Barb names recipients of three measurement contracts

The agreements will see MetaBroadcast reappointed to Barb’s metadata contract to cooperate its combined content identification and genre allocation system.

The system seeks to make sure programme titles and genres in Barb’s audience measurement processes are consistent, as well as connecting episodes to a programme correctly and linking broadcasters’ linear and broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) content.

The new contract will see a greater depth of metadata delivered, with the support of Nielsen Gracenote, and also delivered earlier, three days after programmes are first made available rather than the current seven days.

MetaBroadcast and Clearcast have been appointed by Barb to run its interim overnight programme and commercial spot logs, respectively.

Both logs will be available at 9am, to be used alongside the overnight ratings for most Barb-reported channels, and will be confirmed after eight days by the logs provided by broadcasters.

The three contracts will all run for three years from January 2025.

Caroline Baxter, research operations director at Barb, said: “We look forward to working with MetaBroadcast and Clearcast to enhance our audience measurement service.

“Together, these contracts will provide faster and more comprehensive reporting of programmes and ads, giving advertisers, agencies and broadcasters earlier insight into how their programmes and campaigns are performing.”

Jamie Mackinlay, MetaBroadcast’s chief executive, said: “We are thrilled to be reappointed by Barb to continue our long-term partnership in delivering their innovative and market-leading audience measurement services.

“This is a powerful confirmation that our metadata aggregation, orchestration and operational solutions are delivering for Barb now and into the future.”

David Joel, commercial and operations director at Clearcast, added: “Clearcast are delighted to support Barb and the industry in the generation of overnight spot logs in conjunction with our technology partner Ad Signal.

“This initiative, aligned with our Attribution and Caria workflow support, will further enhance reporting for advertisers and publishers.”