Australia to Trade Ads with VOZ from 29th December

Australian media measurement body OzTAM has announced that the 'VOZ' Total TV Viewing system will become the country's ad trading currency from the end of this year.

The switchover is scheduled for 29th December 2024, and will allow trading on 'truly national, all-screen Total TV audiences for the first time'. The new VOZ service (Virtual Oz) is the result of collaboration and consultation between OzTAM and TV networks, Regional TAM, the Media Federation of Australia (MFA), Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA), the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Nielsen and third-party software suppliers.

Produced and delivered by Nielsen, VOZ's innovations include the provision of a national picture of viewing, bringing together OzTAM metro TV ratings data and Regional TAM TV ratings data with a new 'Rest of Australia' market into one database; the introduction of a currency for BVOD viewing including co-viewing on connected TVs; de-duplicated audience estimates across all broadcast (linear) TV and BVOD viewing, and de-duplicated trading on all viewing to all broadcaster content across all screens.

OzTAM says it will now conduct an extensive industry education and training program to ensure a smooth transition to VOZ as trading currency. CEO Karen Halligan states: 'It is with great excitement that we announce VOZ will be the official media currency from 29th December 2024. This significant milestone would not have been possible without extensive industry collaboration and the common desire for positive change from the networks, Regional TAM, the MFA, IMAA, AANA, Nielsen, our TPSS partners and other key suppliers. We would like to sincerely thank everyone for their efforts to realise VOZ as trading currency'. She adds: 'It's an extraordinary achievement that VOZ has been conceived, developed and built in Australia, delivering the clearest picture of viewing on all screen types ever. Australia is the only country in the world that has a product like VOZ, with fully integrated broadcast TV and granular BVOD measurement for both content and campaign performance. I would also like to congratulate the entire OzTAM team who have worked relentlessly and passionately on the development of VOZ'.

Web sites: www.oztam.com.au and www.virtualoz.com.au .