Australian Television Ratings - Organisations

Organisations

There are three main organisations, OzTAM (metropolitan areas), Regional TAM (regional areas serviced by three commercial television networks, and in areas with two commercial networks) and Nielsen Media Research Australia, that measure television ratings in Australia.

They are:

• OzTAM is an Australian television ratings research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly owned by the Seven Network, the Nine Network and Network Ten, and is the official source of television ratings data for all metropolitan television in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth as well as subscription services (such as Foxtel) on a national basis.
• Regional TAM is a research firm that provides television ratings for regional television markets with three commercial television operators.
• Nielsen Media Research Australia is an American based firm that measures media audiences for areas that remain un-aggregated, and of which are today known as diary markets. Nielsen Media Research began as a division of ACNielsen, a marketing research firm. In 1996, Nielsen Media Research was split off into an independent company, and in 1999 was purchased by the Dutch conglomerate VNU. In 2001, VNU also purchased ACNielsen, thereby bringing both companies under the same corporate umbrella.