Netflix ad tier to join Australia's official TV audience currency in February 2027

The OzTAM deal

Netflix's advertising tier will be measured alongside broadcast television and broadcaster streaming services in VOZ, Australia's official TV audience currency, from 1 February 2027. The multi-year agreement is between Netflix and OzTAM and was developed with Nielsen. Media buyers will be able to analyse Netflix ad-supported viewing using the same metrics and breakdowns by market, device and demographics as existing television data.

The agreement covers Netflix's advertising tier only. It does not bring all Netflix viewing into VOZ's detailed reporting. Broadcast and BVOD currency data will continue to be released daily. Netflix ad-tier data will be delivered monthly and cover the preceding month. The first release in February 2027 will report January 2027 viewing.

From 1 February 2027, the industry will get access to content-level Netflix ad-tier viewing through accredited third-party software tools. OzTAM said it will provide industry education and support throughout 2027.

Why buyers get a new benchmark

Netflix joined OzTAM's measurement ecosystem in May 2025, becoming the first global subscription video-on-demand platform to have its Australian viewing independently measured by the country's official TV ratings provider. The first phase put Netflix into OzTAM's Streamscape report. The February 2027 integration is the second phase, feeding ad-tier data into VOZ.

The deal gives media buyers an independent check on Netflix's own audience numbers. In November 2025, Netflix switched to Monthly Active Viewers as its headline ad metric and claimed 4 million in Australia. Mediaweek reported that the figure combines ad-viewing data with Netflix's own estimates of household audience size. OzTAM's measurement will give buyers a separate benchmark against those claims.

The first Streamscape numbers

The first Streamscape breakdown, published alongside the deal, separates Netflix's advertising and ad-free viewing on connected TVs for the third quarter of 2026. Across July to September, Netflix accounted for 19.7% of streaming minutes on connected TVs in Australia. Its ad tier contributed 5.1%, and the ad-free tier accounted for 14.6%.

Ad-hoc-news reported YouTube captured 23.2% on the same measure. The ad tier's 5.1% was comparable to the total streaming shares of Prime Video at 6.1% and Disney at 6.0%. These figures measure shares of streaming viewing on connected TVs. They are not shares of all television and video viewing, or measures of advertising revenue.

The stakes for Netflix

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Netflix had said advertising revenue was on track to roughly double to about $3 billion in 2026. Ad-hoc-news reported it later cut its 2026 advertising revenue guidance to about $2.7 billion from roughly $3 billion, citing softer viewing participation and delays in rolling out new ad tools.

The Wall Street Journal has flagged stagnating viewing hours as a drag on Netflix's advertising ambitions. Wells Fargo reckons average viewing time per Netflix subscriber has fallen roughly 9% over the past three years, and expects advertising to account for more than a third of revenue growth in 2027. Ad-hoc-news reported that the OzTAM agreement addresses measurement, not those operational snags.

Karen Halligan, OzTAM chief executive, said independent, people-based measurement gives an objective view of actual viewing behaviour. She said the methodology lays the groundwork for other subscription streaming platforms to be represented individually in OzTAM's reporting in future.