BARB to Measure Tablet TV Viewing

UK television audience body BARB has announced the launch of a new measurement technique, developed with Kantar Media, for panellists' viewing on iPad and Android tablets.

BARB says the method, part of its hybrid / cross-platform measurement initiative Project Dovetail, will initially be used in its panel homes with a software meter already installed for tracking viewing on desktop and laptop computers. It estimates that around half of these homes currently have relevant tablet devices.

The organisation, which is funded by the country's four original terrestrial channel providers plus Sky and the IPA, says current estimates suggest up to 2% of all TV viewing is done on computer devices, and that monitoring of this growing segment is important if it is to maintain 'a comprehensive measurement of all television viewing'.

Chief Exec Justin Sampson comments: 'The ability to track how our panel members watch television on their tablets is a great step forward and another staging post for the delivery of Project Dovetail. It is also the catalyst for us to build a new panel of homes that have broadband connections but no TV sets. Additionally, we now plan to accelerate deployment in our panel of the software meters that track viewing on laptop, desktop and tablet computers.'

Richard Asquith, Global CEO of Kantar Media Audiences, says the new approach will help to understand how tablet viewing sits alongside more established viewing behaviour, adding: 'Clearly this is important in its own right, but it will also underpin the hybrid approach that we believe is the future of television audience measurement.'

BARB is online at www.barb.co.uk .