Extracts from the BARB site
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BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) is the primary provider of television audience measurement in the UK. It covers all channels broadcasting across all platforms - terrestrial, satellite and cable in both analogue and digital. BARB audience measurement data underpins the trading currency for broadcasters, advertisers and their agencies.
BARB is a non-profit making limited company, funded by the major players in the industry it supports - BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising). Other broadcasters and a variety of businesses, for example research specialists, publishers and advertisers also contribute to the cost of running BARB by subscribing to the service.
BARB is responsible for providing estimates of the number of people watching television. This includes which channels and programmes are being watched, at what time, and the type of people who are watching at any one time. BARB provides television audience data on a minute-by-minute basis for channels received within the UK. The data is available for reporting nationally for terrestrial, satellite and cable reception for both analogue and digital platforms and at ITV and BBC regional level.
Viewing estimates are obtained from a panel of television owning households representing the viewing behaviour of the 26+ million households within the UK. The reporting panel of 5,100 homes is selected to be representative of each ITV and BBC region. The service covers viewing within private households only.
Panel homes are selected via a multi-stage, stratified and un-clustered sample design so that the panel is representative of all television households across the whole of the UK. A range of individual and household characteristics are deployed as panel controls to ensure that the panel remains representative. As estimates for the large majority of panel controls are not available from Census data it is necessary to conduct a bespoke survey (the Establishment Survey) to obtain this information.
The BARB Establishment Survey is carried out on a continuous basis and involves some 53,000 interviews per year. It is a random probability survey which means that every private residential household within the UK has a chance of being selected for interview. The survey ensures that any changes taking place in the population can be identified so that the panel can be updated and adjusted to ensure that it continues to reflect the television-owning population. In addition to being the prime source of television population information, such as the number of multi-channel homes, the BARB Establishment Survey also generates the potential recruits from which panel member homes are selected.
When a household agrees to join the panel their television sets, PVRs, VCRs etc. are electronically monitored by a meter. Each TV in a home is connected to its own meter which holds an electronic record for the set. The meter is a small box which is put close to each television set and connected to it. The meter automatically identifies and collects information about the channel that the panel member is viewing.
All panel household residents and their guests register their presence when in a room with a television set on. Each individual does this by pressing a button allocated to them on the peoplemeter handset. The metering system monitors all registrations made by each individual for each television in the home.
The panel member does not need to do anything else for BARB to capture the viewing in their household everyday. Throughout the day the meter system stores viewing undertaken by the entire household. Each night between 2am and 6am the data processing centre automatically downloads the data from panel homes (a process known as 'polling'). This procedure is carried out on every panel home every day to produce live 'overnight' minute-by-minute television viewing data.
VCR, DVDR, PVR playback and "catch-up" VOD services is reported if it takes place within 7 days of the original broadcast. This viewing (known as timeshift) is then added to the live data to produce the final, minute-by-minute consolidated audience, available 8 days after the original transmission date. Consolidated data is the ‘BARB Gold Standard’ that is used by the industry to report and trade on.
Channels reported by BARB provide detailed timings of the programmes and commercials they broadcast. The records that this produces are then matched to the minute-by-minute viewing data to produce the BARB official audience estimates for programmes and commercials.
Specialist research companies are contracted to provide BARB with the service: RSMB (responsible for panel design and quality control); Ipsos MORI (responsible for the Establishment Survey); and Kantar Media (responsible for recruiting and metering the panel, data collection and processing).
BARB is responsible for providing estimates of the number of people watching television. This includes which channels and programmes are being watched, when they are watched and the type of people who are viewing at any one time. Viewing data is collected second-by-second and delivered on a minute-by-minute basis for channels received within the UK. The channel viewed the longest in a clock minute is attributed the viewing of that minute. Viewing at anything other than normal speed (fast forwarding/rewinding live or recorded content) is not reported. The data is available for reporting nationally and at ITV and BBC regional level.
Viewing estimates are obtained from a panel of television owning private homes representing the viewing behaviour of the 26 million TV households within the UK. The panel is selected to be representative of each ITV and BBC region, with pre-determined sample sizes. Each home represents, on average, about 5,000 of the UK population.
Panel homes are selected via a multistage, stratified and unclustered sample design so that the panel is representative of all television households across the UK. A range of individual and household characteristics (panel controls) are deployed to ensure that the panel is representative. The prime control is a 20 cell matrix, made up of means of TV reception, life stage (pre-family, young family, older family, post family and retired), and social grade. As estimates for the large majority of panel controls are not available from Census data it is necessary to conduct an Establishment Survey to obtain this information.
RSMB is responsible for producing the sample design, including maintaining the panel controls to ensure their relevance to the panel. RSMB also conducts continuous quality control checks on BARB’s behalf.
The BARB Establishment Survey has the purpose of measuring the characteristics of UK households (demographics, viewing equipment, etc), producing universes for panel control and weighting purposes and providing addresses from which to recruit the panel.
The survey is carried out on a continuous basis and involves some 53,000 interviews per annum. It is a random probability survey, which means that every private residential household within the UK has a chance of being selected for interview. Interviews are conducted face-to-face using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) and take, on average, 20 minutes to complete. The survey ensures that any changes taking place in the population can be identified so that the panel can be updated and adjusted to ensure that it continues to reflect the television owning population. In addition to being the prime source of television population information, the Establishment Survey also generates the supply of addresses from which the panel is recruited.
The BARB Establishment Survey is conducted by Ipsos MORI, which has responsibility for contacting each household selected for the survey and conducting interviews.
The BARB panel provides regional viewing from area definitions based on non-overlapping geographies. These are based around the ITV1 Sky digital satellite footprint received by EPG 103, the default ITV 1 regional delivery to Sky homes. Regional viewing is also available from 14 BBC regions.
A non-overlapping panel delivers an efficient sample design and UK geographical distribution. Regional panels have pre-determined sample sizes, closely matching the UK population distribution.
All regional viewing undertaken within the region is reported against the regional variant. For example, all regional viewing within the London area is reported as London viewing, regardless of its actual origination.
Sub-group factoring, whereby smaller regions have key trading audiences factored against Network audiences to reduce variability in published data, is undertaken for Border, North East, West, South-West and Ulster. All Database 2 reporting audiences for these regions are factored against individuals 4+.
When a household agrees to join the panel their home has all their television sets, PVRs, DVDRs, VCRs etc. electronically monitored by a meter. Each piece of equipment that is connected to each TV set in the home is also connected to the BARB meter, which electronically monitors the equipment and determines which one is feeding the TV screen at any point and what it is doing. Over 30,000 devices, including equipment that is identified but not measured by BARB (games consoles, for example) are connected into BARB meters. Each TV in a home is connected to its own meter which holds an electronic record for the set. The meter is a small box which is put close to each television set and connected to it. The meter automatically identifies the channel that the panel member is viewing.
The company responsible for recruiting panel homes and installing the metering equipment is Kantar Media.
All panel household residents and their guests register their presence when in a room with a television set on (the BARB definition of television viewing). Each individual panel member does this by pressing the button allocated to them on each meter handset. An LED screen on the front of the meter reminds panel members periodically to register their presence if they have not already done so. Whenever a panel member leaves a room they de-register their presence. The metering system monitors all registrations made by each individual for each television in the home.
The panel member does not need to do anything else in order for BARB to capture all the viewing in their household everyday. Throughout the day the meter system stores all viewing undertaken by the entire household. Every night between 2am and 6am the data is automatically downloaded from every panel home (a process known as ‘polling’). The data is processed to incorporate numerous weighting and grossing variables before being released to the industry as "overnight" minute-by-minute television viewing data at 9.30 each morning. This includes any recorded material played back on the same day as the original transmission, referred to as "VOSDAL" (Viewing-On-Same-Day-As-Live). Broadcasters, amongst others, use overnight data to provide them with an initial idea of how the previous day’s programmes and advertising have performed.
PVR, DVDR and VCR playback and catch-up VOD viewing via TV set-top boxes is reported if it takes place within 7 days of the original broadcast. This viewing (known as timeshift viewing) is then added to the live data to produce the final, minute-by-minute consolidated audience, available 8 days after the original transmission date. Consolidated data is the ‘BARB Gold Standard’ that is used by the industry to report and trade on.
Channels reported by BARB provide timings of the programmes and commercials they broadcast. The records that this produces are then matched to the minute-by-minute viewing data to produce the BARB official audience viewing estimates for each individual programme and commercial.
All individuals aged 4+ are measured and reported by BARB. Within this, a user may look at any age group they wish.
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http://www.barb.co.uk |
