1 AUG 2025

UK: BARB launches industry-first reporting of YouTube Channel viewing on TV Sets

In Q2 2025, TV sets captured 43% of in-home YouTube viewing among adults (16+) and 53% among children (4–15), now tracked across 200 key channels in weekly audience reports.

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BARB, the UK’s official TV audience measurement body, has initiated a landmark expansion of its reporting to include viewing of specific YouTube channels on domestic television sets—making it the first joint‑industry measurement system to do so. Starting in Q3 2025, BARB and research partner Kantar Media will publish weekly YouTube channel data covering reach, share of TV-set viewing and total minutes watched for 200 of the platform’s most‑watched channels.

Caroline Baxter, COO at BARB, commented: “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 … 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.”

These channels span children's programming such as "Peppa Pig" and "Bluey"; sports entities like FIFA and WWE; news and politics channels including Fox News and Times News; entertainment brands such as "Doctor Who" and Warner Bros Entertainment; and individual creators like MrBeast, Sidemen and Topper Guild. Selection was based on viewing volumes and adherence to industry standards for brand safety in collaboration with SeeViews.

Measurement relies on audio‑matching automatic content recognition (ACR) to detect when panel participants view these YouTube channels on TV sets, supported by URL detection via WiFi router meters. This proprietary methodology aligns with the techniques used to track linear TV and streaming viewing across TVs.

Initial statistics underscore the importance of TV screens for YouTube consumption: in Q2 2025, television sets accounted for 43% of all in‑home, WiFi‑based YouTube viewing for those aged 16 and over, surpassing smartphones at 32%. For children aged 4–15, TV viewing represented 53% of their in‑home YouTube time in the same period. Advertising agencies and broadcasters now have access to demographic profiling—age and sex breakdowns—for each channel in each weekly report.

The announcement underscores that YouTube ranked as the second most‑watched video service in the UK behind the BBC, and ahead of ITV, in Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 report, with Gen Alpha often turning to YouTube first when switching on the TV.

By capturing specific channel‑level viewing on TV sets, BARB enables advertisers, agencies and content planners to benchmark YouTube’s audience engagement against traditional broadcasters and streaming platforms. The addition marks a paradigm shift in media measurement, expanding beyond service‑level metrics to granular, content‑level insights that can drive campaign targeting, program commissioning, and regulatory analysis.

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