Barb, the UK industry’s standard for understanding what people watch (or simply put data related to audience measurement), together with its research partner Kantar Media, has started to report TV-set viewing to YouTube channels.

This landmark initiative makes Barb (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) the first TV joint-industry measurement system in the world to incorporate viewing to YouTube channels, the organisation said in a media statement earlier in the week.

This initiative builds on Barb’s established reporting of how people watch content on YouTube that’s distributed by TV companies, as well as service-level audiences for YouTube.

Barb has chosen 200 of the most-watched YouTube channels to become part of its regular audience reporting. The selected channels span a variety of interests and topics, including kids’ content such as ‘Bluey’ and ‘Peppa Pig’; sports like FIFA and WWE; UK and international news and politics such as Fox News and Times News; entertainment like ‘Doctor Who’ and Warner Bros. Entertainment and popular YouTubers such as MrBeast, Sidemen and Topper Guild.

(https://www.barb.co.uk/news/barb-starts-reporting-tv-set-viewing-to-youtube-channels-in-world-first-initiative/)

To choose the 200 YouTube channels, Barb worked with SeeViews, an independent business that specialises in planning ad campaigns on YouTube. The selection was primarily based on volumes of viewing and considered whether the channels meet industry-agreed standards for brand safety, the statement clarified.

Barb clients can access a new weekly YouTube report in Barb’s client portal. This shows the weekly reach, share of total identified viewing on TV sets and total minutes viewed for each of the 200 YouTube channels. It also provides a demographic profile for each channel with information about the age and sex of viewers.

Caroline Baxter, Chief Operating Officer at Barb in a statement said:  “We are constantly innovating to keep pace with what people are watching today, without being constrained by the platforms or devices people watch on. We’ve gone beyond linear to report audiences to BVOD services, and we’ve gone beyond broadcasters to report audiences to the streamers.

“Now, using the same techniques we’ve been using for many years to report audiences to programmes on linear channels and streaming services, we’re breaking new ground again. This fresh, independent insight will shine a light on what people watch on YouTube for the first time, starting to answer the questions that are being asked across the advertising, programming and regulatory parts of our industry.”

To identify when the 200 selected YouTube channels are watched by Barb panel members at home, Kantar Media uses audio-matching automatic content recognition (ACR). This relies on access to the audio output of devices, which is only possible on TV sets.

This technique is harnessed alongside URL detection via the WiFi router meters installed in Barb panel homes to confirm YouTube as the source. Audio-matching ACR is the same method Kantar Media uses to identify programme viewing on linear channels and streaming services.

Barb data show that TV sets account for the largest proportion of in-home, WiFi-based YouTube viewing. In the second quarter of 2025, TV-set viewing accounted for 43 percent of all this YouTube viewing among people aged 16+, ahead of smartphones at 32 percent. TV sets are also the most popular device for children aged 4-15, accounting for 53 percent of their in-home, WiFi-based YouTube viewing in the same quarter.

Barb is the industry’s standard for understanding what people watch. It claimed that its hybrid approach integrates people-based panel data with census-level online viewing data. “Our methodology enables us to deliver inclusive measurement of total identified viewing across all broadcast, VOD and video-sharing platforms, delivered onto and consumed via multiple platforms and devices,” it said.