New Barb Contracts Promise Faster and Richer Reporting

UK ad currency provider Barb has awarded three contracts for audience measurement services: MetaBroadcast retains the metadata contract and adds the provision of interim overnight programme logs, while Clearcast will provide interim overnight commercial spot logs.

BARB, which was founded in 1981 by the major players in the UK television and advertising industry, is responsible for delivering the country's television audience ratings. All three of the new contracts start in January 2025 and run for three years. The metadata contract operate's the organisation's combined content ID and genre allocation system, which ensures the consistency of programme titles and genres in audience measurement, connects episodes to a programme and links broadcasters' linear and BVOD content across platforms. For the new contract, additional support from entertainment data provider Nielsen Gracenote will help enrich the data provided; and the data will arrive just three days after programmes are first made available on linear channels or streaming services, instead of the current seven days.

The MetaBroadcast interim overnight programme data and Clearcast commercial spot logs will both be available at 9am and will be used alongside the overnight ratings for most Barb-reported channels. As now, broadcasters will provide their own logs after eight days to confirm the data.

For Barb, Ops Director Caroline Baxter (pictured) says the new deals will provide 'faster and more comprehensive reporting of programmes and ads, giving advertisers, agencies and broadcasters earlier insight into how their programmes and campaigns are performing'. MetaBroadcast CEO Jamie Mackinlay comments: 'We are thrilled to be reappointed by Barb to continue our long-term partnership in delivering their innovative and market-leading audience measurement services. This is a powerful confirmation that our metadata aggregation, orchestration and operational solutions are delivering for Barb now and into the future'.

Web site: www.barb.co.uk .