Continued integration of Kayo Sports provides full picture of the Foxtel Group’s digital streaming sports audience
Sydney – 29 June 2023- The Foxtel Group and OzTAM today announced that Kayo Sports viewing is now reported in OzTAM’s Video Player Measurement (VPM) service.
This follows the continued integration of Kayo Sports into VPM and enhances the established measurement and reporting to Foxtel Go and Foxtel Now, delivering a comprehensive picture of the Foxtel Group’s growing streaming sporting audiences.
Foxtel Media CEO Mark Frain said: “There has been a huge shift in the way audiences watch sport and entertainment content in recent years. This is a major step forward to have Kayo Sports’ OzTAM estimates sit alongside their reporting of viewership of our linear Foxtel subscription TV service as 66% of our more than 4.6 million subscribers are now streaming customers.
“Since launching in 2018 Kayo Sports has grown rapidly to more than 1.3 million subscribers, driven through the Foxtel Group’s long-term rights to Australia’s most popular and premium sports, and the magic of our Fox Sports coverage. Kayo Sports delivers fans an Olympics-size choice in sports every weekend and supports over 300 live events each week.
“The growth in Kayo Sports subscribers is continuing, up 10% year-on-year, which reflects the breadth of choice for sports fans and the return of our popular winter sports, including the AFL, NRL, Supercars, F1 and Netball.
“After a year of working closely with OzTAM, it is good news that Kayo Sports will now be integrated with OzTAM’s VPM collection service, providing a true picture of the strong growth we have seen in our digital subscribers and viewership across all our platforms.
“A robust audience measurement system is a critical tenet of television advertising – it is a welcome development that OzTAM is now fully capturing our growing digital sports audiences.”
OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer said: “Kayo Sports’ progressive integration with VPM is a great step forward for the Foxtel Group and OzTAM, and brings us one step closer to Kayo Sports being included in the VOZ Total TV database.
“This also supports OzTAM’s efforts to provide the most comprehensive and accurate audience estimates possible for the industry.”
OzTAM’s VPM service includes Kayo Sports from the start of Q2 2023, and OzTAM is working with the Foxtel Group to include Kayo Sports in the VPM reports on OzTAM’s website.
Foxtel Group now captures more than 52% share of commercial BVOD viewing. With the integration of Kayo Sports data, 29 of the top 30 BVOD programmes (including live and Video On Demand) in May were from Foxtel Group. The start of the winter sports season has seen growth in the total Foxtel Group streaming audience, which includes Kayo Sports, Foxtel Go and Foxtel Now, for NRL (rounds 1-15) and AFL (rounds 1-13) up 13% and 15% year-on-year respectively.
Going forward, viewing to Foxtel Group internet-delivered services in non-set-top box homes (i.e., those homes that receive Foxtel services only via internet) will now be reported exclusively in the OzTAM VPM reporting service.