BARB has announced the results from the beta launch of the first joint-industry, audited measure of viewing to online TV in the UK.
The TV Player Report is a stepping stone to the completion of Project Dovetail – the hybrid measurement system that will use BARB panel data and device-based data – and for the first time provides official figures on the level of viewing to on-demand and live-streamed content through online TV Player apps.
The latest report shows that total time for viewing on audited online TV players was 353.3 million minutes during the week ending 23 August; however, BARB expects viewing to rise significantly as more platforms are audited and autumn schedules are launched.
Programme data are currently available for on-demand viewing only, with the most-watched programmes during the period including Made in Chelsea, EastEnders, The Great British Bake Off and Coronation Street.
The results include a new metric, ‘average programme streams’, which takes into account the number of devices that started to watch a programme and also the length of time that the programme was watched, resulting in the average number of devices watching across the duration of the programme.
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BARB is currently working on further developments that will enable it to report average programme streams for online TV that is watched live, total time spent watching on-demand programmes by originating channel, and consumption of online TV advertising.
The BBC has welcomed the move, with James Purnell, director of strategy & digital at the BBC, commenting: “We believe it is vital to capture how people are now viewing on whatever device they choose and this is a big step towards that goal.
“We also look forward to BARB’s future planned developments in this area which will ultimately help us to fully understand the complete picture and so enable us to optimise the value we deliver for different audience groups.”
Justin Sampson, chief executive at BARB, said: “It’s great that BARB is starting to report the level of online TV audiences.
“The TV Player Report bears testimony to the industry’s commitment that BARB works towards a comprehensive measurement of viewing to television and video content, regardless of the delivery platform.”
