NEW DELHI: Brushing aside allegations of corruption in its television audience measurement system, TAM Media Research CEO L V Krishnan on Friday said the parameters of judging viewership and not headcount mattered as far as television ratings were concerned.
Defending the method of functioning adopted by the TAM, Krishnan said that an adequate number of TV households were being covered all over the country to provide a good sample to the industry.
As an example, he said one did not need to count every person who is left-handed to know how many people wore their watches on the left hand.
Speaking at a round-table on “Current Scenario of Television Audience Measurement (TAM) in India”, he, however, admitted that there was less coverage in rural areas.
He also said that TAM was in the process of increasing its sample size in both the rural and urban areas of the country.
He said that TAM today had a reach to 36,000 individuals, and said its technology was keeping pace with the latest technologies for giving accurate rating samples.
The PHD Chamber had organized the round-table bringing the Central Government and other stakeholders to come together on a common platform, evaluate the current rating system and prevent diluting the importance and essence of TAM.
Others who took part in the roundtable included Bharat Bambawale, Vice Chairman – North, The Indian Society of Advertisers and Director, Global Brand, Bharti Airtel Ltd.; Ravi Dixit, Director – Research, Disney UTV; Centre for Media Studies Director P N Vasanti; and Nagesh Alai, immediate past president, Advertising Agencies Association of India.