Barb, the UK’s joint industry committee (JIC) for TV measurement, has today launched the Barb Data Hub, a new cloud-based system for storing, processing and distributing Barb viewing data to the industry. The system is designed to centralise TV audience data, and bring more agility and flexibility as to how it can be used.
The JIC first announced the Barb Data Hub back in February, having built a prototype in-house. The measurement body then selected media advisory MediaSense to develop the new data warehouse, and ad tech firm Snowflake to provide the cloud data infrastructure.
Previously all of Barb’s data was distributed by its measurement partner Kantar, which applied the calculation methodology and distributed the files to the wider industry. While Kantar will continue to distribute Barb viewing data, Barb Data Hub — developed and operated by MediaSense — allows for more control and collaboration from Barb’s in-house team. Caroline Baxter, Chief Operating Officer at Barb, told VideoWeek this gives the JIC “far more control and flexibility” over how that data is handled.
“Our in-house data science team started to question why this sat within Kantar and why it wasn’t more Barb-controlled,” says Baxter. “Because obviously it’s our methodology, it’s our data, but it sits behind the Kantar firewall. We were reliant on them for every time we made a change. So it was felt that if Barb could have more control over it, we would have more flexibility about who accesses the Hub and who can or cannot make whatever changes that might need to be made to the Barb calculation methodology.”
A single source of truth
Barb data is accessed by an array of businesses and data processing bureaux, such as TechEdge, which separately apply the calculation methodology. This creates duplication and inefficiencies, according to Baxter. The launch of Barb Data Hub opens up the opportunity in the future for Barb to apply the methodology centrally, providing a “single source of truth” by ensuring the consistency of data output.
While the development technically alters the data warehouse from Kantar to Mediasense, there is no immediate change to how Barb clients access that data. However, the move forms part of a wider data distribution strategy that seeks to meet clients’ evolving needs for accessing and using measurement data. Baxter says the launch opens up opportunities for people to get data directly from Barb, rather than going through a bureau.
In addition, the Barb Data Hub will house the Barb Ads Hub, a total campaign reporting tool due to launch on the Hub in January 2026. Some of the data which will be available in the Ads Hub can be already accessed via TechEdge, but the launch of Ads Hub within the Data Hub will again give Barb more control, and allow assets to be reused across projects.
The measurement body is also developing a new API where clients can access more pre-calculated Barb data, which is planned to launch in the next six months. API 3.0 marks a shift from the current API where less of the data is pre-calculated, meaning users have to know how to turn the raw data into audience viewing figures.
“We’re providing more opportunities and easier ways of getting Barb data than necessarily having to go through a very complicated way of understanding the methodology to do it yourself, or going through a bureau,” comments Baxter.
More data, more options
Looking ahead, Barb is looking to bring more data into the Hub, including its integrated data sets that combine panel measurement with big data sources. In January the JIC launched two Barb Panel Plus prototypes (one from Kantar and one from RSMB and Sopra Steria) to combine data sets, and these now sit in the Data Hub.
Barb will also add its Dovetail Fusion project to the Hub, the initiative that combines its people-based panel data with census-level BVOD viewership data collected from smartphones, tablets and PC, in order to capture viewing happening outside of TV sets.
“As we’re developing Barb and its data, we’ll be putting more and more of that in the Hub, rather than behind a firewall from Kantar or RSMB or another supplier,” says Baxter. “It just gives more choice and flexibility, and we have more control over what actually happens.”
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