With the measurement of streaming and static display content, AGF Videoforschung pursues a privacy-compliant hybrid measurement approach that combines valuable panel data with usage data from large-scale datasets. The panel data sources include the AGF Panel for CTV, desktop, and mobile usage, as well as the two Nielsen online panels for measuring desktop and mobile usage. Measurement on panelists’ devices is carried out using various measurement solutions (e.g., the AGF Router), which capture panelists’ digital usage and link it to census measurement data. The latter serves as an additional dataset that content providers integrate into the offerings to be measured. Standardized Nielsen measurement technologies are used, which enable comparable measurement of content in accordance with AGF requirements.

The hybrid measurement approach makes it possible, on the one hand, to measure the complete number of views of a digital content offering and, on the other hand, to collect information on which target groups have used the respective content.

• AGF Panel: With around 5,400 daily reporting, representatively selected households and more than 11,000 individuals living in these households, the AGF Panel is one of the largest panels worldwide for measuring TV, streaming, and static display usage. It covers the usage of individuals aged 3 years and older in households with at least one television set in use or a streaming-capable device. Through the use of the AGF Router, streaming and static display usage can also be measured within the AGF Panel.
• Desktop Panel: The desktop panel consists of around 10,650 monthly active participants. The target population is the German-speaking population of the Federal Republic of Germany aged 3 years and older who have used the internet via PC or laptop within the past four weeks.
• Mobile Panel: In addition, data from the mobile panel with around 10,650 monthly active panelists are used to measure streaming and static display usage on smartphones and tablets. The target population is the German-speaking population of the Federal Republic of Germany aged 18 years and older who have used the internet via smartphone or tablet within the past four weeks.
• Census Measurement: Census measurement is a technical measurement based on an integrated measurement solution within the offering to be measured. This solution collects usage data in a standardized and comparable manner and transmits it to a central server of the measurement service provider. Various measurement solutions are currently in use, all of which are based on standardized specifications and implementation requirements.

Fusion

The usage data collected via the hybrid measurement approach are transferred at device level to the online users in the AGF Panel based on various sociodemographic and usage-related external benchmarks. This enables streaming and static display usage to be analyzed in combination with TV usage using AGF’s established systems and to be applied for strategic high-level planning.

Calibration

Despite population representativeness and weighting, the usage levels measured by the panel do not always reach those of the census measurement. For example, census data also include usage at workplaces, which is not captured by the panel. For this reason, AGF Videoforschung, together with its service provider ANKORDATA, has developed a sophisticated statistical procedure to close this usage gap: calibration. In this process, the views, dwell times, and net reach figures transferred to the weighted AGF Panel are adjusted to the level of the census measurement using a statistical method.