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Playbooks · Cross-media measurement

Track TV's share of total viewing across platforms

This job produces a share-of-total-viewing figure for a platform or channel across every screen it's measured on, expressed as a percentage of all video/TV minutes consumed in the market. It feeds renewal and rate negotiations, upfront allocation decisions, and any pitch where the client needs to prove reach beyond their own ratings.

What you need first

  • Total market video/TV minutes for the target demo and period, from the currency measurement source (e.g. AGF Videoscope, BARB Dovetail, Médiamétrie)
  • Platform or channel's own minutes viewed across every measured device (linear, BVOD/app, connected TV, mobile/desktop) from the same currency source
  • Duplication/de-dup methodology note from the measurement provider, describing how simulcast or second-screen viewing is counted
  • Device-to-platform reconciliation table, so minutes from each screen map to the right owner
  • Target demo definition and reporting period matching what the client actually buys against
  • Named competitor set for benchmarking, if the share is going into a pitch

The procedure

  1. Pull total market video minutes for the target demo and period from the currency source, producing the denominator.
  2. Pull the platform's raw minutes viewed on every measured screen for the same demo and period, producing the unadjusted numerator.
  3. Reconcile duplication by subtracting minutes counted on more than one device for the same viewing session, producing a de-duplicated numerator.
  4. Divide de-duplicated platform minutes by total market minutes, producing the share of viewing percentage.
  5. Break the share out by screen (linear, BVOD, app, mobile), producing a mix that shows where the share comes from.
  6. Benchmark the current share against the platform's prior period and against named competitors, producing trend and competitive position.
  7. Note any platforms the currency source doesn't measure, producing a caveat line so the client doesn't read the figure as true total video.

Worked through with numbers

Total market minutes for adults 16-49, one week: 1,250,000,000. Platform X: linear 32,000,000 + BVOD/app 6,500,000 = 38,500,000 raw minutes. Duplication check flags 900,000 minutes double-counted from panelists captured on both the linear simulcast and the app. Net platform minutes: 38,500,000 - 900,000 = 37,600,000. Share = 37,600,000 / 1,250,000,000 = 3.0%. Prior week the same calculation gave 2.8%, and named competitor Y sits at 4.1%. Read it as: Platform X commands 3.0% of all 16-49 video viewing this week, up 0.2 points on last week but still 1.1 points behind Y, and BVOD is a growing slice of that share (17% of X's own total, up from 15%).

Where it goes wrong

  • Match numerator and denominator to the same measurement source. Blending platform-reported streaming minutes with a panel-based market total invalidates the share because the two systems count differently.
  • Apply the duplication correction every time a channel simulcasts through an app. Skipping it overstates share by counting the same viewing twice.
  • Use the demo the client actually buys against, not the total population. Swapping one for the other moves the percentage without any change in real viewing.
  • Label the result for what the source actually measures. If YouTube or other platforms sit outside the panel, call this a share of measured TV/BVOD viewing, not total video.

How to know it is right

Cross-check the platform's own device-level minutes against its internal analytics for the same period and confirm they move in the same direction within normal panel variance before the share goes out.

Terms used

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