Mediaweek has been tracking the impact of the VOZ TV viewing data since it was introduced in 2021 and this week we hear from Seven’s national sales director, Natalie Harvey.
Virtual Australia, or ‘VOZ’, brings together broadcast viewing on TV sets and connected devices to provide all-screen, cross-platform planning and reporting for the television industry.
“VOZ has proven that Australians are passionate viewers and increasingly watch content via catch-up and live streaming services such as 7plus,” Harvey told Mediaweek.
Seven’s Natalie Harvey
She explained to Mediaweek that since the introduction of VOZ, broadcasters have been able to show genuine incremental reach across a combined broadcast and BVOD audience.
“As well we get a deeper insight into campaign performance from a total audience perspective rather than just the traditional siloed platform approach. VOZ also enables us to identify which shows perform the strongest on catch-up and which content performs the strongest in the moment or live.
“It’s not really a surprise but the heavy BVOD viewing of younger audiences and being able to prove our reach capability beyond linear broadcast television in premium, engaging content has also been a strong insight.”
One of the big attractions for buyers seeking more information is an analysis of the data of a truly national number for the first time.
“The concept of ‘when watched’ is finally being adopted over ‘what watched’ and VOZ is proving this out.”
Some of Seven’s key programming that has generated audience insights includes SAS Australia.
“Being able to report de-duplicated numbers has shown us how big the appetite is for this genre of show,” said Harvey.
“We have seen on average a 21% increase in total people through BVOD on each episode and a 54% uplift in people 18 to 39 – which has been great for our commercial partners.
“The BVOD numbers will continue to grow as the competition for people’s time intensifies. We saw massive numbers throughout the Winter Olympics after the huge success of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. In July we have the biggest cross-platform and convergent opportunity for clients in the Commonwealth Games. The event offers the opportunity for brands to take an audience-led approach rather than that traditional siloed approach I mentioned previously. Our big tentpole programs will also continue to drive adoption of 7plus with The Voice and Big Brother launching post-Easter.
“With a focus on promoting 7plus into the regional markets, we are expecting to see significant growth in overall audience, particularly for the increasingly valuable regional audiences. We have already seen a 75% increase in daily devices from January to March this year. Partly due to the Winter Olympics, partly due to the increase in regional viewing.”
Harvey and her team are working on several initiatives for 2022.
“We’re testing how to best repackage programs and events to drive more viewing on 7plus. A good example of this in 2021 was SAS Uncut – an uncensored live or on-demand version of the show.
“We also have a very strong focus on convergence for advertiser campaigns. Evolving the model in how we deliver a sponsorship or general audience-based buys across all screens and all markets. Clients are leaning in hard and I believe convergence will accelerate quickly this year. Breaking free of traditional metrics and working in a more evolved, audience-led approach.
“To help clients and agencies navigate our full ecosystem from an audience perspective and leverage the myriad of data available, we appointed Alex Tansley to the role of head of converged audience trading. He has been working with our internal teams as well as agencies on developing different models of trading.”
Seven is also sifting through VOZ data looking at specific dayparts.
Harvey: “The VOZ data is very much genre-driven, viewers like their news and sport live but they are happy to catch up within a week on their favourite drama and entertainment shows like Home and Away, The Voice and Big Brother.”
When asked what this all means for advertisers and how they could be leveraging all this information, Harvey replied: “Advertisers have been demanding a measurement currency that provides a more holistic view of audiences across screens and now they will have that with VOZ. VOZ stitches together broadcast and BVOD viewing to get a holistic picture of content consumption and campaign performance across devices. It proves the incremental nature of BVOD audiences on top of broadcast, particularly against younger audiences that can be difficult for marketers to reach in high quality, highly engaging and brand-safe environments.
“For many viewers, there is no difference between linear broadcast or watching a live stream through a connected TV. They are not saying they are ‘watching 7News on a connected TV’ but just that they are watching 7News. However, most advertisers are treating the delivery vehicle of content very separately; a traditional channel-first approach rather than a viewer-first approach. We do believe this approach will evolve quickly to being more converged, more channel-agnostic.”
Harvey has a background in television and media agencies. Early in her career she spent time with Mediacom and later moved to UM and worked across a mix of clients including the Australian Government, Pfizer, Boots, and Meat and Livestock Australia. After relocating to Brisbane with her family, Harvey took up the position of general manager at UM Brisbane, working with clients including McDonald’s and Tourism and Events Queensland.
Her career has been bookended by stints at Seven though. First as an office assistant to the CEO. In Brisbane Harvey departed UM and re-joined Seven where she created the first combined SWM sales team, bringing Pacific Magazines and Seven together, before she moved back to Sydney in 2017 to take up the role of Sydney sales director and was promoted into the network sales director role in 2018.
Harvey was most recently promoted to national sales director in March 2022.
See also:
VOZ super users: How Total TV data is revolutionising TV buying