BRAB

Introduction

This blogpost will focus on the activities of the BARB and include information on the questions we answered in class.

Questions

1. What does the BARB stand for and what do they do?

BARB stands for Broadcasters Audience Research Board. And they monitor and are the official source for television ratings. They are considered the most up to date and best company in the world for collecting television viewing statistics.

2. Is the data they provide up to date?

The data that they provide is up to date as they constantly update their data every minute, providing their subscribers the most up to date information and statistics.

"Each day at 9.30am the data are released to the TV industry as overnight viewing figures. Eight days later, consolidated audience figures are released, incorporating any time shift viewing from the previous seven days. In both cases this minute by minute viewing information can be matched to the programme and advertising schedule to give viewing estimates for every programme and commercial that has been broadcast."

3. Is the BARB considered biased or unbiased in the data they provide? How do you know this?

The BARB is considered unbiased in the data they provide because they use a carefully selected panel of television screens which collect information based on different demographics. This makes it unbiased because it will give a more equal estimate on the ratio of audiences on the UK. I also know that the BARB is considered unbiased because it is a non-profit organisation, so they have no specific aim or goal to please and it is supported and sponsored by all channels to give a unbiased result by not favouring channels or programmes.

4. How do they get their official viewing figures for UK television audiences?

The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) provides official viewing figures for UK television audiences. It commissions specialist research companies Ipsos MORI, Kantar Media and RSMB to collect data that represent the television viewing behaviour of the UK’s 26 million TV households.

5. How many households are there with TV's in the UK?

Within the UK, there are approximately 26 million TV households with TV licenses.

6. Why do TV companies and advertisers want to know the viewing figures that BARB can provide?

TV companies and advertisers are interested in the viewing figures that BARB can provide because the information is vital in assessing programs and to create a basis for airtime advertising trading.

7. Is data collected from every household in the country or is there a ratio?

The data is collected according to a ratio. the ratio is on 1:5000 households.

8. How do the households that are monitored have their data collected?

The households that are monitored have their data collected by;

"In every panel household, all television viewing is monitored automatically by special metering equipment installed by Kantar Media. Included in this process is viewing of recorded programmes that are watched within seven days of the original broadcast; this is referred to as time shift viewing. More than 30,000 viewing devices are monitored across the panel of over 5,100 homes, including PVRs, DVDRs and VCRs, as well as standard set-top boxes.

Residents and guests in a panel home register their presence in a room containing a television set that is switched on, which is the BARB definition of television viewing. They then deregister when leaving the room. In this way, the meter records all viewing by every person in the household aged 4+, adding individual demographic information to the overall viewing data. This information is uploaded automatically to BARB every morning between 2am and 6am where it is processed to apply various statistical adjustments. "

BARB (broadcasters audience research board)

PAST BLOG POST INFORMATION

"The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) is the organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created to replace a previous system, where the BBC and ITV companies compiled their own ratings, JICTAR. It is owned by the BBC, the ITV companies, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Participating viewers have a box on top of their TV which tracks the programmes they watch."(6)
"BARB viewing data give broadcasters, advertisers and other interested parties a minute by minute breakdown of viewing at regional and national levels. This information is vital in assessing how programmes, channels or advertising campaigns have performed and provides the basis for airtime advertising trading.
In order to estimate viewing patterns across all TV households, a carefully selected panel of private homes is recruited. Each home on the panel represents, on average, about 5,000 TV homes. These panel homes are drawn from a household sample that is designed by RSMB to remain representative of all television households across the UK. This means it always encompasses the full range of demographic and TV reception variations, amongst other variables, that are found across the country and in different ITV and BBC regions." (7)

(Reflection) I feel that this method of gathering data may be unreliable as it gathers averages of information and it interprets data on a estimate of other households. This data is not accurate because other households may not be according to their listings and they are going to be generating misinterpreting data.

Example of a rating sheet from the BARB:



This rating sheet shows the data collected on the ratings from March 2000 to July 2008 for the channels ITV 2, ITV 3 and CITV. It showed in which weeks did the viewings of the channel peak at. This table is a overview example of ratings, subscribers can get more in-depth information for channels and programs which are up to date up to the minute.



Bibliography

www.barb.co.uk (14/01/2012)