Television and video have never been more dynamic. With the widespread availability of connected TVs and other digital devices, today’s ecosystem consists of linear TV, streaming platforms, and on demand viewing, continuously expanding how Canadians watch video. Audiences can move seamlessly across screens, devices, and environments—all throughout their day.
With this evolution in viewing behaviour, the approaches used to understand it must evolve too. Delivering accurate, stable, and representative television and video audience insight in this environment requires more than scale alone or panels in isolation. It calls for a Hybrid Measurement approach that reflects how television and video are truly experienced today. This article builds on our earlier Introduction to Hybrid Measurement and follows our second post on how the approach applies to Radio Measurement.
Traditionally, the industry has relied on people-based panels to track who was watching and when. These panels are still the backbone of TV and video measurement because they are transparent, reliable, and give detailed information about who is watching.
At the same time, today’s television landscape is increasingly:
Fragmented, with viewing spread across a growing number of channels, platforms, and services
Multi-screened, extending beyond the living room to mobile devices and secondary screens
On demand, reducing reliance on fixed schedules and appointment viewing
As people watch TV and video across more platforms and through different devices, it becomes harder to get detailed and consistent measurement. Simply adding more people to measurement panels helps, but it’s overly expensive and still doesn’t fully capture all the niche or long tail viewing that happens as well as the ability to understand in detail the viewing behaviour of smaller target groups.
Big data sources—such as return path data from set-top-boxes and smart TVs—offer valuable volume and consistency. However, on their own, these data operate at the device level and do not provide the demographic and behavioural context required to understand who is watching or how viewing occurs within households. They also cannot distinguish whether a person is actively in front of the TV or if the set-top box has simply been left on while the television itself is off, limiting their ability to reflect true audience engagement.
Hybrid Measurement brings these complementary strengths together. By integrating people-based panel data with big data, Hybrid Measurement enables a more complete and resilient view of television consumption—one that balances scale with human context.
This approach allows measurement systems to:
Capture small or niche audiences that may be difficult to observe through panels alone
Improve data stability and reduce volatility for fragmented viewing
Maintain demographic accuracy by anchoring large datasets to representative, consent-based samples
Identify when viewing actually occurred by separating real activity from idle device signals
Deliver a more comprehensive picture of viewing of all target groups across screens and platforms
Rather than replacing established methodologies, Hybrid Measurement strengthens them—ensuring television and video measurement continues to reflect real world viewing behaviour with confidence and consistency.
At Numeris, Hybrid Measurement is central to the ongoing evolution of television and video audience insights in Canada.
Enhanced TAM (Television Audience Measurement adds depth and scale to today’s trusted television measurement by calibrating Numeris’ robust TV panel data with big data (such as return path data). This hybrid approach improves the precision, stability, and completeness of linear TV audience measurement in Canada. The enriched dataset smooths out random volatility while keeping true changes in viewership, reduceing the occurrence of zero ratings, and providing more accurate program‑level audiences estimates—particularly for niche or lower‑viewed stations or programs where traditional panels alone may be limited.
By combining panel and big data within a single framework, Numeris’ hybrid TV approach enables:
Set to become the official TV dataset in Canada in 2027, Enhanced TAM will deliver viewing insight anchored in demographic precision. This stronger measurement foundation supports more precise planning, more reliable trading, and a clearer understanding of how audiences engage with content in a complex, multi‑platform world.
A secondary yet essential component to complete TV Hybrid Measurement is National VAM (Video Audience Measurement). Launched by Numeris in Fall 2025, National VAM is Canada’s unified video dataset, providing a comprehensive perspective on video viewing across linear TV, streaming platforms and digital video—broken down by device and demographic. By merging linear TAM data with digital data sources, it provides a de-duplicated and holistic picture of how Canadians interact with video content on every screen.
National VAM captures not only what is being watched, but also who is watching, where, and how often. This hybrid approach bridges the gap between linear TV consumption and the dynamic digital landscape, ensuring that every viewing experience—whether on a TV in the living room or a smartphone on the go—is included in the audience story.
Enhanced TAM will serve as the linear element of National VAM and together they will form a powerful fully hybrid TV and video measurement ecosystem—hybrid on both the digital and linear sides—designed to support the needs of broadcasters, advertisers, and agencies in an increasingly complex marketplace.
Hybrid Measurement represents not a departure from what has worked, but a thoughtful progression—one that builds on proven methodologies while embracing new data opportunities. This evolution is rooted in the principle of continuous improvement, always seeking to improve the accuracy, reliability, and depth of audience insights. By consistently refining measurement techniques and integrating emerging data sources, Hybrid Measurement ensures that the industry remains responsive to shifting viewing behaviours and technological advancements. It is an ongoing journey, dedicated to maintaining the trusted foundation established by traditional panels while leveraging innovative approaches to deliver even greater clarity and confidence.
At Numeris, we remain committed to delivering trusted, transparent, and future ready audience measurement. By advancing Hybrid Measurement for television and video, we are ensuring the industry has the insight it needs to navigate change, plan with confidence, and make smarter decisions—empowering leaders to adapt strategies and continue telling compelling stories across every screen. All of this is achieved while maintaining the integrity and transparency that underpin the measurement process in a dynamic media landscape.
Stay tuned for more details on the launch of Enhanced TAM as the official TV dataset and updates about National VAM as we evolve together!