Measuring TV Viewership with 18 Million Set-Top Boxes from Three IPTV Providers... Enhancing Broadcast Value

Overcoming the Limitations of TV Ratings with the 'TV Index'

Specifically Measuring Channel Reach and Viewing Hours

A plan has been introduced to utilize household set-top box viewership data collected by the three major Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) providers, in order to specifically measure the reach and viewing hours of each channel.

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On September 15, the Korea IPTV Broadcasting Association held a session at its office in Chungjeong Building, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, under the theme "Changes in Domestic Media Consumption and Directions for TV Index Utilization." The association discussed the necessity of data-driven television viewership measurement and shared future directions for the use of the TV Index.

Lee Seoyong, team leader at IGAWorks and the main presenter, explained that with the rise in the number of TV channels and the diversification of content consumption through online video services (OTT) and YouTube, viewing behavior has become more individualized and fragmented. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the actual scale and value of television usage with various metrics.

According to the association, current TV ratings in Korea are estimated based on viewing records from about 4,000 households. In contrast, the TV Index integrates and analyzes data from approximately 18 million set-top boxes operated by the three major IPTV providers, allowing measurement of channel-by-channel reach and viewing time.

Data from the TV Index for August this year show that KBS had a viewership rating of 1.0292%, but the number of devices reached was 22,458,296, and the total viewing time amounted to 234,990,047 hours. This means that the TV Index can provide alternative indicators to reveal the audience size hidden behind the roughly 1% rating.

Mr. Lee stated, "To more concretely demonstrate the value of broadcasting, it is necessary to consider not only viewership ratings, but also actual reach and viewing hours." He added, "Such data can be leveraged by broadcasters and Program Providers (PP) to inform their content and programming strategies." Furthermore, he anticipated that by pairing set-top boxes with mobile devices in the future, it would become possible to connect TV advertising viewership data with mobile behavioral data, resulting in a more multidimensional understanding of audiences.

The association plans to continuously expand the scope of TV Index utilization. Yoo Yonghwa, President of the Korea IPTV Broadcasting Association, commented, "As media consumption habits become more diverse, the importance of data to measure the value of broadcasting from various perspectives is increasing."He added, "By leveraging the vast viewership data possessed by IPTV, we will more specifically illustrate the value of broadcast content and channels, and broaden data utilization across the media industry as a whole."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.