TV viewership measurement to be overhauled

The year 2013 was abuzz with news of the broadcast industry up in arms against TV viewership measurement company, TAM Media Research. First, NDTV took its parent company, Nielsen, to court in the US for allegedly fixing TV ratings. Soon after, Multi Screen Media (which owns Sony TV) and Times Media Network also boycotted TAM. After all, viewership rating is the only measurement yardstick for the advertiser to decide which TV channel he should advertise on. 

The anger against TAM not having a fair viewership representation system had been brewing for several years. However, the recent Cabinet ruling to overhaul the viewership measurement system in India based on the TRAI recommendations could finally address woes of broadcasters.      

The ruling has addressed the biggest concern of sample size. TAM Media Research for instance, has had a sample size of only 10,000 homes for the last 10 years. This is definitely small for a country which has 154 million cable and satellite TV homes. From now on, the viewership measurement companies will have to have a sample size of at least 20,000 homes with a rule to scale up by 10,000 homes each year until it reaches 50,000 homes.

"A larger sample size would mean better representation of viewership trends," says Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council), a joint industry body established to set up a TV viewership measurement system. Dasgupta claims that BARC, which is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2014, has already incorporated into its business plan all the rules laid down by the government.

Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands, who is on the board of Barc says that the viewership measurement agency will not only have more representation, but also use advanced technology to provide foolproof viewership information.

A larger sample size would also influence the kind of TV content that is created in India. For instance, TAM's existing sample size does not reach out to rural areas, several north eastern states and Jammu & Kashmir. Therefore it doesn't come as a surprise that the North East has only one major regional network - North East TV, which is the most sought-after platform for advertisers to reach out to their target audience.

"India is an agrarian economy and we do not have a single channel for farmers on agriculture. This is because there is no measurement mechanism that would track viewership in rural areas," says a leading media analyst. After all, advertisers advertise on a channel based on its ratings.

So will this ruling improve advertising returns of broadcasters? "I think we are giving too much importance to ratings," says the media practice head of a leading consultancy company. "Ratings should just be one of the indicators. One should also take into account other factors such as quality of viewership, consistency of a TV show etc," he adds.