BARB Edges Closer to Full Project Dovetail Launch

In the UK, television audience measurement body BARB has launched the first stage of its 'Project Dovetail' multiple-screen audience reporting initiative, producing programme viewing figures for TV sets, tablets, PCs and smartphones for the first time.

BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) provides official viewing figures for UK television audiences. The organisation collects observational data on how people watch TV on different devices from a nationally representative panel of 5,300 households. It also collects census-level data for viewing on tablets, PCs and smartphones using software embedded in broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) services by BARB-reported channels, and the multiple-screen viewing figures have been produced by combining these two data sources.

The organisation, which awarded this 'Dovetail Fusion' cross-screen measurement contract to Kantar Media last year, says the complexity of the project means it is being launched in three stages, with the first stage today showing the number of people watching programmes across each of the four screens. The second stage, 'multiple-screen reach and time spent viewing', will report the extent to which tablets and PCs increase the number of viewers and average weekly viewing time for BARB-reported channels; while the third and final stage of the process, 'multiple-screen advertising campaign performance', is currently in development.

BARB CEO <15544 >Justin Sampson comments: 'Today we reach another milestone in the delivery of Project Dovetail, which is designed to meet industry expectations for a trusted cross-platform audience currency. This is an ambitious project, as there are many challenges in delivering multiple-screen audience figures to the rigorous standards expected of a joint industry currency such as BARB'.

Web site: www.barb.co.uk .