Barb, the UK’s joint industry currency for the TV business, has this morning announced the planned launch of Barb Data Hub, a new cloud-based system for storing, processing, and distributing Barb’s viewing data with the wider industry. Barb says the new tool will give its clients better ease of access to its data, as well as more flexibility, and will also have sustainability benefits. Barb Data Hub is due to release in the second half of this year.
The measurement company says it has already built a prototype in-house. For the full product, it has picked media advisory MediaSense to set up, develop, and maintain the new data warehouse, which will be built on Snowflake’s cloud data platform.
More flexibility, more sustainability
Barb says that working off a cloud data platform will make it easier for companies to quickly access data, while also giving them choice in how they receive the data. By reducing the duplication of databases and the application of calculation methodologies, Barb’s data distribution will be made more sustainable and have greater consistency in terms of data output.
Caroline Baxter, Barb’s chief operating officer, said that Barb Data Hub sits at the heart of a wider data distribution strategy, which seeks to meet clients’ evolving needs for accessing and using measurement data provided by Barb. She indicated that eventually, all companies which use Barb’s data will access it through the Data Hub, though this transition will take time. There are a good number of businesses built on the back of Barb’s data, so it will be important that there’s no disruption in their ability to access it. Baxter said Barb is looking forward to working with data analytics businesses and end users “to ensure a smooth transition from legacy processes”.
Meanwhile David Fisher, industry principal for media, entertainment and advertising at Snowflake, suggested that Barb and its clients will be able to benefit from analytics and AI capabilities which are built into the Snowflake platform. Snowflake “will provide the advanced analytics, machine learning and data sharing capabilities that will place Barb at the forefront of media measurement,” according to Fisher.
A busy start to the year
The launch comes amid wider evolution of Barb’s measurement offering, as it partners with new entrants to the TV space and works with a broader range of data sets.
In the last few years, Barb has started providing data covering a number of the major international streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. It’s also been increasingly working with census-level viewership data covering broadcaster-owned streaming services, and announced just last week that it has commissioned two prototypes for Barb Panel Plus, which will integrate return-path data from set-top boxes and HbbTV-enabled TVs with its traditional panel-based viewing data.
Follow VideoWeek on Twitter and LinkedIn.
