The specific impact of introducing out-of-home TV audience measurement is described by Wojciech Kowalczyk in an interview with Atmedia expert talks, based on the Polish experience.
The introduction of out-of-home audience measurement has affected overall TV viewership in Poland. In the general target group of viewers aged 4+, viewership increased by 8%, and in the commercial target group of viewers aged 16–59, it increased by as much as 11%. However, the largest increase is evident among young viewers aged 14–29. Thanks to the inclusion of out-of-home viewing measurements, television viewership among this group increased by 25%. This was stated in the second part of the expert interviews Atmedia expert talks by Wojciech Kowalczyk, an expert on the Polish television market, deputy director of the advertising and marketing department of the public television group TVP and co-owner of ScreenLovers, a service focused on video and advertising. The interview was conducted by Michaela Suráková, managing director of Atmedia.
‘Younger viewers spend more time away from home, live in dormitories, often visit friends and are generally not so tied to one place,’ says Kowalczyk, explaining the higher share of out-of-home viewing in this target group.
Viewing outside the home is most significantly influenced by sporting events and special broadcasts during Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations. ‘We observe a higher share of viewing outside the home for thematic television channels,’ adds W. Kowalczyk, noting that this mainly concerns sports, music and children's television stations. For example, viewership of sports channels increased by about 25% thanks to out-of-home viewing measurements, children's channels by 20%, and one of the Polish music stations even recorded a 30% increase. ‘However, there are also stations where the increase is minimal, almost zero,’ says Wojciech Kowalczyk, adding that these are typically lifestyle, film, series or news channels. For example, thanks to the inclusion of out-of-home viewing, daily news viewing figures are up by around 5 to 7%.
The Czech market will expand to include out-of-home measurement from 2026. The contract for the implementation of out-of-home TV audience measurement was signed in April by the Association of Television Organisations (ATO) and ResSolution Group, which participated in the tender together with technology company DCore Software. The aim of mobile TV audience measurement is to measure TV viewing outside the home, i.e. in second homes, restaurants or public venues.
You can watch the interview and read the transcript below.
How did total TV viewership change after the inclusion of out-of-home viewing?
The first data for out-of-home viewing, which we began measuring in 2021, increased total TV viewership by an average of 6%. In the commercial target audience of viewers aged 16–59, the increase was as high as 7%.
However, for some reason, these figures later declined. Perhaps this was due to fine-tuning of the methodology, or perhaps other factors were at play. To be honest, I don't know the exact cause. In 2023, the increase in total TV viewing was only 4% instead of 6%, and in the commercial target group it fell from 7% to 6%.
Interestingly, among younger viewers aged 14–29, total TV viewing increased by 14% thanks to the inclusion of out-of-home viewing. This makes sense, as younger viewers spend more time outside the home, live in dormitories, often visit friends and are generally not so tied to one place. This is precisely why the influence of out-of-home viewing is higher in this target group.
The initial increase in the general target group initially fell to 4%, but then rose again following an audit of the methodology by the auditing company CESP, which brought about a change in the definition of home. As a result, we are currently recording an increase in total viewership in the general target group 4+ of 8%, in the commercial target group it is even 11%, and among viewers aged 14–29 we are talking about 25%.
I assume that the inclusion of out-of-home viewing did not affect all types of television stations and programmes in the same way. What differences have you observed?
Exactly – the impact varies depending on the type of station and the genre of the programme. We see the most significant impact on sports events or holiday broadcasts during Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations. For example, viewership of the European Football Championship in Germany on our TV stations increased by 15% thanks to out-of-home viewing measurement. And in the case of the Poland vs. France match, it even increased by 18%.
However, we do not only see increased viewership for sports. One example is the film Home Alone, which is traditionally shown at Christmas – thanks to out-of-home viewing measurements, its viewership increased by 17%. We recorded an 11% increase for the New Year's Eve programme on TVP.
On the other hand, the impact is smaller for daily news programmes, ranging between 5 and 7%. In my opinion, this corresponds to the natural share of viewers who spend more time away from home – for example, people commuting to work or so-called patchwork families, where children and parents commute between multiple households.
If we look at specific television stations, we see a higher share of viewing outside the home for thematic television channels compared to large free-to-air stations. We define large stations as those with a viewing share of over 5% or 10%.
For example, the viewership of the music channel Nuta Gold increased by 30% thanks to out-of-home viewing. For children's channels, the figure is around 20%, and for sports channels around 25%. In general, smaller thematic channels – whether music, sports or children's channels – have a higher share of out-of-home viewing than others. However, there are also channels where the increase is minimal, almost zero. These are typically lifestyle, film, series or news channels.
Do you observe any seasonality in out-of-home viewing?
Yes, but the fluctuations are not significant. In summer, the share of out-of-home viewing tends to be slightly higher, while in autumn and winter it tends to decline. The share of out-of-home viewing in total TV viewing is relatively stable.
Does the inclusion of out-of-home viewing measurements also mean more GRPs?
Yes, the 6-7% increase I mentioned does not only apply to viewing figures, but is also reflected in the number of GRPs.
Source: mediaguru.cz
