(Discovery/Getty Images)
Discovery has put forward a new approach for audience measurement during Eurosport’s coverage of the Winter Olympics.
Three metrics will give the broadcaster a measure of what audiences are watching and how they are watching it.
Video: The number of videos viewed and the volume of viewing expressed in hours across Discovery’s owned and operated platforms, including free-to-air, pay-TV, streaming services, digital, apps and social media, in addition to traditional audience data from its broadcast partners throughout Europe.
Users: The sum of total users across Discovery’s owned and operated platforms, including free-to-air, pay TV, streaming services, digital, apps and social media, in addition to traditional audience data from its broadcast partners throughout Europe.
Engagement: The number of likes, shares and comments across all of Discovery’s digital and social media properties, covering all platforms.
“Clearly the way people consume content and particularly big events has evolved, which is why we need to bolster traditional measurement methods and expand the metrics of television to capture Total Video – the new TV,” said Jean-Briac Perrette, Discovery Networks International President and CEO. “The Olympic Games is the biggest event in the world and therefore is the best testing ground for studying video consumption.”
Discovery will be working with Publicis Media’s Sport and Entertainment division. The approach will be to de-duplicate audiences through a post-Games survey measuring people’s consumption of the Olympic Winter Games across multiple screens and platforms, without double counting of people.
Chris Jones, Global Lead, Research & Evaluation at Publicis Media Sports & Entertainment, explains: “It neatly meshes data from different sources. Importantly, official audited data from television and online measurement systems are at the heart of the calculation but clever use of survey research allows us to understand the cross-over in people who connect with the Games via both television and digital/social platforms meaning we can remove any double counting and determine the true pan-European audience reach of an event for the first time.”
The move has the support of International Olympic Committee, which said the broadcaster was setting a new standard.
