BARB, the UK television audience measurement body, has today announced a year-long extension of its contract with RSMB for survey design and methodology to December 2023. This is to facilitate the extension of its contract tender process for new contracts that will now begin in 2024 and run for an initial period of six years.

In announcing the extension, BARB said that the “decision to extend its contract tender process has been taken in light of the current public-health crisis, which has raised questions about the ongoing effectiveness of face-to-face data collection techniques. Extending the tender process will help BARB to understand which outcomes of the crisis will have a long-lasting effect on research agencies’ ability to meet its contractual requirements.”

BARB has extended the tender process for two of its main contracts: audience measurement panel and data publication, and survey design and methodology. It has also announced that it will also invite tenders for a panel set-up recruitment contract, which will be specified in line with the winning bid for the audience measurement panel and data publication contract.

BARB’s news release can be found here.