1705335696
Last Thursday evening, a day of impressive premieres on free-to-air television, an average of more than four million Spaniards watched a prime-time program on the main channels. The series Entre Tierras won with a share of 14.5% compared to GH Dúo (12.7%) and Bake Off: Famous in the Oven (9.8%). This data was obtained from 14,000 people in 5,720 households, representing the entire Spanish population in the television audience. Every day they highlight which programs and networks are leading, which have failed, and where…
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Last Thursday evening, a day full of impressive premieres on free-to-air television, an average of more than four million Spaniards watched a prime-time program on the main channels. The series Entre Tierras won with a share of 14.5% compared to GH Dúo (12.7%) and Bake Off: Famous in the Oven (9.8%). This data was obtained from 14,000 people in 5,720 households, representing the entire Spanish population in the television audience. Every day, they highlight which programs and networks are leading, which have failed, and where advertisers are most interested in investing money.
With its audiometers, devices connected to a remote control that show each resident of the house when they are watching television, the company Kantar Media has been measuring television viewership in Spain for more than 30 years. Your data is considered official according to the television industry consensus. The measurement system has not changed since then. Although small deviations have been introduced, such as the inclusion of guests, second homes or the expansion of the panel from 4,800 to 5,720 homes in 2020, the mechanism is the same. And it is identical all over the world.
More information
Nielsen began using audiometers in the 1940s and they soon became established as television audience meters. In Spain, the same company has been responsible for audience measurement since 1993, then called Sofres and since 2010 renamed Kantar Media. The advantage of audiometers over other studies that use surveys is that they allow us to have a permanent sample in which evolution and trends are visible, as Mariayun Martín de los Ríos, commercial director of Kantar Media in Spain, explains. Households can be represented on this panel for a maximum of seven years and can be removed either voluntarily because they have exceeded the seven years, because they do not report their consumption correctly, or because Kantar Media needs to cover other variables and represent households of other types that apply Adapt to changes in the population. Martín de los Ríos confirms that there is an annual rotation of 25% in the committee.
Consumption changes
The way to measure television audience has not changed, but the way audiences watch television has changed significantly. Going back to last Thursday, many viewers didn’t want or couldn’t stay up until 1am to find out who was eliminated from Bake Off, so they watched the show on Friday at a time of their choosing. Others stayed behind and wanted to know what happens next with Entre Tierras and went to Atresplayer, where it is already finished, to see more episodes. Others were not convinced by any of these suggestions, preferring to rewatch the OT Gala that Amazon Prime Video broadcast last Monday or watch “The Snow Society” or “Berlin” on Netflix. What happens to these increasingly numerous spectators?
A family watches Movistar Plus+ on Demand on television.Jaime Villanueva
Since February 2015, Kantar has also been measuring time-shifted viewership, i.e. that which appears on television in the seven days after a program is broadcast. It also measures the “other uses of the television”, which include the activities carried out with this device that are not related to watching traditional channels: playing video games, listening to the radio, watching platforms… But despite the fact, that it is a booming consumption , still does not provide data on how much Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ or Prime Video is watched in Spain.
Just because Kantar doesn’t publish this data doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it. Since 2022, in addition to traditional audiometers, they have also been installing other devices connected to the home router (technically Focal Meter, compared to the People Meter that measures classic television) with which they can determine the consumption of online videos on platforms. More than 3,000 devices are already installed in Spain, measuring the 24,000 devices in these households. The system installed on the router measures all devices in the house. In this way, explains Juan Carlos Sánchez, marketing and communications director of Kantar Media in Spain, one can determine the share of screen that Netflix reaches at a given time compared to traditional channels. Of course, they cannot know what content is currently being viewed: for that they would need the cooperation of the platforms.
The technology is already installed and the data is available. So why aren’t they published? “We depend on the consensus of the television industry. We want to work with our customers and be the ones driving the market, but we have to go hand in hand with the industry,” explains Sánchez. The consensus between television broadcasters, media agencies and advertisers to publish traditional audience data has not yet been achieved through the inclusion of the platforms. “Our goal is to be the official video measurement device in Spain and we have the technology to do it. We just need a consensus in the industry on how we report this data, what form it takes and how we separate consumption…” continues Sánchez. How long it will take to reach this agreement is a question that no one can answer. “Everyone presents some barriers, traditional channels and platforms. Some have no interest in others entering. Others are not interested in being measured by third parties because then they don’t look as big as they seem…” reflects Juan Carlos Sánchez.
In 2024, Kantar plans to make progress in audience measurement in several directions. On the one hand, it’s about bringing a product to market to better understand digital video consumption. And on the other hand, they are integrating more data from census sources and connected TVs to effectively expand their household panel and thus more accurately measure consumption on smaller channels.
Netflix, the leading payment platform for digital video consumption in Spain
Just as Kantar measures television usage, GfK DAM has been the official digital consumption meter in Spain since January 2022. The data they can make available to their customers – agencies, media as well as advertisers and brands – also includes the display of payment platforms. Compared to the barometers and consumption studies on platforms carried out by different consultancies through interviews, the information is obtained by surveying the digital consumption of 25,000 Spaniards, representing the total population, in real time, explains David Sánchez, director of digital solutions at GfK. DAM. This is done through software that is installed on computers and an app on the devices. As with homes with audiometers, those who agree to provide their data will be rewarded through a points system that can be exchanged for gifts and experiences.
According to GfK DAM data, payment platforms saw a significant increase in their average daily audience last year. Netflix went from 2,699,000 average daily unique users in November 2022 to 2,773,000 in November 2023. Greater growth can be seen across the remaining platforms, with Prime Video (from 1,482,000 to 1,992,000), HBO Max (from 261,000 to 718,000) or Filmin (from 1,482,000 to 1,992,000) should be highlighted. from 55,000 to 91,000). As of November 2023, Netflix was the leader with 12,864,790 unique users per month. That means, according to GfK DAM data, 32% of the Spanish population accessed Netflix at some point in November. Prime Video was very close with 12,206,849 unique users. The top 5 most visited platforms are completed by Disney+ (7,203,000 unique users in November), HBO Max (5,719,000) and Movistar Plus+ (5,502,000).
The integration of options with advertising on the platforms could be a factor that leads to greater openness of streaming to third-party audience measurement: advertisers must now trust the first-hand data that the platforms provide about their consumption and the most viewed data deliver in them. “Television data has always been public, we advocate that everyone be in the same league,” says Juan Carlos Sánchez of Kantar Media. “I would also like advertisers and agencies to push that their data does not have to be believed, but that an independent third party validates the target group of their campaigns,” he concludes.
You can follow EL PAÍS Television on X or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Get the TV newsletter
All the latest news from broadcasters and platforms, with interviews, news and analyses, as well as recommendations and reviews from our journalists
APÚNTATE
#television #audiences #measured #Spain #years #consensus #inclusion #platforms