Business
Currently, BARB have approximately 5,100 homes (equating to approximately 11,500 individuals)1 participating in the panel. The box records exactly what programmes they watch, and the panellists indicate who is in the room watching by pressing a button on a remote control handset. The data are collected overnight and published as overnight ratings at around 9.30 the following morning for use by TV stations and the advertising industry. The following week, final figures are released which are a combination of the overnight figures with 'timeshift' figures (people recording a programme and watching it within a week). This means that with a total UK population of 58,789,194, according to the 2001 census, each viewer with a BARB reporting box represents over 5,000 people.
BARB numbers are extremely important to commercial television stations. The trading model that is used by television companies and advertising agencies depends on the number of people watching the shows and the commercial attractiveness of those people (simplistically young/well off very attractive and older/poorer less attractive). The advertising agency will pay the television station a certain amount of money based on the number of people watching a show. The BARB numbers are used to work this out. The higher the BARB numbers, the more money a television station will make.
This leads to some interesting situations on the smaller channels. Since there are many television stations, and many hours in the day, there can be situations where BARB will record zero viewers for certain programmes. As the TV advertising system is geared round BARB ratings all but the very smallest channels subscribe to BARB.
Read more about this topic: Broadcasters' Audience Research Board
Famous quotes containing the word business:
“In my cheapest moments I am apt to think that it is n’t my business to be “seeking the spirit,” but as much its business to be seeking me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Some of the smartest women in the country said that they’re too embarrassed to attend their reunions at Harvard Business School if they have dropped out of the work force, left the fast track by choosing part-time work, or decided to follow anything other than the standard male career path.”
—Deborah J. Swiss (20th century)
“And what if my descendants lose the flower
Through natural declension of the soul,
Through too much business with the passing hour,
Through too much play, or marriage with a fool?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)