The final pieces in the BARB jigsaw

Now that it is reporting multiple-screen reach and time spent viewing, what are the final steps left for BARB to deliver full four-screen measurement?

Earlier this week, the UK TV currency BARB started reporting programme reach and time spent viewing as the third phase of its Project Dovetail initiative. This is a significant next step towards full four-screen reporting. Up to now Barb’s four-screen dashboard has reported average programme ratings for computers, smartphones and tablets, but these have been kept separate and not been available in the BARB respondent-level data released each day.

Now, however, minute-level viewing data with demos is available at respondent level. BARB users can now look at net programme reach across devices as well as aggregated figures and break that down by demographics. It also means that data users can isolate the solus uplift for online over broadcast and the overlap between the two – so, for example, which viewers only use iPlayer but not BBC broadcast channels.

There remain two pieces of the jigsaw that still need to be put in place to complete the Dovetail picture:

• Although the separate four-screen ratings include smartphones, this new respondent-level database does not.  Whilst BARB has access to smartphone census data, the BARB panel itself does not measure them, so there is no demographic breakdown to allow the smartphone data to be fused at a respondent level. However, this will be added in once BARB completes the roll-out of Kantar’s router meters to the panel later this year, which will provide demographics across all devices. Until then, this new database is effectively three-screen measurement, with the fourth imminent.
• Advertisements are not currently measured, so this new database is fine for tracking content and for media planning relating to that content, but campaign evaluation across linear and BVOD is not yet available, due for beta testing this March.

So full four-screen measurement at a demographic level for both content and advertising in the UK is now tantalisingly close.

Meanwhile BARB is due to announce the results of its panel and survey design/methodology tenders this March, for new contracts to commence in January 2023 for six years – stay tuned!

BARB press release: BARB launches multiple-screen programme reach and time spent viewing reporting

Originaly posted by asi
24th January 2020