Viewing Figures/Ratings

Hi everyone,

It's always confused me so hopefully I will be able to get some clarification from you guys.

Do viewing figures include online streaming (itv.com/tv catchup/etc)?
Do viewing figures include programmes which are recorded (e.g sky +)?

Whilst I'm not sure that TV Forum is the right place for ratings.

Online streaming - don't believe it is included in either overnights/official ratings. Reported seperately I think.
Recorded programmes(Timeshifted viewers) - if the programme is watched by around midnight it's included in the overnights rating. And anything up to around a week after is included in the official ratings.

I'd check out Digital Spy - The Ratings thread for a better answer if I was you!

Thanks for that

In theory if you watch it online live (ie not on the iPlayer after its broadcast) it's probably not counted by BARB as such, considering the only records of how many people were streaming BBC One Live through the appropriate section of the website will be kept at the BBC, and if I'm correct BARB viewing is only made up of about 5000 homes that are TV based only.

Technically it's impossible to know for sure how many people have "taped" or Sky+a programme, because none of them (with the possible exception of Sky+) report back. The online catchups on the iPlayer or ITV Player are separately logged, but you regularly see them as "The BBC said so many people saw Dr Who or whatever on the iPlayer" on the new sites.

Lots of issues here.

1. There are TWO sets of BARB figures. There are the Overnights, and the Consolidated figures.

The Overnights come out at about 10am the next day(ish) and are the figures you see reported in the press. They are a bit "rough and ready" and I believe only include live viewing.

The Consolidated figures come out over a week later, and will include any time-shifted viewing on TV (from VCR, DVD recording or PVR viewing) of a show within a 7 day window. This can give some shows quite a boost, particularly those that are against another popular show (as people will record one and watch the other live. The overnights only include the live audiences, the consolidated include the recorded audiences as well)

I believe that at one stage the consolidated figures were based on additional paper diaries completed (as the people meters installed in BARB households only tracked live viewing) but I may be wrong. (I know there was some use of VBI data - but I'm not sure if that was for this)

Additionally there are figures called AIs (Audience Interest or Audience Appreciation) that the BBC particularly care about. These are not related to the volume of the audience watching a programme, and instead measure how much the audience that IS watching the show (however small) enjoy it (value it, think it is high quality etc.) They are usually expressed as percentages AIUI.

This means that shows with relatively small audiences can have very high appreciations, and if you know the demographic of the audiences (which you get from BARB figures) you can get some quite important information about how you are serving particular audiences.

2. iPlayer (and ITVPlayer etc.)

The BBC know how many people click to view iPlayer content based on their server logs. What this DOESN'T tell you is who is watching (where in the UK, what sex, what age, what demographic) - and how many people are watching (more than one person could be watching any given iPlayer stream - though this is less likely on a PC, it is more likely now we can watch iPlayer on a TV with Freesat, Networked TVs and Blu-ray players, PS3 etc) So it can't be folded in to the viewing figures just by adding.

I don't know if BARB try and track iPlayer viewing in their households yet.

3. Sky+

Sky can collate the Sky+ viewing figures (as could Tivo their's) and I believe they sold this data to third parties. Again, like iPlayer, it isn't useful for BARB - as it doesn't tell you WHO is watching, just that someone is (possibly - though it is also possible for nobody to be watching - the Sky+ doesn't have any tech to 'know' who is in the room at a given time).

Although I agree that SKY possibly can collate viewing figures of programmes viewed on Sky+, i.e the technology is more or less there to do that, do you have a source that shows that they do and have sold the data to third parties?

I'm not 100% convinced that they could collate the data in any meaningful way anyway. As well as the problems you mention, not being able to identify how many and what type of people are watching, they also don't have a guaranteed return path. The Sky+ boxes only have a telephone connection and I think the Sky+HD boxes have a telephone and ethernet connection, neither of which need to be connected for the box to function. Any data returned would give an incomplete picture. I also wonder if the boxes have the processing power and/or the storage capacity to store a week's worth of data before making the phone call back to Sky.

Then there is the whole legal and privacy side of things to consider too...

Could Sky not have a representative sample, similar to BARB, from which they can extrapolate the PVR data?