IPA wants consolidated BARB figures dropped

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising is proposing that the next BARB contract drops consolidated viewing figures as part of wide-ranging changes to the way that media research is collected.

The IPA wants to take advantage of the new contracts being negotiated for BARB and the NRS at the end of the year. It believes the BARB contract will cost less if it stops issuing consolidated viewing figures – which include video-recorded viewing – and “live” figures because they add little to the data.

But while the IPA wants BARB simplified, it is calling for the NRS to be made more thorough.

The next NRS contract should include research into individual newspaper sections and a set of “quality of reading” questions about how people read publications, how long they keep them and which parts have most impact, the IPA believes.

There should be a relationship between the amount of advertisers’ money at risk and the amount of media research, IPA director of research Lynne Robinson believes. “The impact of consolidated figures is minimal, and there is less need to cover the niche channels that new technology is bringing in.”