Netflix and Disney Join UK's BARB

Netflix has joined Disney+ in signing up with BARB, the UK's audience measurement body - a major move forward in measurement of streaming services and the first time Netflix has joined an industry-owned audience currency.

Disney made the commitment as long ago as July 2021, but asked for the decision not to be publicised, according to www.the-media-leader.com . BARB upgraded its reporting in November last year to make streaming services an integral part of its ratings: its daily reporting includes aggregate-level viewing to SVOD/AVOD and video-sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVOD services.

Streaming platforms Paramount+ and NOW TV are already subscribers to BARB via their connections with Channel 5 and Sky respectively. Amazon Prime is at this point in time conspicuous by its absence.

The announcement comes as Netflix gears up for the launch in a few weeks' time of its first package with advertising, in exchange for a lower monthly fee. BARB says that while Netflix and other streaming services are now well-established within the television-viewing ecosystem, broadcasters continue to account for the lion's share of viewing in the UK. In 2022 so far, broadcasters' linear channels and on-demand services account for around two-thirds of all identified viewing, and streaming (SVOD/AVOD) for just one-sixth. The average daily viewing time for broadcasters' services was 159 minutes in September 2022, and that for SVOD/AVOD services 36 minutes.

The new reporting, starting in the second week of November, will include the monthly reach and share of viewing for broadcaster groups and SVOD/AVOD services provided they account for more than 0.5% of total identified viewing - a preview of the viewing summary is shown to the right.

At the same time, BARB will extend its weekly reporting of the top 50 shows to include both linear channels and SVOD. Reed Hastings, Co-CEO of Netflix, comments: 'Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently. We've kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK'. BARB CEO Justin Sampson says, 'Our audience measurement continuously adapts to accommodate the new platforms and devices that are being used by people to watch their favourite television shows. We took a big step forward last year when we started reporting audiences to streaming services. Netflix's commitment to BARB sends a clear signal that what we're doing is valuable to new and established players in the market'.

Netflix viewing data will be available to all BARB clients on the morning of November 2nd through existing viewing analysis software and data-processing bureaux.

Meanwhile Netflix is also poised to introduce subscriptions with advertising in eleven other countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain and the US. Last week COO and Chief Product Officer Greg Peters confirmed the launch was just weeks away and said the firm had partnerships with Double Verify and Integral Ad Science to verify the viewability and traffic validity of ads from the first quarter of next year. According to www.mediaweek.com.au , Netflix may 'look to strike a similar deal in Australia' with broadcaster TV audience measurement service OzTAM, whose platform is 'technically capable of reporting content-level viewing to SVOD and non-broadcast AVOD services', and is being adapted for that at present.

Web sites: www.barb.co.uk , www.netflix.com and www.disneyplus.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.