In a significant development for audience measurement in Germany, AGF Videoforschung and Amazon have jointly announced the integration of Prime Video into AGF’s standardized national ratings system. This marks a first, viewing information from Prime Video’s advertising-funded video-on-demand (VOD) service will be added to AGF’s formal reach calculation, representing a large step toward a total cross-media standard.
Starting in November, Prime Video’s ad-supported VOD data will be added to AGF’s ex-post analysis tool AGF Scops, with the database of the AGF Reach Planner modified accordingly. AGF is now the first Joint Industry Committee (JIC) worldwide to add a global streaming platform into its standardized measurement framework using server-to-server (S2S) technology.
The integration, achieved with service provider Nielsen, enables real, content-specific measurement of Prime Video’s ad-supported VoD catalog. The S2S-based method applies the same methodological principles used for other digital platforms within the AGF system, like SDK- or cloud-API-based measurements. Nielsen has certified Prime Video’s data according to uniform parameters to ensure comparison with other publishers.
“It’s a major milestone to have successfully brought an international player like Prime Video under active measurement via server-to-server integration,” said Kerstin Niederauer-Kopf, CEO of AGF Videoforschung. “This collaboration shows that global platforms are willing to respect local market conditions and participate in joint measurement systems. It’s a strong signal of trust, cooperation and standardisation.”
Nils Gräf, Managing Director, Amazon Ads Deutschland, added: “We are delighted to see Prime Video integrated into AGF’s active measurement – this is an important step forward. Prime Video offers premium inventory, including award-winning Amazon Originals, blockbuster films and popular series. Thanks to this integration, advertisers and media planners will gain access to independently measured data at title and format level, enabling deeper analysis and new strategic planning opportunities.”
Prime Video data has been available in the AGF Reach Planner since September 2024 for strategic planning, based on passive measurement via AGF’s GfK router panel. This approach captured overall platform use on a household basis but could not differentiate between specific content types such as series, films or advertising due to technical constraints. The new active hybrid methodology combines AGF panel data with census-level S2S data supplied by Prime Video through Nielsen. This allows detailed analysis by title and format for the first time, while maintaining audience segmentation capabilities. Co-viewing detection – when multiple viewers watch together – is in development and will follow in a later phase.