What advertisers want: how audience measurement is changing

Kate Bulkley, John Litster, Matt Hill, Rich Astley, Sarah Rose and Justin Sampson (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumain)

With the rapid increase in video-on-demand (VoD) viewing, over-the-top services such as Netflix and mobile TV, working out who watches TV – and when and where – has become a complicated business.

This is the data that advertisers want – and which ratings body Barb is doing its utmost to provide, according to chief executive Justin Sampson.

Meet Dragomir Mrsic: the bank robber-turned-TV star

Dragomir Mrsic stars as crooked cop Alex Leko in Swedish drama Alex (Credit: Global Series Network)

A stolen car sits, boot open, guarded by one man. A short distance away, two other masked men are carrying out the biggest robbery in the history of Sweden.

They tackle two female guards and crack open the safe of an armoured transport car, stealing away with around 730 million SEK, although much of it in unusable government bonds.

Three days later the men board a plane in Copenhagen having purchased round-the-world tickets costing over 55 000 SEK for the three.

One of those men, the man who stood guard while the robbery took place, is Dragomir Mrsic.

Cherry Healey talks Sex, Knives and Liposuction

(Credit: UKTV)

Her new series Sex, Knives and Liposuction deals with a subject close to Healey’s heart: body image, and more specifically, the increasing pressures put upon women to look and act a certain way. In the series Healey follows a group of women as they embark on a quest to gain the “perfect body” through a series of surgical procedures, including everything from breast reduction to bum lifts. All the while she examines her issues with her own body and decides whether to go under the knife herself.

Bodyguard: Make-up designer My Alehammar explains how to get the dream job

My Alehammar (Credit: Jon Attenborough)

Alehammar was born into a family of make-up artists. Both her mother and sister are both in the industry, working in fashion. “I started my career when I was about 15/16 in the fashion industry in Sweden.”

She moved to the UK to study film and TV make-up at London College of Fashion and worked in post-production for a few years. “Then I decided I missed make-up but I didn’t want to go back to fashion.”

Tom Davis on Judge Romesh, comedy and Coogan

At over two metres tall, with a gravelly voice that rumbles up out of his chest before skittering around in the thick beard that populates his face, Tom Davis could be an intimidating figure.

But he isn’t. In a soft cap, and chunky glasses, looking dapper and approachable, the Bafta-winning scaffolder-turned-comic reflects on an unusual career trajectory that has brought him to his most recent role: Court Bailiff in Dave’s new series Judge Romesh.

Presenter Chris Stark shares his secrets to success

When he was offered two days a week on the Scott Mills Show in 2012, he did everything in his power to get noticed. “I would turn up at 8.30 and stay all day and help wherever I could, no one asked me to leave!” 

He has since gone on to become a household name on Radio 1 and has carved out an exciting career with fresh and interesting content for the station. “Try and find a way of being yourself which inherently will make you different,” he explains.