BARB must not ignore concerns

As a contractor operating in another medium I must say I agree with your leader and Torin Douglas’s analysis of the increasing problems facing BARB in the multichannel universe.

Digital and satellite channels are taking a greater share of viewing and already have reached the point where their audiences should be properly measured. This is a concern that BARB must address.

I also believe that BARB faces other problems which relate to standards of media research in general. In TV research it is still the case that people merely have to be present in a room to count as a viewer.

Surely TV should be aiming to match the standard being forged by other media rather than allowing increasing complexities to erode an already rickety measurement system.

It should also be time for ISBA to have a seat on the main BARB board as it does on the Postar research system board. While advertisers don’t fund BARB directly, their expenditure funds it indirectly as is the case with all other media.

Francis Goodwin

Managing Director

Maiden Outdoor

London SW1W