Relationship extends into a fifth decade

New state-of-the-art music data platform under construction

The Official Charts Company has inked a brand-new deal with technical support partner Kantar extending their relationship into a fifth decade.

The new contract will see the two companies continue to provide the music sector in UK, France and Ireland and video sector in UK and Ireland with gold standard official charts and data into the 2030s.

The long-term deal has been finalised after a competitive tender process which saw Kantar come out on top against more than a dozen rival bidders and includes the development of a brand new, state of the art entertainment data and analytics tool which will launch in 2026.

Kantar was first commissioned to compile UK charts and data (as Millward Brown) in 1994 and has worked with the Official Charts Company (and its predecessor organisations) ever since. Working together, Official Charts and Kantar have chronicled a period of immense change, including:

• The explosion of CD and DVD sales through the Nineties, as supermarkets began selling home entertainment for the first time
• The launch of legitimate downloading services in Europe in 2004, via new services launched by Apple, Amazon, Napster, HMV and Virgin.
• The addition of streaming to the Official Charts’ poll in 2012, arriving in the Official Singles Chart in 2014, with video streams following in 2018
• The explosion of vinyl sales in the late 2010s.

Data for the UK music and video sectors has been part of the Official Charts service since 1994, with Ireland’s music and video data joining in 2017 (in partnership with IRMA) and France music services in 2021 (in partnership with SNEP/SCPP).

As well as compiling more than 50 music and video charts every week in the UK alone, the Official Charts Company / Kantar partnership also produces data services for more than 100 music and video companies in the UK, plus the official market data published by BPI, ERA, SNEP, IRMA and IFPI.

Over the 31 years so far, it is estimated that the Official Charts / Kantar partnership has collected data on 1.6 trillion transactions, including 3.0 billion album sales, 2.3 billion single sales, 1.6 trillion track streams, 3.3bn physical video units and 344 million digital video units.

Official Charts Company chief executive Martin Talbot says, “We are delighted to have finalised this landmark agreement with Kantar.

“Since launching the tender process two years ago, the Kantar team have risen to what was a challenging process, and are now building what we are certain will be the most advanced entertainment insight tool on the planet. We are very proud to have been global leaders in the field of data delivery for many years, and this new platform will allow us to deliver a step-change in data quality and flexibility, for entertainment professionals in the UK, France, Ireland and beyond.

“I have personally had a relationship with the Official Charts, right back to my days as a writer at Music Week reporting on the transition from Gallup to Millward Brown – so it is a matter of some pride to be ushering it into what is a brand new era, not just for the Official Charts Company but for the future of data provision in the entertainment sector.

“A large number of people have made a huge contribution to the finalisation of this new partnership, including our stakeholders (our current / recent chairs, Proper’s Drew Hill, Sony Music’s Charlotte De Burgh Holder and Amazon’s Paul Firth – and BPI and ERA CEOs Jo Twist and Kim Bayley), the key partners at Kantar (Allan Scott, Pallavi Kheria, Madhur Anand and Dan Lister) and the members of our own team who have driven through this process (operations director Chris Austin and CTO Mike Dunford). They all deserve huge credit for their sterling efforts in delivering what will be a ground-breaking new service.”

Marie Ridgley, CEO, Kantar Insights UK & Ireland, says, “We’re thrilled to renew our partnership with the Official Charts Company, a cornerstone of the dynamic entertainment industry. It's an honour to combine our extensive industry expertise and analytics capabilities to unlock a uniquely rich dataset shaped by years of collaboration. This next chapter focuses on driving innovation and delivering even more value to Official Charts and their subscribers.”

Drew Hill, the non-exec chair of Official Charts Company and managing director of Proper Distribution, says, “Having been part of the RFP and tender process over the past couple of years it is tremendously exciting to see the project get to this stage. I’ve personally been a user of the Official Charts online platform my entire career and what the team are bringing to market next, with Kantar’s support and expertise, will cement the Official Charts Company as the gold standard globally.”