BARB Extends and Combines Contracts

UK audience research body BARB has extended Kantar Media's TV measurement panel contract and RSMB's contract for survey design and methodology until the end of 2018. The organisation will also combine two of its main research contracts from January 2016.

BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) provides viewing figures for UK television audiences, and is funded by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), and Sky. Since awarding Kantar Media (previously TNS) the PeopleMeter contract in December 2007, the agency has developed meter technology to measure viewing on PCs and Macs; provision of timeshift viewing up to 28 days after transmission; and a solution to measure viewing on tablets.

RSMB, which is an independent company jointly owned by Kantar and Havas, has been a contractor to BARB since 1989, and in December 2007 was awarded 'Contract A' for a deal that encompasses methodology, statistical design and quality control for the overall service.

Separately, BARB has announced that it is combining its contract for conducting the establishment survey - which provides data on the demographic, device and platform landscape - with its contract for recruiting homes onto the panel. This means that from the beginning of 2016, establishment survey interviewers will be responsible for recruiting eligible homes onto the panel.

BARB Director Simon Bolus (pictured) comments: 'It is vital that we continually assess the best way to maximise the effectiveness of our approach to gathering data and ensuring the health of our panel. It remains the bedrock of the TV measurement system and we are convinced that this approach will be easier for our panel members, as well as more efficient.'

Web site: www.barb.co.uk .