BARB to take full control of advanced advertising tool CFlight

UK audience research outfit BARB is to assume governance responsibility for advanced advertising validation tool CFlight from January 2024. 

Developed by Sky Media, ITV Media and 4 Sales in the UK, CFlight is described as a post-campaign validation tool that provides the total reach and frequency of ad campaigns across all viewing platforms. Since its beta launch in March 2022, CFlight has reported de-duplicated reach and frequency for campaigns aired on both linear and BVOD services.

New functionality has just been launched which allows users to review the frequency distribution of campaigns. The next major upgrade, due later this year, will allow buyers to assess campaign performance across a total of 14 target audiences which are widely used in trading.

According to BARB, CFlight is complementary to its Advanced Campaign Hub, which provides pre-campaign planning analysis across linear channels and BVOD services, including budget optimisation. Together, these audience-reporting tools enable media buyers to conduct end-to-end analysis of total campaign performance across linear channels and BVOD services.

From January, CFlight will come under BARB’s governance, with access to the service remaining as at present: all buyers of linear and VOD campaigns have access to their own CFlight reports; the top 35 media agencies have direct access to the CFlight portal, with smaller agencies gaining access via their sales houses.

BARB said it intends to expand the number of services included in CFlight and the Advanced Campaign Hub. Any VOD or streaming service that is a full BARB licensee will be able to participate on the same terms as existing participants. In recent years, Disney+ and Netflix have become Barb licensees.

BARB will take responsibility for the overall project management of CFlight. A dedicated joint-industry project team, with buy-side and sell-side representatives, will be established to oversee CFlight’s delivery, future service development and the implementation of standards.

Justin Sampson, BARB’s CEO, said: “The evolution of CFlight into a joint-industry service, overseen by both buyers and sellers of advertising, is an important moment. Complemented by the Advanced Campaign Hub, Barb’s total campaign audience reporting will not only cover all major BVOD services, but can also be extended to include pure-play streaming services that are committed to being measured and reported by Barb. As ever, Barb will continue to be guided by the joint-industry principles of fair-and-comparable audience measurement.”

Lindsey Clay, Thinkbox’s CEO, said: “CFlight is a ground-breaking industry collaboration, the first of its kind. It is constantly being improved and as the system approaches its next major upgrade, the moment is right for even wider collaboration and for CFlight to benefit from Barb’s impeccable joint-industry credentials.”