BARB launches consultation on ‘TV-like content’

BARB has commissioned a consultation to expand its reporting to include “all television and television-like content on video-sharing platforms”.

The consultation will invite media agencies, advertisers, broadcasters and video-sharing platforms to “shape the definition of television-like content”.

BARB has already isolated three criteria defining TV-like content which align with the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive and public statements made by advertisers:

• Videos and channels should be under the editorial control of a professional media services provider.
• These should operate to industry-agreed standards for brand safety.
• They can be classified by genre to help advertisers and agencies know the editorial environment in which their ads appear.

BARB has chosen Paul Evans (pictured, left) to lead the consultation.

Evans is an independent consultant with previous roles at Adgile Media, Vodafone, Havas, Mindshare, Clear Channel International, Xbox, Kimberly-Clark, AB-InBev, Bacardi and Nestle.

He will present the consultation’s findings to BARB’s Strategy Board in the autumn.

The UK’s television audience measurement service has reported programme audiences for subscription video-on-demand services (SVOD) including Disney+ and Netflix, and service-level viewing of video-sharing platforms like TikTok and YouTube since November 2021.