How do they know how many watches a TV programme?

[Blackandpurple]

Line of Duty last night had 7.8 million viewers. Is is down to the technology in SKY etc?

I remember yrs ago (back in the 90’s) they had figures but no no ever asked me what i watched nor anyone I know!

I’m interested to know this too.
I think I was once told that they survey a typical representation of people, then apply those percentages to the population. That may be wrong though.

It’s an estimated amount. They have devices in over 5000 households which tell them what those households are watching. They use that data to estimate what the nation was watching.

www.barb.co.uk/about-us/how-we-do-what-we-do/

Growing up, my friend had a device attached to their telly to record what they were watching for estimating viewing figures. I expect it's more sophisticated now.

''Tis a lot more complicated nowadays!

For anyone who can't click the BARB link above:

Our method for achieving this relies on two high-quality data sets:
• BARB’s panel of 5,300 homes delivers representative viewing information that includes programme and campaign reach, demographic viewing profiles and measurement of viewers per screen.
• BARB collects device-based data whenever anyone in the UK watches a BVOD service on a tablet, PC or smartphone. These data provide a census-level measure of what’s been watched and for how long.

My sister had one of those boxes that monitors what you watch. She got shopping vouchers for her trouble.

She lost it when she moved in with her DP as she changed demographic.

I had one for a brief time but I couldn't be arsed clicking the appropriate buttons every time I watched tv so we gave it up

Had no idea that's how they did the ratings before that

They base it on a panel of 5100 households that represent the people in the country, eg the right amount of males/females etc. Then they apply the % to the population.

Many years ago my mum used to work for the BBC,she used to survey people in the street and she would have to go to certain geographical areas and ask questions about their viewing habits this was in the 1970,s and 80,s and there were only 3 channels than I expect it's rather more complicated now!😂

My parents had one of those devices many years ago. Not quite sure how representative they were, as they didn't really watch ITV then!

I was surveyed once, back in the '80's aged about 15. I had to write down every TV and radio programme I watched for 2 weeks

They probably did Eminey, when my mum worked for the BBC all I recall other than long boring afternoons waiting in the car with my dad whilst mum was questioning people ,was that she had to go to different areas, so one Sunday she might be in a middle class area questioning people and the week after we might have been in the middle of a council.estate .

I am one of the people whose viewing is monitored all the time. I get Argos vouchers for it every now and then - been on the panel for years.

Interesting! Thank you for replying!

Interesting thread - I knew about the monitoring thing but had never heard of anyone who'd had it before!

5100 seems like a tiny amount though - I understand they try and fix it to demographics but that's less than 0.01% of the population. Surely it would only take a few people to watch/not watch something to hugely screw the results?

In which case the figures are just a joke. How can it be based on only 5100? Pathetic!

I had someone from Ipsos Mori come round. Apparently they have a group of people from around the country helping with tv research. I don’t have a tv, so even though I was asked to join in I said no.

i could never understand how barb worked and that was after a three hour presentation from them was back in the 90s though

Sooo they don't know, someone makes it up then yeah?

Yes but it is quite simple through smart boxes nowadays, most of the population has a digital box / tv, and therefore if you turn to a channel and stay for a certain length of time (e.g. longer than 3 minutes on one channel) it is considered that you are watching the programme. It was made light years easier with the use of 'smart' boxes (sky box, freeview, virgin box etc). A server has to serve you the channels and thus it is analysed. Fantastic bit of statistics, and live time is incredible, as you can see what makes people turn off/over. That's how some channels can tell which tv presenters are pulling in the viewers and which aren't (pay attention the One Show). And with Streamed tv, we are essentially giving the statistics away without a fight.

Tea that makes sense. I knew a small number of households had their TV habits monitored but there must be the technology now to see what a huge amount of viewers are watching.

Yes, branding and marketing are big players in this not just adverts but product placement too. So if someone is wearing something or eating/ drinking something, the statistics show the exposure to the product. That's how companies like BooHoo and Misguided have managed to boom, through programmes like Hollyoaks or Love Island etc. Gone are the days of the 15 second toothpaste advert; every item in a house or on a set is for sale.

5300 seems like a really small number to get an accurate idea.

Before I knew how it worked I thought they could tell what every single TV was watching all the time. If a programme I didn’t like came on I would quickly change over so as I wasn’t counted in that shows viewing numbers