Barb has announced the competition of its project to extend its nationally-representative panel of UK households from 5,150 homes to 7,000 homes.
The move represents the largest-ever increase in reporting sample since Barb’s launch in 1981 and is part of Barb’s multi-year contracts, which run until the end of 2029.
New metering technology has also been included in the extension that will reflect the viewing habits of approximately 16,000 people.
The panel expansion builds on recent developments. Barb now reports viewing of broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) services on multiple screens, non-linear programmes on TV sets, advertising/subscription video-on-demand (AVOD/SVOD) services, video-sharing platforms and dynamically-served advertising.
Caroline Baxter, Chief Operating Officer at Barb said: “I’m passionate about high quality panels and expanding the panel is crucial because it will ensure continued high quality and true representativeness of the population.
“At Barb, we know that underpinning successful, truly independent audience measurement using both panel data and big data, is the high quality and robustness of the panel itself. By investing in rigorous, interview led recruitment, we reach all parts of the population, making our panel truly representative of the UK.”
Barb is now working to integrate these additional sources, through its new Barb Panel Plus initiative, that will include pure-play video on demand services and video sharing platforms.
