BARB

Definition:
Acronym, pronounced as a word, for BROADCASTERS' AUDIENCE RESEARCH BOARD, the body which has commissioned and supervised research into the UK television audience since 1981. Its management committee comprise representatives of BBC-TV, the ITVA, Channel 4, BSkyB and the IPA. There are two continuous-research programmes: 'audience measurement' and 'audience appreciation'. The first, operated by AUDITS OF GREAT BRITAIN (AGB) and RSMB Television Research Ltd., surveys a national panel of approximately 4,500 households, made up of area samples ranging in size from 100 to 350. Their representativeness is ensured by systematic selection from an 'establishment survey' among a random sample of 43,000. This is also the source of replacements for households which become unrepresentative with the passage of time, or drop out for whatever reason. Electronic meters are wired to TV sets and video recorders in panel households and every member is provided with a personally-numbered, remote-control encoding device. There is a facility for guest viewers to enter their age and gender. Each individual uses the device to record the beginning and end of each continuous viewing session. An alarm signal flashes on the set meter if the set is on but it has received no input. The VCR meter imprints an electronic code on video tape being used to record off-air, and reads the code back whenever the tape is replayed. The data collected in this way are automatically downloaded every night to a central computer, which combines them with the schedules of programmes and commercial breaks and calculates estimates of audience numbers. BARB estimates that the panel response rate is between 98 and 99 per cent. Subscribers have access to the raw data or the computed audience statistics, which provide a reliable indication of audience PRESENCE but not necessarily of attention to what was on the screen at the time. Specialist reports are issued on live and time-shift recorded viewing of the terrestrial commercial channels, the BBC network, and Astra channels received by satellite dish and cable. The 'audience appreciation' research, carried out by the market resarch agency RSL, investigates reactions to programmes but not to commercials. A national panel of 3,000 adults complete weekly viewing diaries, in which they rate each one viewed on a scale from zero to ten. Their ratings are aggregated to produce an Appreciation Index for each. An additional booklet contains questions about aspects of particular programmes, and more general ones about series and serials. The data collected in that phase of the research are confidential to the broadcasters who specified the questions.

Cross-References:
[presence] [Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB)]

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