Barb nears completion of virtual meter trials

Trials of the meters developed by Kantar/TNS, will wrap up at the end of March, but Barb says it is continuing to investigate what effect measuring TV and PC viewing in the same household could have on existing TV-only panel homes.

Reflecting on the field test, which involves a specially-recruited panel of 75 homes, Barb said it was “pleased with how it is progressing and encouraged by the meter’s capability to collect viewing”.

Meanwhile, Barb said that a pilot stage of a test to develop a non-linear database to gather viewing information not currently collected by the ratings body, such as PC viewing and content from video on demand services, is “nearing completion” and ready to move to the next phase.

Barb says it will begin experiment with the identification of advertising while examining issues surrounding processing capacity, content volume and interface requirements. The TV ratings body is also looking for feedback from interested parties to make sure that industry requirements are known and delivered.