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Netflix signs up to BARB

BARB is the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined. The board will now report daily Netflix viewing from 1 November

BARB has announced that Netflix has signed up to its audience measurement services; the first industry-owned audience currency in the world that Netflix has joined. BARB will report Netflix viewing every day at both a service and a programme level as of 1 November.

In November 2021, BARB included streaming services as part of its audience reporting across linear and on-demand services, which include aggregate-level (daily) viewing to SVoD/AVoD and video-sharing platforms, as well as content ratings for shows on the leading SVoD services.

BARB stated that “while Netflix and other streaming services have clearly established themselves within the television-viewing ecosystem, broadcasters continue to account for the lion’s share of viewing in the UK. Across 2022, broadcasters’ linear channels and on-demand services have accounted for around two-thirds of all identified viewing, while SVoD/AVoD services comprise about one-sixth of all viewing. The average daily viewing time to broadcasters’ services was 159 minutes in September 2022, and the average for SVoD/AVoD services was 36 minutes per day.”

From the second week of November 2022, BARB said it will publicly report the monthly reach and share of viewing for broadcaster groups and SVoD/AVoD services which account for more than 0.5% of total identified viewing. It will also extend its weekly reporting of the top 50 shows to include shows across all linear channels and SVoD service providers.

“Back in 2019, at the RTS conference in Cambridge, I welcomed the idea of Netflix audiences being measured independently,” said Reed Hastings, Co-CEO of Netflix. “We’ve kept in touch with BARB since then and are pleased to make a commitment to its trusted measurement of how people watch television in the UK.”

Justin Sampson, chief executive of BARB, added, “Our audience measurement continuously adapts to accommodate the new platforms and devices that are being used by people to watch their favourite television shows. We took a big step forward last year when we started reporting audiences to streaming services. Netflix’s commitment to BARB sends a clear signal that what we’re doing is valuable to new and established players in the market.”

For viewing from 1 November, BARB will report Netflix viewing every day at both a service and a programme level to its clients; the same way it reports viewing for its other subscribing broadcast channels, broadcast video-on-demand (BVoD) and advertising/subscription video-on-demand (AVoD/SVoD) services. Netflix viewing data will be available to all BARB clients on the morning of 2 November through existing viewing analysis software and data-processing bureaux.