Frankfurt, August 1, 2024. At the start of the new football season with the 2. Bundesliga on August 2, 2024, the AGF standard system will not only report viewership numbers for Sky's linear pay-TV offerings but also for a variety of newly certified digital offerings. Sky has integrated these into the AGF's video measurement standard for the first time, which has been the basis for video usage reporting in Germany since January 1, 2024. This integration marks another significant provider with relevant content joining the expanded measurement under the AGF umbrella. Streaming data for the first matchday of the 2. Bundesliga will be available to the market in the AGF systems from August 10. The expansion of Sky's measurement beyond linear TV is another milestone in the continuous development of video measurement in Germany. The commitment of the providers participating in the measurement is a consistent response to the advertising market's demands for transparent performance verification based on independent measurement and data processing using comparable criteria.
As the first provider of pay content in Germany, Sky is distinguished by market-relevant offerings, especially in live sports broadcasts. The mobile streaming product Sky Go allows users to access live and on-demand content on various devices. The streaming service WOW offers movies, series, and sporting events. With the initial integration of Sky Go and WOW into the AGF measurement, Sky provides the market with a larger usage data base, allowing for an expanded view of Sky's offering portfolio. In recent weeks and months, Sky has brought a variety of offerings under measurement, with more planned. The focus is currently on live usage. With WOW, Sky's digital-first platform is integrated according to AGF standards for the first time.
Sky has been an AGF licensee with its platform offering under measurement since 2009 and has been an AGF shareholder since 2017.
"The integration of Sky's digital offering into the AGF measurement is an important next step for us to fully capture the changing viewing habits of the audience in a dynamic media market. This allows for further analysis of viewer and user behavior beyond Sky's traditional TV offering - and in comparison to other providers under AGF measurement. This offers new insights and opportunities for the advertising market and the provider. We are very pleased that our long-standing partner and shareholder Sky is taking the next step with us towards a unified video measurement standard and driving it forward," said Kerstin Niederauer-Kopf, CEO of AGF Videoforschung GmbH.
"Just in time for the Bundesliga season, we are making the performance on our strong streaming platforms Sky Go, WOW, and soon Sky Stream fully visible according to AGF market standards. Starting now, advertising partners will receive detailed and target-specific performance values based on small-screen usage. Over the course of the year, we will gradually expand the offering - with the goal of providing transparent and cross-device representation of streaming usage on all platforms of the Sky Group in the German video market. With this step, we, together with AGF, are meeting the long-awaited demand of the advertising industry for convergent reach and strengthening our position as an important partner for advertising in the streaming environment," said Michael Radelsberger, Managing Director of Sky Media.