BARB awards Dovetail Fusion contract to Kantar Media

Friday, February 17th, 2017
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BARB awards Dovetail Fusion contract to Kantar Media

BARB today announces that the Dovetail Fusion contract has been awarded to Kantar Media. Dovetail Fusion will allow our customers to evaluate the total reach of programmes and advertising campaigns across TV sets, personal computers and tablets.

BARB’s strategy is to deliver trusted and independent measurement of viewing to television programme and commercial content, regardless of delivery platform. Project Dovetail delivers this strategy by combining the strengths of the data that we collect from our representative panel of people with data collected from the devices that are used to watch this content.

The award of the Dovetail Fusion contract builds on the successful launch of the TV Player Report, which first appeared in September 2015. The TV Player Report is the only joint-industry, fully-audited measure of online viewing in the UK. It provides census-level viewing information from over 30 TV player platforms that are used to watch television content on personal computers, tablets and smartphones.

Dovetail Fusion will turn the device data gathered for the TV Player Report into the people data that the industry is used to receiving from BARB. Kantar Media has been awarded the contract based on its prototype submission that was completed in the summer of 2016. The fusion methodology is guided by viewing data BARB has been collecting from software meters that are installed on our panel members’ tablets and personal computers.

Project development has started and is scheduled to be complete in time for launch in March 2018. BARB will start a roadshow in the second quarter of 2017 to help customers understand the new developments.

Justin Sampson, Chief Executive of BARB, says: “Dovetail Fusion will deliver the cross-platform viewing currency that our customers want. The daily challenges of delivering television audience measurement require a sophisticated methodology and the prototype development phase has been a critical part of the due diligence that’s necessary for BARB to meet the exacting standards that are expected of us. We’re excited to now move into full development.”

Margo Swadley, UK Managing Director, Kantar Media, says: “We greatly appreciate the confidence BARB has put in Kantar Media to deliver the next stage of its ambitious strategy and are delighted to be working with the industry on the delivery of this pivotal project.”