MRG Evening Meeting: The New BARB Contracts
The MRG held an evening meeting on Tuesday to introduce the changes which will occur when the new BARB contracts are introduced in January 2002. Introducing the speakers, Caroline McDevitt, BARB’s chief executive, promised that the organisation was “reviewing outmoded practice” and introducing change which was perhaps overdue.
This will naturally create problems and concerns as the new system is introduced, she said, and hoped that the industry “should all be taking a sensible approach and planning for how to manage those changes now.” McDevitt also promised that more change still will occur over the next 5-8 years as the new system copes with emerging services.
McDevitt’s colleague at BARB, research director Tony Wearn, then took the stand to explain the four new contracts, which have been awarded to RSMB (panel design and audience calculation methodology), IPSOS RSL (establishment surveys) and ATR UK (metering equipment, panel home recruitment, data collection and promotion of efficiency and data processing). Wearn explained that the thinking behind having four contracts was to enable greater flexibility and the selection of the best team.
Roger Gane was at the meeting on behalf of IPSOS RSL. He explained that his company’s initial priority will be to assist RSMB in specifying the composition of the panel. “Although unseen, this will play a vital part in the design of the survey,” he said.
Having explained the changing nature of TV audiences and households over the past 30 years, he went on to set out the aims of the new survey. The first of these is to increase the sample size by 32% to include 52,500 interviews per annum, with a widely dispersed random sample, minimal distortion clusters and a target response rate of 70%.
Another feature of the new survey will be a revised definition of eligible interviewees, to take in head of household in addition to housewives. The questionnaire is being improved and will now be undertaken on computers rather than with pen and paper. Sub group factoring will make for a more robust system for smaller regions.
Shadow reports for the new survey will be made available for the next year, as the existing contract comes to an end, with the first live survey being made available thereafter annually on a June-July year.
Steve Wilcox, technical director of RSMB, explained that his company will undertake to produce a panel design which is more up-to-date, efficient and can deal with emerging technologies. It is to take into account household size and lifestage and will review the representative categories, calculation procedures and principles of Database 2 and rationalise the key trading categories. By doing this it hopes to achieve a larger effective sample survey, a more user friendly procedure and more consistency.
ATR UK, which will be responsible for the equipment installed in panellist’s homes, was represented by MD Adam Phillips. He said that his company aimed to maximise sign-up time by minimising the time between surveys and recruitment and recruitment and installation. It wants to provide well-trained and well-equipped staff and non-intrusive technology (eg. which doesn’t have to be fitted inside the TV equipment).
ATR will be employing its fourth generation TVM meter, which it is confident can handle any progress in broadcast technology. The size of two video cassettes stuck together, it is about as powerful as a small PC. As well as recognising and distinguishing between analogue and digital, videos and DVDs, video games, group viewing, it can handle video recording and play back, teletext, EPGs and interactive services.
ATR will provide quality control reports to RSMB and BARB, daily and weekly viewing data to subscribers, individual audience figures for Database 1 and aggregate audience figures for Database 2 in reviewed formats for an optimal reporting system.
The new establishment survey began as a shadow operation in October 2000 when a completely new panel was recruited and installed. By the fourth quarter of 2001 a full parallel run should be in place with the existing panel.