science

OzTAM

OzTAM is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand OzTAM rather than just read about it. In short: OzTAM is an Australian audience measurement research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly and equally owned by the Seven Network (Southern Cross Media Group), the Nine Network (Nine Entertainment) and Network 10 (Paramount ANZ), and is the official source of television ratings data for all metropolitan television in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as subscri…

Key takeaways

OzTAM belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect OzTAM to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of OzTAM from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

OzTAM is an Australian audience measurement research firm that collects and markets television ratings data. It is jointly and equally owned by the Seven Network (Southern Cross Media Group), the Nine Network (Nine Entertainment) and Network 10 (Paramount ANZ), and is the official source of television ratings data for all metropolitan television in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as subscription services (such as Foxtel) on a national basis. OzTAM was created in 1999 after the Seven and Ten Networks led a call for a re-tendering of the contract to provide audience ratings. Executives from both networks were concerned that the previous ratings service did not accurately reflect viewing levels for their channels. Prior to OzTAM, the dominant metropolitan ratings company was Nielsen Media Research. The two companies competed for a short time, before Nielsen pulled out. Nielsen continues to be active in some regional areas. There are ten official survey periods, of four weeks each, covering 40 weeks of the year, excluding 2 weeks over Easter and 10 weeks over summer. In total, OzTAM measures ratings from 3,500 homes, with 950 homes in Sydney, 900 in Melbourne, 650 in Brisbane and 500 each in Adelaide and Perth, with these ratings commonly referred to as 'five city metro ratings'. A further 2,000 homes outside these five cities are measured by Regional TAM, and an additional 1,200 homes monitor viewing of subscription television in Australia. Nielsen are contracted to provide the audience measurement services to both OzTAM and Regional TAM having previously operated their own measurement service. The Nine Network, traditionally the ratings leader in Australia for many years, carried over its dominance into the OzTam era, winning six consecutive ratings seasons between 2001 and 2006 inclusive. Between 2007 and 2018 inclusive, it dropped to second position behind the Seven Network, before again reclaiming the mantle as the most-watched television network in Australia in 2019. In 2017, the metropolitan homes measured will increase to 5,250, Regional TAM homes will increase to over 3,000 and subscription viewing homes to 2,120. Additionally, OzTAM's renewed its contract with Nielsen as a sub-contractor through until 2020.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with OzTAM

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what OzTAM claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to OzTAM before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about OzTAM ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of OzTAM

In research: OzTAM appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses OzTAM in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: OzTAM is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Audience measurement, Australian television ratings, Companies established in 1999, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for OzTAM outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study OzTAM in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what OzTAM means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain OzTAM out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is OzTAM in simple terms?

Why does OzTAM matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study OzTAM?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on OzTAM.