Rakuten TV Joins UK's Barb Ratings

Viewing figures for Rakuten TV will now be independently measured by Barb, after the company became the latest streaming service to sign up with the UK audience measurement body.

Rakuten TV operates in more than 40 European territories and reaches more than 150 million households. The Barb deal includes its paid on-demand services as well as its main FAST (free ad-supported) offering, and the TV company says the deal will give advertisers and content partners greater visibility into audience performance across connected TV viewing. Barb has already welcomed Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and YouTube into its cross-platform reporting.

Initial Barb data suggests that Rakuten TV reaches around two million British consumers, and that more than half of them (54.6%) do not subscribe to any other FAST platform.

Stuart Keith (pictured), VP Global Ad Strategy & Partnerships at Rakuten TV Enterprise says the move represents 'an active choice to be fully transparent with the market... speaking the same measurement language as the wider industry while clearly demonstrating the unique value we can bring through incremental audience reach.' He adds: 'As FAST continues to grow within the mainstream TV ecosystem, standardised measurement is key to unlocking its full value for advertisers. We're proud to be a leading player among FAST/hybrid platforms in adopting Barb, as it complements our existing audience analytics and enables partners to make smarter, more effective media investment decisions.'

Web sites: www.barb.co.uk and www.rakuten.tv .