Exclusive interview with Simon Bolus at BARB
BizAsia.co.uk recently caught up with Simon Bolus, research director at TV audience measuring body, BARB.
Simon recently replaced Tony Wearn, who left the body after 11 years. Simon was previously research manager at BARB since March 2003. He joined BARB from Zenith Media where he was head of research. Before that, he was production audience research manager at Carlton Television.
We got Simon to explain how BARB ratings work for Asian viewers and industry personnel who have only recently discovered the audience measuring body.
Could you explain briefly how BARB ratings work?
Viewing figures come from the BARB panel of households recruited to be representative of the UK population. Homes on the panel have their TV equipment monitored by an electronic meter that identifies when the TV set is on, and the channel it is tuned to. The meter also identifies viewing to programmes that have been recorded (on a PVR for example), or watched via a video on demand service, provided they are played back within a week of their original broadcast. Individuals in the household register their presence in the room when the TV set is on by using a handset, to provide information about who is watching. The BARB panel represents viewing in domestic households, and does not include viewing outside of homes.
How does BARB choose the audience sample?
Initially BARB panel homes are randomly selected from the Royal Mail�۪s Postcode Address File, which is the most comprehensive list of households available. Every household in the UK has a chance of being picked for recruitment to the panel. Panel controls are used to ensure that the right mix of homes is selected.
Please could you explain terms such as weekly reach, average weekly viewing and share?
Weekly reach gives a measure of the number of individuals that have viewed a channel at some time across a week. To be counted in the weekly reach figures reported on the BARB website, viewers must watch a channel for at least three consecutive minutes during the week.
Average weekly viewing gives the average amount of time that each individual in the population spends watching a channel across a week.
Share represents viewing to a particular channel as a percentage of Total TV viewing.
More and more Asian TV channels have begun signing up to BARB, why do you think this is becoming such a trend?
There are still only a few Asian TV channels reported. Each channel makes its own decision to be BARB reported, in all likelihood due to a number of factors..
On which platforms do you measure viewership for Asian TV channels?
Subject to distribution, BARB will measure any channel across the cable, satellite and terrestrial platforms, both analogue and digital. For digital satellite all types of receiver are covered including Sky, Freesat, and any independent receivers.
How is it that some Asian TV channels broadcast on just satellite but its weekly reach is bigger than of a channel that is being measured on various platforms (satellite and cable), how is this possible?
The reach of a channel depends on how broad the appeal of a particular channel is, and other factors such as marketing and scheduling; platform carriage is only one factor.
The perception is that if an Asian TV channel joins BARB, it will be able to sell to ��mainstream�۪ agencies, which look at official data such as BARB, how true is this?
BARB data is the usual currency used by buyers (advertisers and agencies) and sellers (broadcasters and airtime sales organisations) to trade commercial airtime. There probably is some expectation from ��mainstream�۪ agencies of BARB reporting in order to facilitate monitoring and co-ordination of whole television advertising campaigns that are often active across a wide range of television channels at once.
The only Asian TV channels that are with BARB currently are the free-to-air, are subscription channels not happy with the sampling process?
The sample is recruited via random probability methods which represent the highest standards available for conducting market research. For specialist subscription channels the size of the sample may be a consideration however ��� and depending upon the business models of each channel BARB reporting may not be a requirement.
How is the viewership measured on subscription channels?
The techniques used to measure channels are the same whether they are subscription or free to air.
There are currently four Asian TV broadcasters with BARB, others have said that the pricing is too high for the type of returns…what would you say about that?
All broadcasters thinking of becoming BARB reported are encouraged to undergo a test so that viewing can be assessed over a four week period and a channel can make an informed decision about whether it would expect to see a return on the entry cost to become BARB reported on an on-going basis.
How would you encourage other broadcasters that haven�۪t signed up to BARB to join the system?
Channels that approach BARB are given a full description of how the system works. It is important that channels with particular target groups understand both the strengths and the limitations of the BARB system ��� it is a complex system serving a wide range of broadcasters and every day hundreds of channels are reported in the viewing figures. The more specific the target audience, though, the more sensible it is to look at viewing summarised across times of day, across the week, or across a number of weeks ��� as some niche audiences may be represented by a small number of BARB panel homes and be liable to variation and fluctuation, especially if analysed over short time periods.
Since Asian TV channels joined BARB, did you radically change the process behind the scenes such as audience sample, etc?
The methodology is not changed when particular channels become reported. BARB currently reports viewing data for around 250 channels, and the system needs to serve all the channels it reports. An important aspect of this is to ensure that the balance of the panel is correct ��� in other words that the profile of the panel remains in line with the profile of the population.
Over a number of years we have taken extra measures to strengthen the representation of some population groups which across all of market research have proved to be less easy to recruit. For example, we have recently conducted additional sampling to promote the correct balance of ethnic groups on the panel, but this is important to correctly represent the viewing of all channels, not just those targeting particular ethnic communities.
Future plans for BARB?
As well as ensuring that the existing service is as good as it can be, the main focus for future development is to find ways to measure viewing through the new platforms that are now available for viewing broadcast content. PCs and laptops are the first priority for this, but going forward other types of device, such as mobiles, may also be considered.
