BARB Gives Kantar and RSMB Long-term Contracts

UK television audience measurement body BARB has awarded long-term contracts to Kantar and RSMB, beginning in January 2024. These include a deal for Kantar to increase BARB's panel from 5,150 to 7,000 homes - the largest increase in sample since BARB's launch in 1981.

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. In September, the organisation issued an invitation to tender, focusing on five questions: Who is watching? What are they watching? When are they watching? Which screen are they watching on? How did the content get to the screen?

Kantar will install new metering technology - in the form of a tablet device - featuring an avatar-based registration system, aimed at engaging and motivating panel members to participate in ongoing research. RSMB will continue to deliver services relating to survey design and methodology, while investing in new skill sets, machine learning and analytic tools relating to its ongoing audit of panel-management processes and monitoring of reported viewing levels. In addition, BARB has re-appointed Kantar to maintain the collection of a census-level count of viewing to BVOD services; and has re-commissioned ABC to audit the implementation of tagging software that generates this big-data set. At the same time, BARB has extended Ipsos-MORI's contract for conducting its Establishment Survey for a further two years until the end of 2023.

CEO Justin Sampson (pictured) comments: 'BARB has chosen imaginative and engaging solutions that have the versatility to track the full range of linear and on-demand services viewers can choose from. We are also delighted to commit to a step-change in the size of our representative panel of UK homes as a result of operational improvements put forward by Kantar and RSMB during a rigorous tender process.'

BARB, whose services are supported by two other contracts; Dovetail Fusion data integration (conducted by Kantar) and provision of a content identification system (MetaBroadcast), is online at: www.barb.co.uk .