HbbTV audience measurement moves forward with new approaches to data integration, analytics and industry collaboration
HbbTV audience measurement moves forward with new approaches to data integration, analytics and industry collaboration
The latest HbbTV webinar, held on 14 October 2026, highlighted significant progress in using HbbTV to enhance television audience measurement, bringing together developments in Germany’s national measurement system, real-time audience analytics, new commercial opportunities and industry-wide collaboration.
Building on the HbbTV Association’s audience measurement webinar in March 2026, the session, Taking audience measurement to the next level with HbbTV, explored how HbbTV return-path data is increasingly being used to complement traditional audience panels, provide more granular insights into viewing behaviour and support broadcasters in making better-informed commercial and editorial decisions.
Moderated by journalist Jörn Krieger, the webinar featured presentations from Kerstin Niederauer-Kopf, CEO of AGF; Atila Madakbas, Founder and CEO of Admongrel; Michele Gosetti, VP Sports & Events and New Media at SES; and Stefan Schütz, Product Director at NIQ Media Measurement.
The presentations demonstrated both the growing maturity of HbbTV-based measurement solutions and the opportunities to establish common industry approaches through the HbbTV Association’s new Audience Measurement Group.
Watch the webinar recording here and access the presentations here.
Germany advances towards integrating HbbTV into national audience measurement
Kerstin Niederauer-Kopf provided an update on AGF’s work to integrate HbbTV return-path data into Germany’s national television audience measurement system, with implementation planned for the beginning of 2028.
The project, which began with a proof of concept in May 2025, has progressed to daily parallel production, allowing AGF to compare results from its existing representative panel with those generated using a combination of panel and HbbTV data.
Germany’s existing television measurement panel directly measures approximately 11,000 people. While this provides a representative foundation for audience estimates, increasingly fragmented viewing can make it difficult to measure smaller channels and narrowly defined audience groups accurately.
AGF’s approach uses HbbTV return-path data to supplement the panel with information from a much larger population of connected televisions. Devices displaying viewing patterns similar to those of panel households are identified as twins, and their viewing data is used to generate synthetic audience records.
The current model adds approximately 90,000 synthetic cases to the existing panel, producing an expanded analytical dataset of around 100,000 cases.
Importantly, the representative panel remains the foundation of the methodology, providing the demographic and viewing information required to interpret the much larger device-level dataset.
AGF currently has access to a pool of around 17 million devices in Germany with consent for measurement. Its existing sample comprises approximately 1.7 million devices, but work is underway to expand this temporarily to around 8 million devices before establishing an optimised sample of approximately 3.4 million.
This larger sample will help identify suitable viewing-pattern matches for less common audience behaviours and improve the robustness of the resulting estimates.
The testing programme currently covers approximately 60 television channels and has completed more than ten iterations of the model. Initial results show that the overall profile of television viewing remains broadly consistent with established panel measurement, while audience estimates for smaller channels and niche target groups become more stable, with fewer periods reporting zero viewers.
Niederauer-Kopf stressed that a smoother audience curve does not automatically establish greater accuracy, making continued validation essential.
The results are being assessed through AGF’s analysis system, AGF Scope, ahead of the planned integration into the national measurement system in 2028.
Turning HbbTV audience data into commercial opportunities
Atila Madakbas explored how HbbTV-based audience measurement can provide broadcasters with actionable intelligence to improve programming decisions, identify new audiences and increase advertising revenues.
Drawing on Admongrel’s experience across the Middle East, North Africa and other markets, he demonstrated how HbbTV audience measurement is extending well beyond its traditional European footprint.
The company’s measurement activities currently reach approximately 34 million households, supported by integrations with multiple satellite distribution platforms and broadcasters. Its activities extend across the MENA region and into parts of Asia.
Madakbas highlighted the benefits of using HbbTV return-path data for near-real-time measurement, enabling broadcasters to identify changes in audience behaviour as they happen rather than relying solely on historical audience reports.
This can be particularly valuable for smaller and specialist channels, where traditional panel-based measurement may fail to capture periods of significant viewing activity.
One example from a niche Turkish television channel demonstrated how particular programmes could generate an eight- or ninefold increase in viewing, creating commercial opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.
The presentation also explored the value of combining HbbTV data with programme schedules, geographical information and other digital audience signals to understand why viewers join or leave programmes.
By extending measurement to platforms such as YouTube, broadcasters can gain a broader understanding of audience behaviour across broadcast and digital environments. Madakbas described how audiences can shift rapidly between live television and online services during breaks in major sporting events.
These insights can support decisions about programming, advertising break placement and cross-platform monetisation.
He also highlighted the relationship between audience intelligence and addressable advertising. By understanding viewing behaviour at device level, broadcasters can identify audience segments, develop more targeted advertising propositions and create new opportunities for smaller businesses to advertise on television.
His central message was that the value of HbbTV measurement extends beyond the collection of additional data. Its greater potential lies in converting that information into timely editorial and commercial decisions.
SES demonstrates large-scale connected TV measurement across Europe
Michele Gosetti presented the satellite operator’s perspective, demonstrating how HbbTV can provide broadcasters with more timely and detailed information about audiences receiving television services via satellite.
SES has developed a channel analytics service using HbbTV applications on connected televisions receiving satellite broadcasts. The applications collect consented viewing information through the television’s internet connection, providing insights into audience behaviour across channels and programmes.
The service is based on a shared measurement ecosystem across the ASTRA 19.2° East satellite position, covering major European television markets including Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
According to SES, approximately 64% of viewers presented with the consent mechanism choose to participate, contributing to a measurement base of more than 800,000 consented devices.
This shared approach offers advantages to broadcasters joining the service, as they can benefit from the existing measurement ecosystem rather than having to establish an entirely separate audience data collection infrastructure.
Through a live analytics dashboard, broadcasters can monitor audience reach, viewing duration, programme performance and geographical distribution.
The system supports comparisons across different time periods, including recent hours, days and weeks, and can provide regional insights down to city level.
Gosetti emphasised how this information can support strategic and commercial decisions, from optimising programme schedules and evaluating new content propositions to demonstrating the performance of advertising inventory.
Greater visibility into audience engagement can also help broadcasters understand viewing patterns across different markets and identify opportunities to grow their audiences.
The presentation highlighted how HbbTV enables satellite broadcasters to combine the large-scale reach of broadcast distribution with the audience intelligence traditionally associated with digital platforms.
NIQ calls for common standards and trusted hybrid measurement
Stefan Schütz from NIQ Media Measurement examined the wider evolution of audience measurement as viewers increasingly move between broadcast television, streaming services and other digital video platforms.
While viewers experience these services as part of a connected media environment, measurement remains fragmented across different platforms, data sources and methodologies.
Schütz argued that the future of audience measurement cannot rely exclusively on either traditional panels or large-scale device data.
Instead, it requires hybrid approaches that combine the representative understanding of audiences provided by panels with the scale, granularity and speed available from return-path data and other digital measurement sources. By connecting these audience insights with consumer intelligence and measurable outcomes, measurement organisations can move beyond traditional reach and frequency metrics to provide a more comprehensive understanding of audience behaviour, advertising effectiveness and the impact of media activities.
HbbTV can play an important role in these systems by providing a source of connected television viewing data and a bridge between broadcast and broadband environments.
However, Schütz emphasised that the wider adoption of HbbTV-based measurement requires more than technical capabilities.
Common standards are needed to ensure consistent definitions, implementation across devices and markets, data quality, validation and transparency.
These requirements are particularly important where HbbTV data is combined with other sources to produce audience estimates used across the advertising and broadcasting industries.
Schütz welcomed the launch of the HbbTV Association’s Audience Measurement Group, which brings together industry stakeholders to establish a shared framework for future measurement developments.
The group’s priorities include developing a common understanding of HbbTV measurement use cases, establishing best practices for privacy, quality and transparency, and identifying requirements for future HbbTV developments.
Rather than developing a single measurement solution, the objective is to create a common framework that supports different commercial and national measurement approaches while improving consistency and trust.
Collaboration between broadcasters, measurement organisations, technology providers, device manufacturers and other industry participants will be essential to achieving these objectives.
Industry discussion highlights opportunities and remaining challenges
The webinar concluded with an audience Q&A addressing several practical issues surrounding the adoption of HbbTV-based measurement.
A central topic was the relationship between device-level measurement and representative audience data. Although HbbTV can provide detailed information about viewing on connected televisions, device data alone cannot reliably identify which individuals are watching or account for co-viewing.
This reinforces the importance of representative panels and appropriate modelling where the objective is to produce demographic audience estimates.
Questions also addressed the availability of HbbTV across different markets and television platforms, including set-top boxes that do not currently support the standard.
The speakers highlighted the importance of broadcaster demand, manufacturer support and industry collaboration in ensuring continued availability and adoption of HbbTV capabilities.
Another limitation discussed was the requirement for an active internet connection to collect return-path data. Households without connected devices cannot contribute directly to HbbTV return-path measurement datasets, highlighting the need to understand and address potential coverage limitations.
The discussion also touched on the importance of national measurement governance and the need for common approaches to accommodate different market requirements.
Building the future of audience measurement with HbbTV
The webinar demonstrated the growing role of HbbTV in the television audience measurement ecosystem, with applications ranging from strengthening national measurement currencies to providing broadcasters with real-time commercial intelligence.
The progress being made by AGF in Germany illustrates how return-path data can enhance established measurement methodologies, while the solutions presented by Admongrel and SES demonstrate the opportunities for broadcasters to gain a deeper understanding of their audiences.
At the same time, NIQ’s presentation underlined the need for common standards, transparent methodologies and collaboration to build industry confidence in HbbTV-based measurement.
These developments provide an important foundation for the work of the HbbTV Association’s Audience Measurement Group, which will help shape the next generation of measurement approaches.
Audience measurement will also be a major topic at the HbbTV Symposium and Awards 2026, taking place in Barcelona on 18-19 November, providing further opportunities for industry stakeholders to explore these developments and contribute to the discussion.
