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Facebook re-releases My Screen report to ‘challenge your understanding of Australia’s video consumption habits’

The divisive report which sought to unlock the truth around how Australians actually consume video content has hit the market again, with consultancy PwC saying, despite the difficulties it has faced, the purpose of the report has not changed.

The new My Screen report, however, has a number of notable differences from the original, including the removal of both Nielsen and OzTAM data.

The new report looks a little different to the old one

The purpose of the report, according to PwC, was “to provide marketers with a perspective into video use in Australia and how to reach consumers via this medium”. Since its release, however, questions were raised over its methodology, use of Nielsen data, and the exclusion of consumers’ use of connected TVs.

It then disappeared from circulation as the Facebook-commissioned report was examined and “certain sub-segments of the data” were reviewed.

The second version of the report is now live on Facebook, and within its 60 pages, it addresses the TV networks’ issues with the original report ignoring connected TVs.

“In the original report, we were explicit about the absence of any connected television consumption data reported through the Nielsen dataset, as this is a stated limitation of Nielsen data. In the new report, we have used Roy Morgan data to report on Respondent Recall of consumption of BVOD services (last 7 days),” the new report reads.

“Roy Morgan data includes a measure of connected TV which is based on Respondent Recall. This provides a perspective of this part of the video viewing ecosystem. We look forward to the verification of connected TV consumption data recently released by the TV networks.”

Another key issue with the original report, according to some who read it, was how it used Nielsen data, in terms of differentiating text consumption and video consumption.

My Screen is back in circulation

On page nine of the original report, Nielsen Digital Panel data was used. This data subset looks at Australians accessing text content, rather than video consumption. Given the My Screen report attempted to uncover how Australians are spending their time consuming video content, Nielsen believes its Digital Content Ratings – which can be broken out into text consumption and video formats – should have been used.

After the report was pulled, Nielsen released a statement saying it was working with PwC to rectify the issue, and ensure “accuracy and transparency”.

The new report, however, has completely removed Nielsen data.

“Note to reader: We have removed Nielsen data because we were unable to use the data set that talked to total reach as opposed to video only,” the report says.

Later, the report adds: “The original report used data from a range of sources, including Nielsen’s Digital Panel, as this is one of multiple data sets which the industry uses. We removed the Nielsen data from the second report because we were unable to gain permission to use the Nielsen Digital Panel or the Digital Content Ratings data to describe total reach in the way we believe is most useful for marketers. Nielsen has also this week published Digital Content Ratings (Text) and Digital Content Ratings (Video). The two key data sets now used in this version of the report are from Roy Morgan and PwC’s own research panel. Any other source material has been referenced appropriately.”

OzTAM, the television measurement system owned by the TV networks, has also been removed as a data source.

“We have removed OzTAM data as we do not have permission to use their data for this report,” the report explains.

Despite its numerous challenges and changes, both Facebook and PwC stand by the report.

“It’s almost impossible for anyone to build a picture of what consumers are actually watching, or where, thanks to splintered and incomplete data sets, and a lack of measurement on the growing number of ad-free video platforms. So we decided to help further develop the conversation, and commissioned PwC to conduct extensive consumer research into the Australian video consumption landscape to help us,” Facebook said.

“The report aims to provide marketers with comprehensive analysis of the landscape, considering where and how Australians are consuming content, the content they’re consuming, and what this means for marketers. The results of My Screen: Australian Video Consumption report show it may well be time for marketers to look again at some basic assumptions.”

The four key takeaways of the report, according to Facebook are:

  1. Streaming platforms are taking away commercial video hours
  2. BVOD is not a genuine competitor to SVOD in terms of audience
  3. Shifts are happening across all age groups
  4. Mobile is growing rapidly, as are mobile-first platforms

You can read the full (new) report here. 

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