large-scale live TV viewership data without infringing GDPR and consumer-protection laws.
Almost any Smart TV that is connected to the internet can utilise some of the interactive capabilities of today's digital TV transmission standards to tell TVA whether it is tuned to specific channels.
By collecting this data and processing it to identify regionalities, TVA is producing real-time dashboards and historic reports that show, very accurately, what is being watched, where, and to a precision measured in seconds. This can be associated with specific programmes or commercials on individual channels.
In order to comply with GDPR, the TVA solution cannot identify what was showing on any given TV set, but can tell you how many sets in a given geographical area were tuned in to a specific channel at a precise time.
This can detect how many people saw a particular programme or commercial or, for example, whether the moving of live sports coverage between channels to avoid a clash with the news resulted in a loss of viewers. Traditional panel-based ratings collection can only report this type of data many hours or days later, and as we have seen, with dubious accuracy.
Online TV viewing is clearly gaining in popularity, and data from a channel's streaming platforms can also be incorporated into TVA's data analytics and reporting engines to provide an even broader view of total viewership.
Despite their small size, this UK company is successfully producing accurate live TV ratings for over 50 clients in an industry that has been poorly served by the established providers.
No single solution can measure the entire range of ways in wh
Europe Stories
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
25/11/2025
Tracy Bonareri Onchoke, an investigative journalist from Kenya is the winner of the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2025.
The 26-year-old-sele...
25/11/2025
The best playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks bring a little extra magic to your daily routine. With new features and offerings, Spotify Premium delivers even mo...
25/11/2025
Comprehensive new research confirms what we already knew: Australian music fans love the quality, quantity, and access they have to new and local music on strea...
25/11/2025
Applicable Products
Objectives The purpose of this application note is to give a brief background on 5G (NR) wireless communication an explain the reason a SN...
25/11/2025
25. November 2025 Cecilia Pierron
Last week, we took part in OnDAM 2025, an educational conference fully dedicated to DAM, hosted by Activo Consulting. The ...
25/11/2025
25 Nov 2025
VEON's QazCode and MeetKai Sign Agreement to Power National LLM...
25/11/2025
UKTV has acquired a high-profile slate of US dramas from Paramount Global Conten...
25/11/2025
A symphony of genius, rivalry and vengeance, boldly reimagined from Peter Shaffe...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Cinematography World
Read the article
FilmLight has finalised the prestigious 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards jury and welcomed award-winning...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Prensario
Read the article
La serie fue dirigida por Juli n de Tavira, Rodrigo Santos, y David Leche Ruiz, con direcci n de fotograf a a...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Read the article
The awards, celebr...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Televisual
Read the article
Already live in Los Angeles and rolling out in New York and London, Nara gives producers, colourists, conform ...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Digital Media World
Read the article
ARTONE post-house in Tokyo is the first facility in Japan to integrate Baselight M, choosing its prec...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter
Read the article
Once hidden in post-production suites, the artists who make movies and TV shows look the way they ...
25/11/2025
Article courtesy of Deadline
Read the article
The Brutalist' & Bad Bunny's Nuevayol' Music Video Among 2025 FilmLight Colour Award Winners - Cam...
24/11/2025
Robyn made her long-awaited return to the stage this week, as Spotify and Acne Studios brought friends and top fans together for an unforgettable evening at the...
24/11/2025
After more than two years of redevelopment, FC Barcelona returned to its spiritual home on November 22, hosting Athletic Club in the first La Liga match at the ...
24/11/2025
24 Nov 2025
Kyivstar Launches Starlink Direct to Cell Satellite Connectivity in Ukraine Today's Launch Makes Ukraine the First Country in Europe Where Star...
24/11/2025
Ahead of the new ninth series of Dancing with the Stars, kicking off in January 2026, RT and Shinawil have announced the arrival of three new faces to the hit ...
21/11/2025
Fans have been counting down the days until the final theatrical chapter of Wicked is revealed. To celebrate the highly anticipated release of Wicked: For Good ...
21/11/2025
Last week, Spotify turned up the volume in Seoul with the return of Spotify Hous...
21/11/2025
Wiesbaden, November 21, 2025. The SGL Carbon site in Meitingen has reason to celebrate as one of its trainees received a special award. Elias Stemmer was honore...
21/11/2025
Sky Media's £2m award-winning sustainability initiative crowns its first charity as this year's standout changemakerFriday 21 November 2025
GoodGym nam...
21/11/2025
As COP30 draws to a close, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ...
20/11/2025
Your playlists are personal. They're the soundtracks to your road trips, your quiet mornings, and your biggest celebrations; collections of memories and dis...
20/11/2025
Spotify, uzun s redir zerine al t T rk m zik k lt r n n ikon haline gelmi ...
20/11/2025
For the first time, Spotify has teamed up with The Hollywood Reporter to cohost ...
20/11/2025
This year's ARIA Awards marked a turning point for Australian music, and Spotify was right at the heart of it. For the first time in the awards' nearly ...
20/11/2025
15 March 2012
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Cinegy and Vericom are pleased to announce the recent deployment of Cinegy Archive for production and as...
20/11/2025
6 September 2012
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
FIC Turkey supplies media content to Pay TV under Fox TV Channel brands in Turkey.
At the start of s...
20/11/2025
25 June 2014
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Last month VIVA finalized its Cinegy installation in order to produce and broadcast the World Cup Brazil ...
20/11/2025
1 October 2014
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
With 5 locations spread out around Baden-W rttemberg, Schw bisch Media required a scalable end to end s...
20/11/2025
27 April 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Cinegy, which develops and produces media asset management products that are used in flagship production...
20/11/2025
12 August 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 26 October 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...
20/11/2025
5 November 2015
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany 3 November 2015 - Cinegy, which develops and produces software technology for digital ...
Media Asset Capitals Jeremy Bancroft explains why the current model of measuring TV audiences is all wrong
