Tag: Audience Measurement

Connected TV continues to expand at speed across Europe, reshaping how broadcasters deliver content, manage audiences and monetise inventory. At NXT Media Days Europe, Vincent Grivet, Chairman of the HbbTV Association, delivered a focused and compelling overview of how HbbTV is driving this transformation. Speaking as part of the panel Seamless synergy: The convergence of CTV and linear TV in modern advertising, Grivet outlined why hybrid TV is now essential to the future of European broadcasting, and how HbbTV’s technical foundations, operational frameworks and widespread adoption place it at the centre of that future.

Grivet began with an introduction to his own background. He has spent two decades in telecoms and nearly 20 years in broadcast, which positions him as a hybrid minded person. HbbTV, he explained, was created for the very purpose of hybridizing TV, at a moment where it became obvious that traditional broadcast / linear TV could be enriched with internet delivered services . It merges the strengths of classical linear broadcasting with the personalisation, data capabilities and interactivity associated with digital platforms. 

Bridging the old world and the new world

A major theme across Grivet’s session was convergence. Traditional linear TV and modern streaming environments originated as separate silos served by different teams, technologies and business models. HbbTV, he argued, was built to merge these worlds and create a unified environment that works for broadcasters, manufacturers, advertisers and viewers alike.

HbbTV’s hybrid nature has long been visible through its familiar red button use case, which allows viewers watching a linear channel to access on demand options instantly. Addressable advertising extends that foundation. With HbbTV, broadcasters can deliver CTV-style targeted ads within live broadcast feeds with no disruption to user experience. “You could say this is done with CTV, no need for HbbTV,” he said. “Still, there are two big advantages. We unify the CTV world, and broadcasters stay in control.” 

This unification is important. CTV today consists of multiple vertical ecosystems. Different devices, different apps and different technical frameworks create complexity for broadcasters that need to manage 10 to 15 CTV platforms. HbbTV provides a single, cross-manufacturer mechanism that works across virtually all major brands. “We unify the CTV silos,” Grivet emphasised. “Broadcasters see only one.” 

Control is also a growing concern for European broadcasters, particularly given the dominance of gatekeeper-led CTV environments. HbbTV ensures that ad substitution in linear environments remains fully broadcaster managed with no intermediaries involved.

A mature and growing technology

Grivet supported these points with strong adoption figures. More than 100 million homes in Europe had HbbTV as of March 2025. This is projected to reach 120 million by the end of 2026, representing 17 percent annual growth. Usage is widespread in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain, where tens of millions access broadcaster services powered by HbbTV every day. 

Platforms such as Loves TV in Spain, Freeview Play and Freely in the United Kingdom and a growing number of satellite ecosystems across the MENA region all rely on HbbTV as a core building block. 

This widespread deployment has delivered measurable benefits to broadcasters and advertisers.

• France Télévisions saw significant increases in engagement after launching an HbbTV startover service. More than half of surveyed users said they watched more TV as a result of this feature.
• Mediaset and Publitalia reported uplifts of 18 percent in drive to store and 56 percent in drive to site from HbbTV-powered addressable ad campaigns.
• TV Nova in the Czech Republic demonstrated guaranteed frequency-capped impressions by combining linear and digital delivery.
• AGTT in Austria used HbbTV-based measurement to illuminate previously unmeasurable channels with very small audiences.

Across markets, Grivet summarised the impact clearly. “Yes, HbbTV brings tangible audience and engagement improvements.”

Overcoming the challenges of addressable TV

Although addressable advertising through HbbTV is proven and widely deployed, Grivet outlined key challenges that broadcasters must consider.

The first is awareness. Many broadcasters do not yet understand the maturity or potential of HbbTV. Some assume it will only become relevant in several years, while others consider it outdated. Both views are incorrect.

The second challenge is application development. Broadcasters need an HbbTV application capable of supporting dynamic ad substitution. Fortunately, a strong ecosystem of vendors now provides this expertise.

Consent is another challenge, although HbbTV can help streamline consent acquisition and management.

Finally, certification is essential. The HbbTV-TA specification is an enhancement to HbbTV that supports frame-accurate switching but  broadcasters who wish to use it to benefit from this important upside must ensure campaigns only run on verified devices. ATVI, an initiative created by German’s two leading commercial broadcast groups, already manages certification and provides real-time access to validated device lists. 

Grivet noted that the shift towards all-IP distribution presents both a challenge and an opportunity. As DVB-I evolves, HbbTV is preparing for hybrid and pure IP scenarios, including the possibility of an IP-only version of the specification.

Transparency, measurement and viewer experience

A further benefit of HbbTV is improved transparency and measurement. HbbTV applications can enable broadcasters and ad servers to understand precisely what was delivered on each device. Combined with its cross-manufacturer reach, HbbTV enables consistent measurement across brands, platforms and both linear and non-linear viewing. 

HbbTV also continues to enhance the viewer experience. It supports voting, accessibility services, UHD enhancements, sports statistics and complete service entry experiences such as Freely and Loves TV. For many viewers in Europe, HbbTV has become the gateway to modern broadcaster services.

The next five years and the path to success

Grivet concluded with a clear vision of what will define hybrid TV’s success over the next three to five years.

• Broad adoption of HbbTV-TA across all television models
• Ad technology platforms fully integrating HbbTV-TA into unified linear and digital workflows
• Standards that support all-IP distribution without dependency on delivery networks

As hybrid usage becomes the norm, blending broadcast, streaming, video-on-demand and addressable advertising, HbbTV’s role as Europe’s open and unifying standard places it at the centre of this transformation. Grivet’s message was clear: Hybrid TV is no longer experimental. It is a proven and scalable opportunity that broadcasters and advertisers can embrace with confidence.

As broadcasters and audience researchers face increasing fragmentation in TV audiences and specifically in the Connected TV (CTV) landscape, HbbTV is increasingly seen as a practical and strategic solution for modern audience measurement. This became evident at the asi International Television & Video Conference 2025 in Copenhagen, where HbbTV Chair Vincent Grivet outlined how the open standard can help rebuild stability and transparency in a market dominated by walled gardens, proprietary data ecosystems and shifting viewing habits. His presentation drew on both his long-term industry experience and the standard’s rapid expansion across Europe and beyond.

A positive reception at an influential global measurement gathering

The reception at the conference suggested that while a handful of players, including national audience bodies such as AGTT in Austria, AGF in Germany, Kantar in Spain and BARB in the UK, already use or trial HbbTV for analytics, many attendees were encountering the technology for the first time. A large portion of the audience expressed surprise at the maturity and breadth of the standard, as well as the fact that it already operates across multiple TV manufacturers and distribution networks at a large scale. For researchers accustomed to negotiating access with individual platform owners, the idea of a horizontal, cross-manufacturer technology offering consistent measurement capabilities came as a welcome surprise.

Fragmentation of the Connected TV ecosystem complicates measurement

The conference also reinforced a broader industry theme: the deep fragmentation of the Connected TV environment. With more than ten significant operating systems in play, broadcasters must navigate a patchwork of technical requirements, data policies and commercial constraints. This fragmentation undermines both broadcaster autonomy and the measurement community’s ability to build coherent datasets. In his presentation, Grivet illustrated how CTVs have become the primary screen for video consumption, yet the operating systems controlling them are dominated by global tech companies whose business models limit access to viewer data. Many conference participants voiced concern about the ongoing “privatisation of audience data,” a trend that mirrors the erosion of the traditional neutrality of the television set.

HbbTV positioned as an open, unified alternative

Against this backdrop, HbbTV offers a different path. The standard was created to unify broadcast and broadband delivery and now functions as a common, open environment for apps on connected TVs. Grivet highlighted that any service typically associated with proprietary CTV platforms, ranging from replay and enriched EPGs to personalisation and multi-camera streams, can be implemented via HbbTV. Same is true for more commercial services, like audience measurement or personalized advertising or on-screen shopping. For audience measurement, the standard supports large-scale data collection that complements traditional panels with census-style insights. Consent is integrated into the technical framework, simplifying compliance with European data protection rules.

Because HbbTV runs across the different manufacturer-controlled environments, it creates a harmonized,  open and transparent layer for capturing actual viewing behaviour, for instance revealing audiences for smaller, local or niche channels that legacy measurement methods mistakenly treat as “zero rated,” despite the fact that they are being watched.

Real-world deployments demonstrate the value of HbbTV analytics

Current deployments across Europe already demonstrate the value of HbbTV-based analytics. National measurement bodies and broadcasters use HbbTV applications to collect viewing data in real time, refine audience curves, enrich panel datasets and track the performance of addressable advertising. The strong alignment between HbbTV usage and the rise of addressable advertising was another focal point of Grivet’s presentation. The HbbTV-TA specification, enabling frame-accurate substitution of broadcast ads, is now being integrated into reception devices by major global manufacturers. Grivet expects a total of 15-20 million compliant devices to be in the market in 2026. This makes HbbTV-based analytics a natural companion to addressable advertising strategies, providing a transparent way to assess campaign reach and effectiveness.

Measurement specialists face wider structural challenges

However, measurement specialists at the conference described broader challenges that extend beyond any individual technology. Fragmented viewing habits, inconsistent aggregation efforts, the shift towards global streaming services and the evolving role of live sports all complicate the production of accurate national audience currencies. 

HbbTV offers neutrality and stability in a time of industry uncertainty

In this environment, HbbTV’s neutrality, horizontality and scale offer a rare source of technological stability. Europe now counts more than 100 million HbbTV-capable households, and adoption is expanding quickly in markets such as Turkey and across the Middle East and North Africa. The standard provides a single application environment across manufacturers and networks, giving broadcasters full control over their data and protecting them from unwanted intermediation. In conclusion, these developments show that HbbTV is no longer simply a tool for enhancing broadcast television but a critical enabler for broadcasters and measurement bodies as they navigate the increasingly complex Connected TV ecosystem.

The presentation by HbbTV Chair Vincent Grivet is available for download here. A recording of the presentation can be accessed here.

Details on the asi International Television & Video Conference 2025 in Copenhagen can be found here.