BARB and Ipsos Trial Mediacell Tablet Peoplemeter

UK audience research body BARB has announced plans to work with Ipsos MORI to trial the latter's Mediacell Tablet Peoplemeter, as part of an ongoing investigation into new techniques for collecting viewing data.

BARB (the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board) provides viewing figures for UK television audiences, and is funded by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), and Sky. On behalf of these organisations and other subscribers, BARB commissions Ipsos MORI, Kantar Media and RSMB to collect data that represent the TV viewing behaviour of the UK's 26 million TV households.

The new version of Ipsos' Mediacell system will be trialled with 60 homes in London over a six-month period. The device uses a combination of audio fingerprinting and audio watermarking to establish what is being watched. Panellists can also use the tablet's touchscreen to register their presence in the room, or a remote control handset with buttons allocated to each household member can be used to record which individuals are watching.

Through the trial, BARB hopes to determine the reliability of the device, while also examining whether such a device has a positive effect on the experience of panel members. The trial is part of BARB's Project Dovetail hybrid measurement initiative, which involves combining panel data with census-based site-centric data.

BARB CEO Justin Sampson comments: 'This trial is another important element of our strategy, which is to ensure we continue to do the basics as well as we possibly can. Technology moves on and we need to understand how meters can keep pace with these changes, both in terms of how the equipment looks and the accuracy of the data capture techniques.'

Web sites: www.barb.co.uk and www.ipsos.com .