Netflix has announced that it will join the United Kingdom Broadcast Audience Research Board (Barb). According to Netflix, this is a move that will finally offer a clear view of how many people in the United Kingdom tuned into its shows while giving insight into its true influence among audiences.

According to the platform, this decision also has significant implications for the rest of the world.

Leslie Adams, sales director at Reach Africa, which specializes in media in the streaming space, adds that this historic turnabout will, for the first time ever, enable the streaming platform to be monitored and audited alongside live TV by a non-governmental organization.

“For far too long, the world of streaming had cloaked its numbers in secrecy, only releasing viewing figures when it suited it to do so. Perhaps this is understandable to an extent; when numbers dip, share prices drop, as we saw recently when Netflix announced a decline in subscribers.”

“But this shift towards greater transparency means that it is feeling confident, and will now allow it to access prized, more sizeable TV advertising budgets. You can expect this to open the floodgates, with others big players following suit,”

Leslie Adams, sales director at Reach Africa.