Barb
Barb is a uK TV and video audience measurement currency provider.
Analyst Perspective
Barb is the UK’s television and video audience measurement body, operating as a not-for-profit company that provides industry-standard viewing data used by broadcasters, advertisers, agencies, streaming services and research teams. Its core products include subscriber-only analytics portals such as What People Watch and Barb Ads Hub, alongside public viewing-data publications. The company’s role is to produce trusted audience measurement and reporting across linear TV and streaming-related viewing contexts in the UK. Barb generates revenue primarily through subscription and data access arrangements rather than advertising or consumer monetisation. Its paying customers are industry participants that need official audience currency for campaign planning, trading, reporting and market analysis. The company creates value by combining panel and census-level datasets into a standardised measurement framework accepted across the UK advertising and broadcast ecosystem.
Analyst Signal Briefing
Updated: 2 Jul 2026Barb has appointed Caroline Baxter as Chief Executive, succeeding Justin Sampson to lead the Joint Industry Committee through a period of significant cross-platform expansion. The organisation recently integrated Rakuten TV into its measurement framework, providing independent verification for FAST and AVOD inventory to enhance CTV transparency. This broadening remit coincides with Barb reporting a 65% year-on-year reach increase for Disney+ ad tiers, reinforcing its status as the primary audience currency as UK broadcasters pivot toward the data-driven programmatic strategies and video formats prioritised in the Q1 2026 IPA Bellwether report.
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Key insights about Barb
Category Differentiation
Barb is not an ad network, broadcaster or agency; it is a UK audience measurement body. It should be distinguished from global research firms such as Nielsen, Kantar and Ipsos by its role as the UK television and video measurement currency provider.
Barb: About
Barb operates a joint industry measurement model. It collects, structures and distributes official UK viewing data, then licences access to those datasets and analytical environments to broadcasters, agencies, advertisers, streaming platforms and related professional users. Because it is a not-for-profit body limited by guarantee, its commercial model is oriented around funding and sustaining trusted industry measurement infrastructure rather than maximising profit margins.
How Barb Works & Monetises
Business model analysis and core revenue streams
Barb monetises through B2B subscriptions, licences and controlled data-access arrangements tied to its measurement platforms and datasets. Its subscriber portal products indicate recurring paid access for clients, while public viewing summaries serve as an open layer that supports industry visibility and authority. As a not-for-profit entity, revenue is likely reinvested into maintaining and extending measurement services rather than distributed as profit.
Revenue Channels
Products & Services in Categories
Verified structural categorizations from the graph
Media Channel
Technology
Recent Signals (Barb)
Barb appoints Caroline Baxter as Chief Executive
Barb appoints Caroline Baxter as Chief Executive.
Read original sourceRevolut uses YouTube and CTV to drive growth
Revolut is scaling a programmatic Connected TV (CTV) and YouTube strategy to combine broad-reach brand building with measurable performance. The fintech centralized media planning and buying through Google’s Display & Video 360 (DV360), brought media buying in-house, and built an in-house marketing mix modeling (MMM) framework to measure weekly performance. Campaign results cited include a 43% incremental reach among audiences missed by other platforms, 3.7x higher view rates versus mobile and desktop, and a 96% higher brand awareness uplift among the core 18–44 audience. Revolut emphasizes platform-native creative, creator partnerships and real-time optimization to drive sign-ups while building mainstream institutional trust. The article cites Ipsos and Barb data showing YouTube was the top commercial platform for watch time on CTV in the UK (May 2025).
Read original sourceWeek in Review: Platforms, Publishers and Policy Shifts
This Week in Review covers leadership and strategic shifts across broadcasters and publishers, regulatory pressure on social platforms, major M&A in data/identity, and several product launches in adtech. New BBC director-general Matt Brittin signalled possible channel closures, job cuts and moves to YouTube as part of a £500m savings plan. Ofcom released evidence criticising TikTok and YouTube for insufficient action on children’s online safety. Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch said the company is planning for a future with no Google search traffic. Regulatory and industry moves include ICO advice to loosen consent for low-risk advertising, Publicis Groupe agreeing to buy LiveRamp for $2.2bn, and multiple adtech product announcements (StackAdapt AI DSP features, Chalice AI partnership with Equativ, Amplified’s AttentionAI). The roundup also covers CTV market forecasts, publisher M&A, and agency financials and hires.
Read original sourceBarb: Frequently Asked Questions
What is Barb?
Barb is a UK audience measurement organisation that provides official television and video viewing data to the media and advertising industry.
Who uses Barb?
Broadcasters, streaming platforms, advertisers, media agencies, media buyers, researchers and other industry professionals use Barb’s data and portals.
How does Barb make money?
Barb makes money through subscriptions, licences and controlled access to its audience datasets and analytics portals for business users.
Company Facts
- Founded
- 1981
- Headquarters
- 4th Floor, 114 St. Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4BE, United Kingdom
- Core Segment
- Data Provider / Broker
- Company Size
- 10–49
- Official Link
- barb.co.uk