Measurement firm ComScore is promising to offer viewership data for OTT platforms through a new solution based on the company’s Total Home Panel.
Total Home Panel is a single-source research platform for measuring cross-platform media consumption. The platform’s data is based on 12,500 households and 150,000 active devices per month.
Through what it’s calling a “breakthrough,” ComScore says it will now be able to offer OTT activity statistics for TV-connected devices including set-top boxes, streaming sticks and gaming consoles, as well as smart TVs.
ComScore OTT Intelligence subscribers will get access to metrics including household reach, audience size and demographics—along with usage metrics—for services like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and YouTube. The company said the data can be segmented for cord-cutting and cord-never homes, as well as those with a cable or satellite subscription.
"With very limited insight into viewing behavior across providers, the OTT market has largely been a black box," said Mike Rich, comScore vice president of emerging products, in a statement. "As more TV viewers look beyond traditional content sources, it's more important than ever for networks, content producers, device manufacturers and others in the ecosystem to understand this growing segment of cross-platform viewing."
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SVODs like Netflix and Amazon give regular updates about total subscriber numbers for their respective video platforms but are cagier when it comes to audience metrics for content.
Last year, Nielsen revealed some viewership numbers for series on Netflix by partnering with studios like Sony and Lionsgate which had opted in for Nielsen’s measurements. According to Media Life, those showed that series like “Orange is the New Black” drew similar audience sizes as HBO’s biggest series, and that Netflix generally draws a younger age demographic than the audience typically watching traditional TV.