BARB Issues Content ID System Invitation to Tender

BARB, the UK's television audience measurement service, has issued an invitation to tender for a contract to run its content ID system, from January 2025.

BARB, which was founded in 1981 by the major players in the UK television and advertising industry, is responsible for delivering the country's television audience ratings. Since 2018 its audience data - collected from a representative panel of UK homes - is integrated each day with a census-level count of viewing to BVOD services, using a technique known as Dovetail Fusion.

In January 2020, BARB introduced a combined content ID system (CCIDS), operated by MetaBroadcast. This system maintains the consistency of programme titles and genre reporting in BARB's television audience measurement, by standardising programme titles, placing content in a hierarchy to link individual episodes to a programme and independently assigning programmes with a standard BARB genre. It also links broadcasters' linear and BVOD content across platforms, and feeds into the Dovetail Fusion process, to help generate demographic profiles for viewing on non-TV devices.

The contract for this content ID system finishes in January 2025, so BARB is now inviting tenders for a contract to run this system from then until December 2029. Caroline Baxter (pictured), BARB's Research Operations Director, comments: 'As the BARB service has evolved, so too has the content ID system. It now also enables consistent programme titling and genre reporting on SVOD services and for content available on a number of different platforms. We are now looking for a contractor to manage and develop the system so it is fit-for-purpose for the latter half of the decade.'

For more information, contact caroline.baxter@barb.co.uk .