Ipsos gets contract to expand BARB panel

BARB, the UK’s television audience measurement body, has awarded its panel expansion recruitment contract to Ipsos, which will grow the nationally representative panel of households from 5,150 to 7,000 homes.

Caroline BaxterBARB (the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) was founded in 1981 by the major players in the UK television and advertising industry, and is responsible for delivering the country’s television audience ratings. Since 2018 its audience data – collected from the panel of UK homes – is integrated each day with a census-level count of viewing of BVOD services, using a technique known as Dovetail Fusion.

First announced last summer, the new contract begins today, with Ipsos expected to have met the expansion target by the second quarter of 2024. The company already holds the contract to run BARB’s Establishment Survey until the end of 2024, and this involves a continuous survey of 53,000 household interviews per year. The survey collects a range of data on the characteristics of UK households to ensure that the BARB panel accurately represents the UK population, and it also identifies new homes to join the panel.

BARB’s Research Operations Director Caroline Baxter (pictured) comments: ‘Ipsos won the panel expansion recruitment contract thanks to their innovative and flexible approach to panel recruitment and their deep understanding of BARB’s needs. We look forward to the panel expansion to 7,000 homes, an increase that demonstrates the continued commitment of the UK TV and advertising industry to the independent and objective insight that comes from panel-based measurement’. Mr Web