Barb Establishment Survey Out to Tender
August 5 2025
In the UK, video ad currency body Barb has issued an invitation to tender for its Establishment Survey. The invitation seeks new ideas bringing greater flexibility to sampling and data collection; sample size; and potentially a redesigned questionnaire for improved flow and participant experience.
The Establishment Survey is an ongoing survey of UK households with three core objectives:
- To provide population estimates for access to and ownership of TV viewing equipment for universe estimation
- To set profile targets for Barb panel control, and
- To provide a pool of homes for Barb panel recruitment.
The current contract, for which tenders were
invited in autumn 2023, is held by Ipsos and runs until the end of 2026, and the new contract will be awarded for 2027-2029, with an optional two-year extension. The body aims to run the new contract in parallel with the existing one for 2026, for testing purposes. Ipsos, and its predecessor company in the UK MORI, have held the contract for more than
twenty years.
Barb says it is interested in possible inclusion of mixed mode fieldwork for the household interviews - the number of these, currently 53,000 each year, is also up for discussion. COO Caroline Baxter (pictured) comments: 'This tender gives us the opportunity to review all aspects of the Establishment Survey's methodology and data collection - particularly considering the Barb panel expansion to 7,000 UK homes - while ensuring it is based on flexible, future-facing and high-quality processes and continues to meet our core objectives.'
The deadline for response to the tender is 9th October - pack available from
caroline.baxter@barb.co.uk .
All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.
