BARB Extends Tender, Explores Remote Data Collection

UK TV audience measurement body BARB has announced a year-long extension of the tender process for two of its main research contracts, as a result of the pandemic. The organisation has also begun investigating remote data collection alternatives.

BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) provides official viewing figures for UK television audiences, collecting observational data on how people watch TV programmes on different devices from a nationally representative panel. 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. In March, it combined its daily audience data with the IPA's TouchPoints survey.

The current providers of the research contracts up for tender are Kantar (audience measurement panel and data publication) and RSMB (survey design and methodology), and the new contracts will now begin in 2024 and run for an initial period of six years. According to BARB, the pandemic has raised questions about the ongoing effectiveness of face-to-face data collection techniques; and extending the process will enable it to conduct a number of investigations into alternative remote methods. CEO Justin Sampson (pictured) comments: 'The public health crisis has raised many practical questions and it's right we pause to assess the implications for how we specify and commission the research services needed to achieve our objectives'.

As part of these investigations, BARB has commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct a pilot project for an online, self-completion version of the Establishment Survey, which is currently conducted via face-to-face interviews in participants' homes. It has also asked Ipsos MORI to test the recruitment of new panel homes (currently recruited through face-to-face interviews) using a combination of online and telephone techniques. In addition, BARB has started exploring TV set meters that panellists can install themselves; and a third Ipsos MORI project will investigate how return-path data from Sky homes could be integrated with BARB panel viewing data.

Web site: www.barb.co.uk .