Category: GECs

Cookie communication causes commotion

MUMBAI: & coming soon… A box containing a cookie with these words imprinted on it has been making its way to the offices of trade and print publications, creating a buzz amongst journos. Speculation has been running rife about what this unexpected teaser gift means. Is it from the Star network which is acquiring an expensive cricket property or movie catalogue? Or is it the Zee Network which is launching a new channel? Or is it from Colors which is coming up with a new weekend event or show? Or is it from Sony which has launched another movie in partnership with another Indian studios? The bets are out and nobody knows, but it sure has got scribes’ attention who now have their ears pricked up for even a sliver of information relating to the gift. Hundreds of calls have been made to one of the GECs, but no information has been forthcoming.

Welcome to marketing to trade lesson 1.01. Of course channels and brands have been doing it for years. The Essel group, for instance, in the early nineties had sent out toothpaste tubes to newspaper and magazine offices to impress upon journalists/advertisers/media planners what a lamitube looks like.

Former Star India communications head Yash Khanna points out such “activities” do lead to a lot of excitement. “Gone are the days when one or two channels ruled. If a corporation does this they not only create excitement but they also remind the various members of the ecosystem that hey we are connecting with you and we care enough to share with you something meaningful.”

He states the example of Star Gold and Star Movies. “Before Star Movies was launched, we had sent out a Director’s chair to most advertisers and bean bags before the launch of Star Gold. Such initiatives keep the channel in the recipient’s mind.”

Shola Rajachandran an independent PR consultant who has worked with Star, Zee and Sony in the past goes on to say that today creating buzz before a launch has become a said thing. “Today, before any product is launched, a certain amount is kept aside to create buzz through different initiatives and activations. Earlier, people used to call for press conferences and give out merchandise which is not the case today. The competition has increased tremendously and hence, everyone is trying to outdo each other by coming up with out of the box innovations.”

A communication consultant who has spent over 40 years in the industry, Amitabh Khona, goes on to call them collectors’ items. “I have got watches, wine bottles, cricket balls, trophies etc. Once I got a pillow from CNBC shaped in their logo. It would be wrong to label it as a gimmick because a lot of thought goes into coming up with such innovative ideas that too keeping in mind the whole fraternity.”

“Clearly, the marketing teams have to dig deep into their creative wells,” said a media observer. “And come up with new gimmicks to create the buzz. Which they have done in this cookie’s case. By the way has anyone identified who it is,” he asked us.

We, at indiantelevision.com have kind of guessed, but we have chosen to keep our lips sealed and open them only to munch away at the cookie and wait until the mysterious sender declares what and who is it for.

July 31, 2013
The Smurfs to dance to the tune of India’s viral sensation Adhi and Indian Idol Junior competitors

NEW DELHI: Nine young participants in Sony TV’s Indian Idol Junior singing talent hunt, aged between eight and fifteen, have rendered an Indian song called “Na Na Na (Nice vs Naughty)” in the dubbed Hindi version of Sony Pictures’ Smurfs 2, being released on 2 August.

To be released by Sony Music, the song features Chennai-based viral sensation Adhi of HipHop Tamizha (pronounced “Tamila”) whose hit “Club le Mabbu le” has garnered over 2.1 million views on YouTube.

They join an illustrious group of top international artistes. The film’s international soundtrack features Britney Spears’ hit “Ooh La La”. Other major international artistes that have shown some Smurf love include Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Smurfy” (a remake of their classic “I’m Too Sexy”) and LMFAO’s “I’m Vexy and I Know It” (remake of their super-hit “I’m Sexy and I Know It”).

Sony Music will make the song available across all digital platforms. The film itself is being released in 3D in both Hindi and English.

In this sequel to Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation’s hybrid live action/animated family blockbuster comedy The Smurfs, the evil wizard Gargamel creates a couple of mischievous Smurf-like creatures called the Naughties that he hopes will let him harness the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. But when he discovers that only a real Smurf can give him what he wants, and only a secret spell that Smurfette knows can turn the Naughties into real Smurfs, Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and brings her to Paris, where he has been winning the adoration of millions as the world’s greatest sorcerer. It’s up to Papa, Clumsy, Grouchy, and Vanity to return to our world, reunite with their human friends Patrick and Grace Winslow, and rescue her.

The film is directed by Raja Gosnell and produced by Jordan Kerner. The screenplay is by J. David Stem and David N. Weiss and Jay Scherick and David Ronn and Karey Kirkpatrick with a story by J. David Stem and David N. Weiss and Jay Scherick and David Ronn, and is based on the Characters and Works of Peyo.

The story of the Smurfs started in 1958 with the creation of comic books which were later brought to both the big and small screen. Over the years, the little blue characters haven’t just limited themselves to the page and the screen. They have inspired records and CDs that have sold millions of copies, entire collections of figurines and toys, and many more products. In all, more than 3,000 derived products have been produced and leading brands and companies have spread their messages worldwide with the help of the Smurfs.

July 30, 2013

How Colors is adding ‘colours’ to its content

We produce over 7500 hours of original content per year only amongst the top six GECs, which by itself is a tall order, and yet we produce great shows that goes on for over five years on almost a daily basis. Internationally also shows go on for years but they are in seasons and they take a break and most of them are not daily. So to that extent, in a way we can say we create great content, especially given the budgets we operate in.

I believe that the 12 minute regulation on advertising inventory will act as the much needed catalyst for the advertising yields to go up, so I am very optimistic about the future
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At this moment, the budgets we work with is very very low for fiction shows as compared to worldwide benchmarks, and it shows in the quality of the product that goes on air. It is an chicken and egg situation, you can‘t produce high quality shows if you don‘t invest…You can‘t invest if you do not generate sufficient revenue. Right now we have too much dependency on advertising revenue, where the yield has been stagnant for years and a fair share either in increased subscription revenues or a decrease in carriage fees hasn‘t really happened yet. But with digitisation progressing and the remaining phases to be implemented soon, I believe that over the next two-three year horizon this correction is bound to take place. What it means is broadcasters will then have more money in their kitty to reinvest on quality programming, thus enriching the viewing experience multifold for the consumer. I also believe that the 12 minute regulation on advertising inventory will act as the much needed catalyst for the advertising yields to go up, so I am very optimistic about the future.

Yes we have some challenges facing the industry. There is a dearth of good script writers, most of the stories that come to us are unfortunately cut and paste jobs, either from movies or from across different shows. Original thinking is surprisingly missing. Then if you look at the comic genre, there are hardly any good comedy writers, in fact you can count them on your fingers. So either there is a genuine dearth or we haven‘t been able to scout & nurture talent as an industry. We like to work with the same people who are so overloaded with work and are unable to devote 100 per cent to one story (There ofcourse are exceptions to the rule). Production houses have become executors, the channel EP‘s take credit when a show does well but blames the production house, script writer, everyone else when the show flops. We need to move to a system where the production house takes cent per cent accountability to deliver a show and its ratings. A system where they are both incentivised and penalised for performance. The channel EP‘s must strictly supervise that all deliverables are met & quality check. The producer of the show must have a skin in the game so that they are fully involved.

Right now we have too much dependency on advertising revenue, where the yield has been stagnant for years and a fair share either in increased subscription revenues or a decrease in carriage fees hasn‘t really happened yet
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Talent is another challenge, inspite of being a country of 1.3 billion people, talent is still an issue. Again, part of the problems lies with us broadcasters, we don‘t want to experiment with new people. We want the same hosts, same judges, and are not willing to look beyond. Its a musical chair. Everyone wants to play safe. We prefer to stay in our comfort zone and we need to change this mindset.

Last year we had a list of names floating to anchor our show Jhalak Dikhhlaa Jaa. Also for the judges. My non fiction programming head and I were insistent that we needed a face that was new…Thus we got Manish Paul & see what a success he has been! We got Karan Johar again from outside the regular judges list and he has turned out to be the best judge on any TV show! His contribution to the show, like Madhuri & Remo has been enormous.

Television is a very potent medium. The beauty of TV is, you take anybody and put them on television a couple of times and they will become a celebrity. TV fiction stars are more popular than film stars even though they may not get the same adulation as a film star. But the truth is they invade millions of drawing rooms and bedrooms day in and day out 365 days of the year in the remotest parts of the country. I have had legends in the field of art and culture or even very eminent people from different walks of life wanting to meet some of the characters from their favourite shows. I have seen film actors‘ parents wanting a picture with their favourite TV star…The problem with TV stars is their life span is comparatively short and their fortunes are linked to the performance of, at most times, just one show. Once the show is successful some of them forget what got them there in the first place and there is no one to counsel them or professionally manage them. So that is another area, that we need to work on and develop as an industry.

We as a channel have taken the first step in upping the ante by announcing a high production fiction show 24 with Anil Kapoor. Sony has followed by announcing a fiction show with Amitabh Bachchan. We are happy that we have set another new trend.

July 30, 2013

TRAI releases FDI in media consultation paper; seeks industry feedback

NEW DELHI: Even while reiterating its earlier proposal for increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in FM Radio to 49 per cent, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its consultation paper today said that permissible FDI in teleports, DTH, HITS, mobile and cable television networks must be raised to 100 per cent.

It took up the FDI issue in the paper following a reference by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on 22 July. The TRAI has conceded a long-standing demand of news and current affairs television channels by recommending that they should be permitted 49 per cent FDI. Stakeholders have to respond to the paper by 12 August.

However, TRAI has said that in the cases of both FM Radio and news channels where the existing limit is 26 per cent, the clearance would be through the Foreign Investments Promotion Board.

In the case of teleports, DTH, HITS, mobile and cable television networks where the limit was 74 per cent, TRAI says that it can be raised to 100 per cent of which 49 per cent would be automatic and the rest would be through FIPB.

No change has been recommended in the case of downlinking of TV channels and uplinking of general entertainment (non-news) channels where the upper limit is 100 per cent through FIPB.

TRAI says that in its reference, the Ministry had indicated it was re-examining the current FDI policy and liberalising the limits/caps with a view to easing FDI inflow. In this context ministry has requested the Authority to examine the FDI limits of various segments in the broadcasting sector and to furnish its recommendations.

TRAI had earlier given recommendations on the same subject in April 2008 and again on 30 June last year following Ministerial references, on the basis of which changes had been carried out. The last such change was on 20 September 2012.

Currently, the FDI limit in carriage services is 74 per cent , of which 49 per cent is permissible through the automatic route. Any FDI beyond 49 per cent has to go through the FIPB route. The same FDI limits and approval route were prescribed for broadcast carriage services and telecom services on the ground that both are infrastructural services akin to each other and there is a growing convergence between the broadcasting and telecom infrastructures.

The Government is contemplating enhancement in the FDI limit for telecom services to 100 per cent with FDI up to 49 per cent through the automatic route and FDI beyond 49 per cent through FIPB. Carrying the same logic forward, and keeping in mind the fact that the ongoing digitisation of cable TV services in the country would give a big impetus to the convergence of broadcasting and telecom infrastructure, the same limits and route ought to be made applicable to carriage services in the broadcasting sector, it says.

For downlinking of TV channels, no distinction has been made between the two categories while prescribing FDI limits. This is because the ingredients of content can only be controlled at the uplinking end. Hence, 100 per cent FDI is allowed in downlinking of channels in India. However, FIPB approval is required. Further, in case of channels uplinked from a foreign land, additional conditions have been mandated for permitting downlinking in the Policy Guidelines for downlinking of Television Channels dated 11 November 2005.

While granting permissions for uplinking of channels from within the country as well as for downlinking of all channels uplinked from within the country or abroad, the MIB takes security clearance from the Home Ministry. Since content can be sensitive in nature, it is appropriate to have checks and balances at different stages namely to screen for any potential hazard from a national perspective. In view of these considerations, the status quo ought to be maintained regarding the route for approval of any FDI.

For uplinking of TV channels of the non-news and current affairs category, 100 per cent FDI is permitted through the FIPB route. The status quo may continue, TRAI says..

For uplinking of TV channels of news and current affairs category, the existing FDI limit is 26 per cent through the FIPB route. An increase in the FDI limit for news & current affairs channels will enable access to more resources for these channels at competitive rates. These resources can be applied for upgrading news gathering infrastructure and quality of presentation. It could also reduce the dependence of TV channels on advertisement revenue. Therefore, the FDI limit for news & current affairs channels in the uplinking guidelines may be increased from 26 per cent to 49 per cent through the FIPB route.

There are existing provisions in the uplinking guidelines to safeguard management and editorial control in news creation. These include: i) requirement to employ resident Indians in key positions (CEO of the applicant company, three fourth of the Directors on the Board of Directors, all key executives and editorial staff), ii) the largest Indian shareholder should hold at least 51 per cent of the total equity, iii) reporting requirements when any person who is not a resident Indian is employed/ engaged etc.

If the FDI limit in uplinking of TV channels of the news and current affairs category is enhanced to 49 per cent , then as per provision in ii) above the remaining Indian shareholding (51 per cent) would have to be with a single Indian shareholder. The more general issue, on which stakeholders may wish to make suggestions, is whether or not any changes are at all required in these conditions. In fact, a better way to ensure that content deemed undesirable or subversive in nature is not broadcast through TV channels is by having proper content monitoring and regulation through a content code, instead of using FDI limits as the tool for this purpose.

The Government has announced the Phase III of expansion of FM radio. In this phase it is envisaged that 839 new private FM radio stations will come up, expanding the coverage of private FM radio stations from 87 cities to 313 cities. The auction of frequencies for FM radio is likely to be taken up by the Government shortly. Easy availability of capital to operators through multiple sources at competitive rates would ensure better participation in the auction by the operators.

The phase III policy also expands the sphere of activities that can be taken up by the FM radio operators. These include carriage of information pertaining to sporting events, live commentaries of sporting events of a local nature, traffic and weather, cultural events and festivals, examinations, results, admissions, career counselling and employment opportunities, public announcements pertaining to civic amenities like electricity, water supply, natural calamities, health alerts as provided by the local administration etc. For building up of infrastructure for such services, additional investments will be required. Keeping in view all these aspects, the FDI limits may be enhanced from 26 per cent to 49 per cent through FIPB route for the FM radio sector.

In the past, FDI limits for FM radio have been fixed on the same lines as that for TV news channels, on the rationale that FM radio and news and current affairs channels are of a similar nature from the sensitivity point of view. Enhancing the limit to 49 per cent through the FIPB route will also ensure that the FDI policy for FM radio will remain aligned to the FDI policy for uplinking of the news and current affairs channels, which is also being considered for enhancement to 49 per cent through the FIPB route.

The Phase III policy of the Government for FM Radio also prescribes a similar condition for safeguard of managerial control of radio channels as in the guidelines for uplinking of news and current affairs channels. If the FDI limit for FM radio is enhanced to 49 per cent, then, as in the case of news and current affairs channels, the remaining Indian shareholding (51 per cent ) has to be with a single Indian shareholder.

July 30, 2013
Labour court restrains Outlook group from terminating People mag employees

MUMBAI: It was last weekend that the Outlook group announced that it was shutting down three of its magazines – Geo, People, and Marie Claire. That announcement may end up being just a proclamation if the journalists working at People magazine have their way. They have managed to get the Mumbai Labour Court to issue a restraint on the Outlook group management from terminating its employees till the due process of law is followed.

In its order, the court, presided by small causes court judge P K Chitnis, directed Outlook to maintain status quo of the services of its employees. “Respondents are directed to maintain status quo and services of the complainants may not be terminated without following due procedure of law,” said the court order.

The copy of the court order has been sent to both Outlook management president Indranil Roy and editorial chairman, senior journalist Vinod Mehta.

The court took notice of a petition filed today morning by People magazine editor Saira Menezes along with 16 other employees. Advocate Anees S Kazi represented the complainants.

The Outlook management had through a public statement issued on 26 July announced the termination of its licenses with international magazines-People, Marie Claire and Geo.

Almost 60 employees will be affected by the shutting down of the three magazines. The petition was filed by the employees of People, India, but could apply to the employees across the three magazines.

At the time of writing the report, the Outlook management had not received the court order. “I have not received the order as yet, but have only heard about it,” informed Outlook Publishing president Indranil Roy.

“Outlook group has never held back anyone’s dues and neither do we plan to do it in this case. The dues will be cleared. After all we are all friends. No one should doubt our intentions,” he added.

When asked on the time frame within which the dues of the employees will be cleared Roy said, “Now that the matter has been taken to the court, we will talk to the court only.”

When Outlook Group editorial chairman Vinod Mehta was contacted, he refused to comment.

July 30, 2013
PVR announces blockbuster results for Q1-2014

BENGALURU: Indian motion picture exhibition, production and distribution house PVR Limited (PVR) today declared stellar results for Q1-2014.

Let us take a look at the performance for Q1-2014

PVR’s consolidated revenues for Q1-2014 were Rs 337.3 crore as compared to Rs 180.7 crore during the corresponding period of last year (Q1-2013), up by 87 per cent. Consolidated EBITDA for Q1-2014 was Rs 61.4 crore as against Rs 34.6 crore in the same period last year, up by 78 per cent. Consolidated PAT for the quarter was Rs 13.9 crore in Q1-2014 as against of Rs 7.8 crore in the same period last year, up by 79 per cent.

Correspondingly, PVR’s profit before tax for Q1-2014 grew by 64.5 per cent to Rs 19.7 crore from Rs 11.98 crore in Q1-2013. PVR had reported a loss of Rs 17.94 crore for Q4-2013.

Net total income from operations for Q1-2014 was Rs 208.54 crore, up 29 per cent from the Rs 161.29 crore reported for Q1-2013 and 43 per cent higher than the Rs 146.2 crore reported for the preceding quarter (Q4-2013).

Total expenses at Rs 183.16 crore were up 25.7 per cent from the Rs 145.68 crore during Q1-2013 and up 23.5 per cent as compared to the Rs 148.34 crore for Q4-2013.

PVR says that its exhibition business in Q1-2014 grew on back of strong same store growth, addition of new multiplex properties and Cinemax multiplex circuit (post acquisition in January 2013). The revenue growth was driven by strong box office, food and beverage revenues and advertising revenues.

Revenues from PVR’s movie exhibition more than doubled (grew by 111.5 per cent) at Rs 313.08 crore in Q1-2014 as compared to the Rs 148.05 crore reported for Q1-2013. Revenues for Q1-2014 were higher by 47.1 per cent as compared to the Rs 212.85 crore revenues that the company reported for Q4-2013.

The other contributing segment to profits was ‘Others (includes bowling, gaming and restaurant services)’, revenues from which almost doubled (grew by 98.2 per cent) for Q1-2014 to Rs 18.91 crore from the Rs 9.54 crore reported for Q1-2013 and grew by 17.6 per cent as compared to the Rs 16.98 core revenues reported for Q4-2013. Segment results from the Movie production and distribution recorded a loss of Rs 0.96 crore for Q1-2014.

During Q1-2014, PVR says that it had Rs 1.52 crore footfalls in its cinemas, up by 17 per cent as compared to corresponding quarter of previous year (Q1-2013). The average ticket price across the cinema circuit also grew by 10 per cent on the back of strong content and flexible pricing launched by company in various markets. Food and beverage revenues grew by 37 per cent over corresponding quarter of previous year. Sponsorship revenues also showed a stellar growth of 60 per cent over corresponding quarter of previous year.

PVR chairman cum managing director Ajay Bijli said, “The revenues and profitability in the quarter has shown a robust growth over the same period last year. The integration of PVR & Cinemax at operating level is progressing well and the management is focusing on driving synergies from the combined scale of operations which is reflecting in the market share and the reported results. The string of big budget Bollywood Films like Chennai Express, Once upon a Time in Mumbai Again, Satyagraha, Krrish 3, Dhoom 3, Boss, Beshram, Singh Sahab the Great, Bullet Raja etc., will further augment the strong box office performance for the remainder of FY 2013-14.

The company is bullish on its expansion plans and says that it intends to add 85-90 screens in FY 2013-14. During the Q1-2014, PVR added five properties with 35 screens across Kochi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Delhi. On a combined basis, PVR and Cinemax have a network of 383 screens spread over 89 properties in 35 cities across the country.

July 30, 2013
Pak govt not interested in giving access to YouTube: Lahore HC

NEW DELHI: The Lahore High Court has observed that it appears that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is least interested in drafting a mechanism that could open (unblock) YouTube in Pakistan.

The observation was made earlier this month in ‘Pakistan Internet Freedom’ (Bytes for All Vs Federation of Pakistan).

However, the Deputy Attorney General informed court that Google did not respond to the request and seemingly has no interest in this case and so did not appear in court. Earlier, it was learnt that a legal representative of Google was going to appear before the court.

Bytes for All, the petitioner of the case, informed that PTA was misleading the court and that it had the mechanism to filter the unwanted blasphemous and anti-social content on internet.

“While PTA has the technical capacity to block individual URLs to keep the rest of the platform accessible, they had been denying their ability to do so”, the petitioner argued.

A filtering solution is already in practice at Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) who hired the technology from a Canadian firm Netsweeper.

According to the petitioner, Netsweeper technology is being implemented in Pakistan on PTCL for purposes of political and social filtering, including websites of secessionist movements, sensitive religious topics, and independent media.

Several times, the Pakistan government and its regulatory bodies have announced that they lack a technical capability to block specific URLs in Pakistan and for that they require filtering software. Other than this, government representatives have been demanding Google to open its office in Pakistan so that legal affairs could be controlled in a better way.

An official of the ISP while commenting on the situation said, “It is very easy to provide complete access to YouTube archive and filter the unwanted content at the same time. If government is seriously willing to resolve the issue, ISPs can install the filtering software on their end. This will ensure filtered access to entire YouTube”.

Meanwhile even as PTA had claimed last year that that it had blocked the access to the videos on YouTube that are anti-Islamic, many leading Pakistani ISPs are still making it possible for people to access those videos (without even using any proxy) which are actually the trailers of the movie titled Innocence of Muslims.

July 29, 2013
Malaysia to get Twentieth Century Fox theme park

MUMBAI: Malaysian casino operator Genting’s resort unit will build a 400 million ringgit ($125 million) Twentieth Century Fox Theme Park near the capital Kuala Lumpur.

The park – to open in 2016 – will be the first Twentieth Century Fox theme park with rides and other attractions based on such blockbusters as Ice Age, Life of Pi, Alien and Night at the Museum, Resorts World Genting said in a statement.

Twentieth Century Fox consumer products president Jeffrey Godsick said, “The park marked the launch of our global location based entertainment strategy”.

“For the first time, audiences will soon be transported into the worlds of their favourite Twentieth Century Fox properties,” he said.

Built on more than 25 acres (10 hectares), the park will feature more than 25 rides and attractions, the statement said.

It replaces an older outdoor theme park, which is part of Resorts World Genting located at the peak of an area known as Genting Highlands.

The resort, which also includes the country’s sole casino and has attracted more than 20 million visitors per year since 2011, is undergoing a reportedly three billion ringgit refurbishment.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has banned gambling but allows non-Muslims to bet at the casino in Genting Highlands, on horse-racing and the national lottery.

Asia’s first Legoland theme park opened last September in the southern Malaysian state of Johor in an economic hub across a narrow waterway from Singapore.

July 29, 2013
Eve players stage giant online space battle

MUMBAI: For five hours on 28 July about 4,000 players took part in the epic battle between two of the game’s biggest alliances.

The two sides were fighting for control of resources within several of the game’s solar systems. Time was slowed down in the virtual universe to help servers cope with the huge numbers of players and ships.

The battle pitted spaceships belonging to CFC against those from the test alliance in a region of space known as 6VDT. It ended in victory for CFC.

Eve Online is a detailed space simulation that sees players fly spaceships through thousands of virtual star systems, seeking resources they can use to prosper. The resources can be found on planets and in asteroid fields or acquired through piracy or other underhand means. Ships vary in size from small trading vessels to giant capital ships.

Erlendur Thorsteinsson, one of Eve Online’s developers, confirmed in his tweet that the battle was the biggest ever seen in the game. At its peak the battle involved 4,070 pilots and their ships.

Game time was slowed to ten per cent of normal to lighten the load on servers working out who was shooting at whom. The pivotal moment in the battle took place two hours in, when CFC sent in a large fleet of capital ships – the most powerful in the game. Their arrival prompted many members of the test alliance to try to flee.

By the end of the conflict, thousands of ships are believed to have been destroyed. Their destruction has a real-world cost as the game’s internal currency can be bought with real money.

So far no-one has worked out the total value of the ships destroyed, but a far smaller battle earlier in 2013 laid waste to far fewer spacecraft that in total were estimated to be worth more than $15,000.

The giant battle was the culmination of a long campaign by CFC to force the test alliance out of 6VDT.

Some have speculated that it may be one of the first of a series of conflicts that seek to extinguish test.

July 29, 2013
BARC begins nationwide roadshow with Bengaluru

BENGALURU: In what was the first of four to five open houses that BARC intends to hold in India, the apex body shared details about the way forward at Bengaluru last week. Principal Provocateur/Advisor Paritosh Joshi, who represents the broadcasters interests in the 12 member technical committee on BARC spoke at length about the council’s plans on the new audience measurement system. In attendance were about 100 professionals from the broadcast and ad ecosystem, and BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta and VP Mubin Khan.

Some of the points that were clarified at the Bengaluru Open House include:

For what is said to be the largest tender ever floated for audience measurement anywhere in the world, BARC has received expressions of interest from significantly big technology companies that wish to be a part of the tender. The tender terms state that each vendor would have to work with whomsoever BARC wants it to work with. “Since multiple vendors are likely to be involved, system integration was crucial and there was a possibility of a blame game when something didn’t work out,” Joshi said, explaining why BARC will play a pivotal role.

Of the 32 expressions of interest, 27 companies from across the world had been asked to submit proposals. Because of the huge diversity of devices on which television style content could be consumed, TV content was now more and more agnostic to screen as well as time. Consumption of TV and television type content was not only being space-shifted, but also time-shifted. BARC has made it clear in its RFPs’ that it wanted a screen and technology agnostic measurement.

BARC expects to complete the awarding of contracts by end September or early October and the new ratings system could be out by the summer of 2014.

Value added reselling of data is another possibility for the future. As much of the process that can be automated will be automated – simply because BARC wants to minimise human intervention.

The ratings body has not yet fixed periodicity of dispensing data because it would vary within the structure of the sample. Joshi explained, “Based on the current situation and sample size, probably getting weekly data is all that could be possible initially. This is not an emotive issue of weekly, fortnightly or quarterly reporting, BARC would look at the data and decide. It must be remembered that the higher the frequency that one seeks, the larger the sample size must become to be able to find statistically significant sized audiences. BARC recognises that there are some channels that we cannot report on a weekly basis, and so these channels could be reported quarterly, BARC will give unduplicated quarterly reach since there is no other number available for these channels.”

Explaining how BARC picked up the establishment study size, Joshi said, “The most critical element of an audience measurement system is defining the establishment and the way people and the type of people (the consumer classification) who consume television. The establishment study which is already in the field will help BARC to prioritise and enable it to determine the segments of the population that are important and cannot be missed. To pick up a sampling size of 2.4 lakh for the establishment study, BARC used the census of India and electoral rolls, since there was no other database available, maybe in the future Aadhar could be used to provide a sampling frame. The establishment study will essentially run continuously, BARC will be able to re-estimate the underlying universe with far higher frequency than has probably been done until now.”

“One of the big things that BARC is working with the RFPs is that it is defining what the relative error is, what the confidence is. Today the stakeholders are not aware about what the relative errors or the confidence of the numbers are. They are working with the numbers as if they were the absolute truth, which they aren’t. BARC will define the statistical boundaries within which the numbers are to be interpreted. Numbers that don’t fall within those bounds will not be reported,” said Joshi.

Clarifying the role of the technical committee, Joshi said, “Besides evaluation of the proposals for the new audience measurement system, the BARC technical committee will carry out due-diligence exercises on a regular basis once data starts flowing. Since audience measurement research is not stationary, it is evolving continuously, the technical committee will drive the evolution.”

“The technical committee is autonomous of the BARC board. The BARC board cannot decide what the technical committee does. The technical committee decides what the research needs. For the board to override a decision that the TechCom has made requires it to have a 75 per cent majority. 60 per cent of the voting share at BARC is with the broadcasters and 20 per cent each with the advertisers and the agencies,” explained Joshi further.

Throwing light on what the BARC was not, Joshi said, “People somehow feel that BARC will replace TAM. That now you have TAM and later you’ll have BARC. TAM Media is a for-profits research venture. In the current scheme of things it is a vendor owned vendor managed system. We don’t know much about establishment study that they do, they do issue a summary every year, but they don’t tell you the details of the study. BARC is not a research company and it will never be a research company. It is a joint industry body that will be designing, commissioning, supervising and owning India’s broadcast audience research. That does not mean that it will be conducting that research itself. BARC commissions research which means that somebody else will actually conduct it. Therefore BARC is not a replacement of TAM. TAM could be potentially a vendor to BARC as could be a whole series of other kinds of companies and various other sorts of entities.”

Sharing details about the new systems that were in place globally, Joshi said, “In the UK and some European countries, Canada and US, in Japan inventory is being sold on the basis of VOSDAL+7 (Viewed on Same Day as Live) – seven days of audience data are cumulated to actually determine the ratings for a show and this will grow as currency in other parts of the world. So you’re not only measuring the primary TV consumption, but also in all other forms. BARC may not be able to measure it at the start, but it should be able to do so in a year and a half from now.”

July 29, 2013