UK Video Measurement Body Barb to Work with USA's MRC

UK video ad currency provider Barb is to work more closely with US audience measurement standards body the Media Rating Council (MRC), becoming an MRC member.

The MRC was established more than 60 years ago at the request of the US Congress and aims to reassure the market that measurement is being conducted to acceptable standards. Both it and Barb champion openness and ethics in measurement, encourage best practice and aim to ensure that metrics from different suppliers and from different sides of the industry are comparable.

MRC membership gives Barb a seat on the US organisation's board of directors and a greater voice in how audience measurement standards continue to evolve to meet changes in the industry and wider media consumption. The move also gives Barb's staff access to MRC's confidential audit results, and allows them to participate in MRC's accreditation proceedings for online platforms whose data are used alongside Barb data in cross-platform measurement solutions.

MRC Chief Exec George Ivie comments: 'We have admired the work of Barb as it has evolved the UK's audience measurement system to embrace streaming services alongside broadcasters. We're excited by Barb's commitment to participate in the digital work of MRC and look forward to making the most of our mutual experience in meeting the industry's need for audience-centric measurement'. For Barb, CEO Justin Sampson (pictured) says: 'There's something in the genes of our two organisations that makes this a very easy step for Barb to take. We're both committed to best practice, the advocacy of a shared language across the industry and transparency on data-collection and compilation techniques. And there's a good reason audience measurement standards are high on the agenda - they're vital for advertisers and agencies to confidently account for their media-advertising investment, and allow sellers to compete fairly for budgets'.

Recent Barb innovations have included the development of the CFlight cross-media campaign reporting service, for which it took over responsibility in September; and the issuing last week of the first audience measurement invitation to tender to include a requirement for big data.

The orgs are online at www.mediaratingcouncil.org and www.barb.co.uk .