17-01-2024, 08:59 AM
(16-01-2024, 08:10 PM)Stockland Hillman Wrote: Its a shame that while reporting on misleading information, that tweet misleads.
It's more accurate to say BARB gave misleading data to its clients and has had to restate the data.
The tweet implies that GB News gave inaccurate data that BARB has stepped in to correct, which isn't the case at all.
Professionally embarrassing for BARB and it raises legitimate questions on its methodology and significant doubt that its "new" interpretation of old data is any more accurate than the first.
Oh come off it.
BARB makes crystal clear in its terms of business that it doesn't warrant accuracy of figures. This particularly applies to overnight figures which are more or less automated and more so during holiday periods.
The X post in question merely states facts, namely that GBN screamed from the rooftops that it had an audience in excess of 1 million viewers for the first time ever. BARB stated as early as 2 Jan that this is likely wrong and has now confirmed that it indeed was... to the extent that in fact only 3.3% of the number of viewers GBN had claimed were tuned into the channel.
BARB didn't provide misleading data to its client and was well within its terms of business and within the limit of automated viewing figures. It raised the high likelihood of those figures being inaccurate at the earliest opportunity but that was of course almost 24 hours after GBN published a gloating and non-sensical post about "record viewing" plus a press release claiming the same.
As for your final sentence about accuracy - if that is what you genuinely believe then you need to do your homework about BARB, its systems and the difference between initial overnights vs consolidated data after human QC.
In other words - how desperate or, worst case, stupid can a broadcaster be if they gloat about absurd viewing figures which are unheard of for them and worse, where they apparently occurred at 11 minutes past midnight on New Years day. I mean on what planet would it be even remotely possible for GBN to have a 5.6% share during a broadcast that is for all intents and purposes simulcast on BBC One, ITV 1, Sky News and BBC News.
Simple common sense and comparing the apparent 11 minutes past midnight figures vs 15 minutes earlier or later would have sufficed to make it obvious to anyone that something can't be right. But no, in typical GBN manner let's push out a press release and plaster "the record" all over socials.
Maybe a lesson about being trigger happy with social posts and press releases has been learned but I doubt it.