Barb appoints COO to ‘fast-track’ strategic objectives

Barb has promoted research operations director Caroline Baxter to chief operations officer to ensure the TV measurement company makes progress on its strategic priorities.

Baxter joined Barb in 2022 and has been responsible for synthesising what suppliers can deliver with evolving data requirements from subscribers.

In her expanded role, she will take on more organisational leadership duties, alongside her existing management of the in-house research and data science team.

Barb’s priorities include reporting of total campaign performance, extending measurement of total viewing across all streaming services and future-proofing Barb’s data access. Among these, Baxter is tasked with overseeing developments across new metering technology for Barb’s reporting panel, which is due to expand across 7,000 UK homes or approximately 16,000 people.

She previously worked at Kantar, including most recently as media program director, UK and EMEA.

Barb CEO Justin Sampson said: “Our most recent customer-satisfaction survey shows confidence in Barb’s ability to deal with the future has reached a new high watermark. This bears testimony to the great progress we’ve made in delivering an audience-centric measurement strategy. Since joining, Caroline has brought a tangible energy and focus to how the Barb team brings service developments to market. The Barb board didn’t hesitate in its support of her promotion.”

Baxter added: “Our goal is to deliver a comprehensive and trusted measurement of viewing, regardless of delivery platform, for our subscribers. I’m proud to step into this new role, building on my work over the last two years, to lead delivery of the next generation of TV viewing measurement.”