Stuart Keith, VP Global Ad Strategy & Partnerships, Rakuten TV Enterprise
Rakuten TV Enterprise, the B2B arm of streaming business Rakuten TV, announced this morning it has signed up to be measured by Barb, the UK’s broadcaster-owned TV measurement JIC (joint industry committee). The move will see Rakuten’s streaming content in the UK, comprising its ad-supported video on-demand offering and its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, independently measured using the same methodology which is used across the UK’s public service broadcasters, as well as by a number of the major international streaming platforms.
Rakuten TV says the move reinforces its commitment to transparency and measurable performance, helping provide consistency in measurement across the UK TV landscape. Fragmentation in the streaming market is a common complaint on the buy-side, and different providers using different measurement standards is one of the biggest headaches caused by fragmentation. By allowing itself to be measured independently, in the same manner as many of the UK’s biggest TV businesses, Rakuten TV says it will give buyers more confidence in their media investment, and provide a clearer view of incremental reach.
“Partnering with Barb is an active choice to be fully transparent with the market,” said Stuart Keith, VP of global ad strategy and partnerships at Rakuten TV Enterprise. “In an increasingly fragmented TV environment, advertisers require clarity and consistency. By aligning with Barb, we’re speaking the same measurement language as the wider industry while clearly demonstrating the unique value we can bring through incremental audience reach. This is about more than measurement. It’s about trust, giving advertisers confidence in both the scale of our audiences and our ability to reach viewers that other platforms aren’t.”
Streamers choose alignment
A number of streaming platforms have signed up to Barb measurement over the past few years, including Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+.
As is the case with Rakuten TV, these moves are partly a case of meeting buyers where they are. While streamers have their own measurement data they can offer to advertisers and other partners, many buyers want independent measurement using consistent methodology. And in the UK, Barb remains the gold standard for measurement.
But the benefit to the services and platforms themselves is that since Barb measures across the TV landscape, its data helps broadcasters and streamers show the unique audiences they’re able to reach to their advertising partners.
Initial data from Barb found that Rakuten TV reaches around two million individuals in the UK. Within this audience, eleven percent didn’t watch any content on the major PSB-run channels (BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel 4, or Channel 5) during the measured window. This figure rises to 27 percent for 16-24 year-olds, and 17 percent for the 25-34 age bracket. In other words, Barb’s data shows that Rakuten TV gives brands access to audiences which can’t be reached via the major PSB linear TV channels. That’s always been part of the sales pitch to advertisers, but verification from Barb’s data should help hammer that point home to the buy-side.
Similarly, Barb’s data highlights Rakuten’s unique reach within the FAST world, as 54.6 percent of Rakuten TV viewers didn’t watch content on any of the other FAST platforms measured by Barb (Samsung TV Plus, Pluto, Tubi, and LG Channels) during the initial measurement window.
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