TV audience measurement firm Barb is to increase its UK-wide panel of representative households from 5,150 to 7,000 homes, its largest increase since its 1981 launch.

The move comes on the back of the body’s decision to award a series of long-term research contracts developed in partnership with the likes of Kantar, IPSOS and RSMB.

This will include the rollout of new metering technology to Barb’s 7,000 UK homes, which equates to approximately 16,000 people. Its new contracts will to run through to 2029.

“I’m passionate about high quality panels and expanding the panel is crucial because it will ensure continued high quality and true representativeness of the population,” Barb chief operating officer, Caroline Baxter said.

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“At Barb, we know that underpinning successful, truly independent audience measurement using both panel data and big data, is the high quality and robustness of the panel itself. By investing in rigorous, interview-led recruitment, we reach all parts of the population, making our panel truly representative of the UK.

She continued: “This increase demonstrates Barb’s continued commitment to the UK TV and advertising industry to deliver independent quality insight that comes from panel-based measurement.”

Building on recent improvements, the inclusion of this latest tech will enable Barb to report on the viewing of broadcaster video-on-demand (BVOD) services on multiple screens, non-linear programmes on TV sets, advertising/subscription video-on-demand (AVOD/SVOD) services, video-sharing platforms and dynamically-served advertising.