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ASTRA to add time-shifted viewers to weekly ratings in 2014

Andrew Maiden

Andrew Maiden

Subscription TV audiences are set to grow next year as the national body for pay-TV will start to include time-shifted viewing in its weekly ratings reports from January.

Andrew Maiden, CEO of the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) said the new format will be a more accurate measurement of viewers.

“The growth of time-shifted viewing means more and more subscription television content is watched outside linear broadcasts, meaning a new framework is required to more accurately report audience sizes,” he said.

Daily ratings reported by ASTRA will remain unchanged, however weekly audiences are expected to grow as the number of viewers watching through personal video recorders (PVRs) such as Foxtel’s IQ service are added into the weekly report released on Mondays.

ASTRA maintains around 81 per cent of Foxtel subscribers and just over half of free to air TV viewers have PVRs. In households with subscription TV, playback accounts for around eight per cent of all viewing, or just under eight hours a month.

Here’s an example of what the weekly ratings report will look like:

Astra weekly ratings report 2014

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