My new column is live in The Drum:
Barb will use human panels to measure YouTube. Now, what about the rest of the web?
The Promotion Fix’s Samuel Scott believes putting humans back into the heart of measurement is important to help combat fraud. The column is inspired by the UK’s Barb rolling out measurement of YouTube’s top channels, so that consumption can be better compared against TV.
What do you think is the most popular TV series and movie platform?
Is it Netflix with its countless original shows and films?
Or is it Disney+ with its owned or distributed programming, including Marvel, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Pixar, ESPN, and more?
Amazon Prime with its endless array of resources?
Or still, a linear, broadcast network?
No.
Perhaps surprisingly, it is YouTube.
According to Nielsen’s The Gauge, YouTube is the number one TV viewing distributor in the US as of June 2025. Last month, Ofcom’s annual report found that YouTube has become the UK’s second most-watched media service after the BBC, and the gap is rapidly closing as more older people use the platform.
That comes from a columnist and speaker who wrote in a 2017 column here and later spoke about the “fact” that linear TV was not actually dying. Some years later, he canceled his satellite television package and kept only YouTube Premium and Major League Baseball’s streaming service in the US. (I’m big enough to admit that I was wrong.)
Now, Barb – the UK’s official non-profit organization for measuring TV audiences and viewing habits – has seemingly given YouTube another endorsement by beginning to report TV-set viewing of some of YouTube’s biggest channels.
Barb’s use of its human-based panels to start to measure YouTube channels hints at the larger issue that has always faced the digital advertising industry. Barb’s additional reporting will certainly help media planners, but it is not enough, not by far.