Last week saw the unveiling of CFlight, the new UK audience measurement tool developed by Sky in collaboration with Channel 4 and ITV, ahead of its scheduled launch in Q4 this year. Developed initially by NBCU, CFlight promises to deliver unified TV audience measurement capturing the majority of live, on-demand, and time-shifted commercial impacts and impressions across all platforms. CFlight will provide parity between measurement of both linear and broadcaster video-on-demand (BVoD) TV viewing by combining BARB panel-level data with census-level BVoD and account reach data from a large range of BVoD players, estimated to cover over 98% of UK broadcaster advertising (Source: Thinkbox)

This development will be welcomed by broadcasters, as well as media agencies for whom TV audience measurement plays a fundamental role in estimating the reach and impressions of TV ad campaigns. BARB plays a key role in this by capturing the linear aspect of total viewing using its panel of c.5k homes, but reporting of BVoD ad impressions remains fragmented between each broadcaster sales house. CFlight will improve upon the current system by creating a unified measurement of ad reach and impressions between all BVoD players, while showing the incremental effect of being used alongside linear TV ad campaigns. 

As consumer viewing behaviours shift toward on-demand, broadcasters have become increasingly reliant on digital ad sales to deliver growth. Revenue from BVoD advertising generated only 6% (£293m) of broadcaster TV advertising revenue, but by 2026 this is set to climb to 24% (£1bn) while annual linear TV ad revenue is set to fall by £1.173bn over the same period of time. CFlight’s delivery of reliable audience measurement metrics across all BVoD players is likely to accelerate this shift as media agencies seek to capitalise on the growing BVoD audience. Furthermore, the connected nature of BVoD creates the opportunity for advanced advertising features such as addressable advertising to a mass audience. These developments, as well as changing consumer behaviours, are set to make BVoD a more compelling advertising opportunity for media agencies and an increasingly important revenue stream for broadcasters.