Future of Media Research: BARB’s next challenge is online viewing

With the latest BARB figures showing broadcast TV viewing is on the up, the next challenge facing the measurement service is picking up viewing via PCs and laptops, IPA research director Lynne Robinson told delegates at Friday’s MediaTel Group seminar on the ‘Future of Media Research’.

The data, published in Thinkbox’s Q1 Review, show that people in the UK watched 30 hours and 4 minutes of broadcast TV a week during the first quarter, up 2 hours and 29 minutes year on year.

Robinson said that TV viewing has been going up both “as a function of the recession and the increase in digital channels”, while the rise in the level of recorded viewing has been helped by improvements in the way it is measured.

Bjarne Thelin, BARB CEO, also in attendance at the seminar, said that it is important for people to understand the complexity of TV in this country, with the likes of VoD and PVRs providing a massive challenge to BARB.

“The BARB system is dynamic, it’s always moving – it’s a massive job to keep on top of it and keep the quality high,” he said.

He added that BARB is currently researching the measurement of online TV.

“When we see the results we’ll be able to say to the industry ‘yes, we can do both'”, he said.

And with the digital switchover deadline approaching, the opportunities for using return path data are increasing, although Robinson warned against placing too much emphasis on this as a measurement method.

She said: “It’s interesting, but return path data monitors the set-top box rather than the TV set. You need to use BARB data to find out if people are actually watching the TV.”

Fellow panellist Richard Bedwell, consultant, Bedwell Media, added that although return path data is valuable, “it is owned by the set-top box owner; you still need an independent BARB.”

“BARB is not just the data, it’s also the judgement of it,” he added. “If the data is coming from a ‘biased’ party, you absolutely need BARB.”