AMSTERDAM and LONDON -- Sept. 10, 2010 -- Pilat Media, the leading supplier of business management software to the media industry, today announced the availability of a common interface between its Integrated Broadcast Management System (IBMS) and viewing audience share data from the U.K.-based Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB). With the interface, broadcasters have a quick, easy, and seamless method for importing audience-ratings data into IBMS to support advertising sales, program scheduling based on demographics, and regulatory reporting.
A consortium of several major media companies in the U.K., BARB is responsible for providing the official measurement of U.K. television audiences. Operating in a similar fashion to Nielsen Media Research in the U.S., BARB gathers data on audience viewing behaviors and patterns from 5,100 homes and provides up-to-the-minute ratings information to its broadcasting subscribers. The BARB data is an important supplement to the reports that broadcasters are required to file with the U.K.'s Office of Communications (Ofcom) -- reports that can be automatically generated based on scheduling and as-run information in IBMS' content module. In addition to meeting the regulatory requirement, broadcasters rely on the demographic and ratings information supplied by the IBMS reports to inform future scheduling decisions, and to support targeted advertising campaigns and fee structures.
The common link between IBMS and BARB replaces a previous manual process which required development of an individual, unique interface between each broadcast system and the BARB database. Pilat Media worked in conjunction with three leading multichannel cable and satellite networks to develop the spec and execute design and testing; a fourth broadcaster has also recently incorporated the interface in its IBMS environment. Providing a core set of BARB data, the new interface is now a standard component of IBMS and includes optional fields under which customers may subscribe to additional data.
"For our U.K. customers, the ability to import audience-ratings data from BARB adds a powerful new dimension to the data-collection, consolidation, and aggregation functionality within IBMS. And now, by providing a common, standardized interface to BARB, we're able to offer this capability in a less costly and much more efficient manner," said Ron Bar-Lev, EVP product strategy, Pilat Media. "Working with our partners and BARB, we were able to test and implement the new interface in record time -- which illustrates once again the flexibility of the IBMS platform and how easily it can be customized to meet broadcasters' evolving requirements."
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About BARB
The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) is the organization responsible for providing the official measurement of U.K. television audiences. A consortium of the BBC, the ITV companies, Channel 4, Five, BSkyB, and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, BARB currently provides audience behavior and ratings information from 5,100 homes in the U.K., representing about 11,500 individual viewers. More information is at www.barb.co.uk.
About Pilat Media
Pilat Media Global plc [AIM: PGB] develops, markets, and supports business management software solutions for content and service providers in the media industry. Designed with the direct involvement of top-tier broadcasters, Pilat Media's systems improve business performance, accelerate time to market and enable diversification and growth of content programming, advertising sales, traffic, and media operations for multiplatform linear and on-demand services. More than 50 blue-chip media companies around the world use Pilat Media solutions, including FOX, CTV, Virgin Media, Discovery, SABC, Chellomedia, the BBC, Media General, Sky Italia, ESPN Star Sports, Network Ten, TVNZ, Southern Cross, and Foxtel. These and other deployments represent the management of billions of dollars in advertising revenue and programming that reaches hundreds of millions of viewers. More information is available at www.pilatmedia.com.
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