Barb introduced its combined content ID system (CCIDS) in January 2020, operated by MetaBroadcast.

The contract for CCIDS finishes in January 2025, so Barb is inviting tenders for a contract to run the system from then until December 2029.

The system maintains the consistency of programme titles and genre reporting in Barb’s audience measurement through standardising programme titles, linking individual episodes to a programme and independently assigning programmes with a standard Barb genre.

CCIDS also links linear and broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) content across platforms and feeds into Barb’s Dovetail Fusion process, which generates demographic profiles for viewing on non-television devices.

Caroline Baxter, research operations director at Barb, said: “Our content ID system is a fundamental part of our television audience measurement service, enabling us to effectively report what people watch, regardless of the channel or service viewed on.

“As the Barb service has evolved, so too has the content ID system. It now also enables consistent programme titling and genre reporting on subscription video on demand (SVOD) services and for content available on a number of different platforms.

“We are now looking for a contractor to manage and develop the system so it is fit-for-purpose for the latter half of the decade.”