BSkyB To Launch UK’s Largest Audience Panel
BSkyB is to begin measuring satellite television viewing with an audience panel four times the size of that currently used by BARB.
The new panel will be largest of its kind in the UK and will comprise 20,000 households, compared to just over 5,000 for BARB. However, BSkyB claims it will not act as a substitute for the existing industry-wide trading currency.
A spokesman for BSkyB said: “The proposed panel will not be comparable to BARB because it will measure household behaviour, rather than individual viewing behaviour. We believe data could augment BARB’s output particularly in viewing to some of the smaller channels on our platform.”
The BSkyB panel will be used to monitor the viewing habits of digital satellite subscribers. It will also enable the company to examine the effect of subscription upgrades, Sky Plus boxes and second set-top-box subscriptions.
Andrew Canter, broadcast director at Media Planning Group, welcomed the move, saying: “Anything in this area that can help us gain a greater understanding of the customer’s behaviour is a good thing. If the new panel lets us drill down further into satellite viewing habits then that should be applauded.”
However, he added: “You’ve also got to go beyond the numbers in some respects and look at how these smaller digital channels work in terms of their environment. Something like the Extreme Sports Channel is going to have a pretty small audience, but it will be highly defined and this means there will be very little wastage.”
The launch of the audience panel will depend on an upgrade to the satellite platform’s functions, which over the next few months will allow BSkyB and other rival broadcasters to create their own specific audience measurement panels.
Data from Sky’s own subscriber panel will be made available from early 2005 and will initially be used for customer marketing purposes. It is not yet clear whether the panel will serve as media planning tool, but it is envisaged that audience data will be made available commercially to advertisers and agencies in the future.
BARB recently announced plans to introduce a new reporting system capable of measuring the sponsorship of television programmes. The company’s research director, Tony Wearn, said the specification for the new tool is almost finalised and should be ready to launch by the middle of this year (see BARB Prepares To Launch Sponsorship Tracking System).
BSkyB: 0207 705 3000 www.sky.com
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