ITV

Tag: Gautam Mitra

  • New JV for merged ratings service, TAM’s LV Krishnan to head

    New JV for merged ratings service, TAM’s LV Krishnan to head

    Bowing to a long-standing demand from the industry that there should only be one rating system, market research agencies AC Nielsen’s TAM Media Research and ORG MARG’s INTAM today set in motion the process that will see the merger of their operations through a joint venture with a single currency by the middle of next year.

    The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year. The new venture will combine local TV ratings data from TAM Media, a 50-50 joint venture between AC Nielsen and KMR/IMRB, with data from ORG-MARG, a VNU company, in a single service across India. The combined TV ratings service will be one of the world’s largest to use advanced people meter technology, a joint press release states.

    When contacted LV Krishnan, president TAM India, confirmed he would be heading the combined service.

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Gautam Mitra, general manager, INTAM, clarified that the two organisations would not be merged. What would happen was that there would be a consolidation of the databases of the two bodies so that a single consolidated rating system would be operating rather than the current two.

    Company officials said a combined service will benefit all clients – broadcasters, agencies and advertisers – because it will provide significant additional coverage of the Indian television market. Coverage will be expanded to all major states in India (15 states versus the current coverage of nine) and virtually all major metropolitan areas, under a plan that will be presented to the industry.

    The new joint venture will also be the leading provider of advertising expenditure information in India, covering more than 90 per cent of the country’s TV and press advertising spending, the release says.

    Responding to worries in the industry that there could actually be a reduction in the total coverage as one system would be discontinued, Gautam Mitra, general manager, INTAM, denied any such decision had been made. He, however, admitted that a major issue that needed sorting out was how to introduce compatibility into two systems that are currently incompatible. INTAM uses picture matching technology for their people meters while TAM uses a frequency system.

    Mitra added that places of coverage in the new dispensation would have to be thought through. When the people meter lists in Mumbai and Chennai were systematically leaked recently, an issue that had caused much heartburn was the selection of samples for the different socioeconomic categories. The charge was that too often there was a mismatch witnessed.

    Queried as to whether this move was a prelude to the merger of the two companies, Krishnan was noncommittal. Official line notwithstanding, it does look distinctly possible that by the middle of next year, there will not only be one rating system, but one company as well.

  • Industry reaction mixed to CNBC report

    Industry reaction mixed to CNBC report

    Hours after business channel CNBC India put out a report casting doubts on the reliability of the ratings systems in India, reactions from the industry were mixed.

    CNBC aired its story after its reporter Naomi Dutta got her hands on what CNBC claims is the full list of 627 households in Mumbai that had peoplemeters – the data source for television ratings points for both the market research agencies ORG Marg’s Intam as well as AC Nielsen’s Tam data. 

    If what the report says is true I would be very, very concerned. The implications are extremely disturbing, Andrey Purushottam, managing director, Starcom, said, when asked for his reaction to a scenario where confidentiality could not be guaranteed.

    “TRP numbers are used to evaluate trends rather than snapshots,” Alex Kuruvilla, MD MTV India, said, adding that whatever the merits of the CNBC story, the ratings by and large reflect the prevailing reality. 

    Intam MD Gautam Mitra pointed out that while he still had to ascertain whether the list that CNBC had was a comprehensive one, it was not as if the system did not have checks and balances in place. Mitra also clarified that whatever may be the claims of the reporter about how she went about getting her list, getting hold of the names of homes which had people meters was not a very easy thing to do.

    Mitra however, admitted that if CNBC actually did have the complete list of people meters in Mumbai, then it was an issue which would have to be looked into thoroughly.

    Tam president GV Krishnan was extremely critical of CNBC for going public on the issue. “Unfortunately, when somebody succeeds (Star) the guns point at him. They have an industry body (Indian Broadcasting Foundation) and we were in regular discussions with them. They could have talked about it there rather than gone public with it. It’s an industry issue, not a public issue. Going to the public doesn’t make sense.”

    “We were not told about this issue by CNBC,” Krishnan stressed. “Anyway, nowhere in the world is any metering system totally foolproof.” Krishnan added that if there were no TRPs channels would be able to charge what they want (to advertisers).

    Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) president Ramesh Narayan said the system in India was the same as is followed in the rest of the world so there was no need to get all worked up although he did admit that it was a wake up call to the industry.

    Mitra said the way it worked was that as soon as the agencies got any inkling that anyone from their sample had been contacted then that person was immediately removed from their sample list.

    Intam also carries out what Mitra called coincidental studies – where a completely different set of people were approached to get a proper perspective. “We also commission third-party agencies to carry out surveys.” Mitra said it was information culled from all these surveys that goes into making the research agency’s ratings charts.

    One industry source dismissed the report as a storm in a teacup. “Everybody knows that there is always a possibility to manipulate people meters. Basically ratings are nothing more than a tool to gauge trends in viewership patterns. Nobody in the industry really believes that this is foolproof data. This report in no way compromises what the ratings system is all about.”