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Tag: ISA

  • TAM to release data after 9 weeks

    TAM to release data after 9 weeks

    MUMBAI: India will have no television ratings for nine weeks till 8 December as it moves towards digitisation in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

    TAM, the sole ratings measurement agency in India, will stop releasing the TV viewership data for the week ended October 7, which was to be released today. The reporting will be from 9 December. This decision follows the pressure from broadcasters and advertising agencies.

    “TAM will suspend data for all India. The release of data will be nine weeks later,” a source said.

    The Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) have reached a consensus on the issue of suspension of TAM data.

    The representatives of three industry bodies have reached an agreement but have decided to first circulate among their members before making it public.

    The representatives of the three bodies met on Monday but a consensus eluded them. They did not meet on Tuesday but held discussions through different means and have more or less reached an agreement. They have decided to take one more day to iron out the creases on the matter.

    A TAM Media Research representative had attended the meeting on Monday but was not part of the discussion on Tuesday. The decision of the three industry bodies would be communicated to TAM and the television viewership rating agency would accordingly act on the decision.

    The industry bodies needed to agree on the period of suspension of reporting of TAM ratings in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata after the government-mandated complete switchover to digital delivery of cable television from 1 November. The suspension has been felt necessary as there would be disruption of television services for some period after analogue signals are switched off in the four metros.

    An industry source informed indiantelevision.com, “The bodies were hoping to issue a statement today (Tuesday), but it just required a bit more alignment from all sides. Whatever be the decision, it should be communicated to the members first before making it public through the media.”

    IBF president Man Jit Singh also said, “An official statement bearing the decision taken by the industry bodies will be released to the press tomorrow (Wednesday).”

    Details of the agreement, however, could not be obtained.

    Also read:

    Digitisation: Consensus eludes broadcasters and advertisers on suspension of ratings

  • ITC’s Kurush Grant is new chairman of ISA

    MUMBAI: ITC Limited executive director Kurush Grant has been elected as the chairman of the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) at a meeting held on 11 September.

    ISA is the only national body of advertisers and its members from across industries contribute to over two-thirds of India‘s national non-governmental advertisement spends.

    The other office bearers of ISA are Bharat Bambawale (Bharti Airtel) is vice-chairman-north, N. Srikumar (IOCL) is vice chairman-west, Ajoy Chawla (Titan Industries) is vice chairman-south, Paulomi Dhawan (Landmarc Leisure) is honorary treasurer and Hemant Bakshi (HUL) is chairman of the media committee.

    The other members of the executive council are — Bharat V. Patel (Yes Bank), Rajiv Dube (Aditya Birla), Narendra Ambwani (Agro Tech Foods), Chandramouli Venkatesan, (Cadbury India), Sameer Satpathy (Marico Limited), Chandrasekar Radhakrishnan (Nestle India), R. Ramakrishnan (Polycab Wires), Brahm Vasudeva (Hawkins Cookers), Kainaz Gazder (Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care), J. C. Chopra (Infogain India), Harish Bhat (Tata Global Beverages) and Anil Chugh (Wipro – Consumer Care and Lighting Division).

    Grant said he looked forward to next year being more interesting. He hoped the formation of BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) and other initiatives would be taken forward as appropriate and saw continuous opportunities for working together in the executive council and with ISA members.

  • Govt pushes for adequate representation in BARC

    MUMBAI: Don‘t mistake the alternative television ratings system to be under the total control of the private broadcasters, advertising agencies and the advertisers. The government is pushing for adequate representation inside BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council), the new entity that will lay out the television audience measurement system in India.

    BARC has been formed with the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) having a 60 per cent stake and the remaining 40 per cent being shared equally between the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA).

    Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster, was to benefit from the formation of BARC as the TV ratings coverage would have spread across wider geographies. Now the government also wants DAVP (Directorate of Advertising and Publicity) , which channelises all advertising spends made by the government, to have some voice.

    In a meeting on 4 September called by the government and attended by the IBF, the AAAI and the ISA members, the government has said that it wanted adequate representation. “The Information and Broadcasting ministry asked us what steps were being taken to include the Prasar Bharati and the DAVP (in BARC).They want adequate representation from Prasar Bharati and DAVP to have adequate representation in BARC to look after the Government‘s interest. We have heard the suggestions and will consider them,” AAAI president and Leo Burnett chairman and CEO of India subcontinent Arvind Sharma told Indiantelevision.com.

    The meeting was chaired by I&B ministry secretary Uday Kumar Verma.

    The three bodies were also asked to nominate an advisory committee on BARC by the end of next week .

    “The push has been to move BARC forward. The secretary has asked us (AAAI, IBF and ISA) to nominate a high powered committee whose role will be to guide and advise (on BARC) by the end of next week. We as BARC need to identify and concur on the names,” said Sharma.

    During the meeting, the secretary also referred to the Amit Mitra Committee report which suggested that statisticians, sociologists and demographers should form part of the technical committee.

  • Govt directs IBF, AAAI & ISA to submit BARC roll-out plan

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The government on Tuesday directed broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies to submit a detailed plan for making Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) functional soon.

    The directive was given by the Secretary in the Information & Broadcasting Ministry Uday Kumar Verma during an hour-long meeting with Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) in New Delhi, convened to give a strong push for BARC.

    “The ministry instructed the constituent members of BARC to submit a time-table outlining the next steps in the roll out of BARC. But the deadline for the submission of this time table has not been given,” said Arvind Sharma, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) president and Leo Burnett chairman and CEO of India subcontinent.

    I&B Ministry officials said Verma stressed at the meeting that the matter of BARC was gaining importance in view of the New Delhi Television Ltd’s (NDTV) lawsuit in New York against television ratings by TAM Media Research. NDTV has alleged that TAM and its owners Nielsen and WPP subsidiaries Kantar and Cavendish have knowingly failed to act against corruption in TAM’s television ratings system.

    According to the scheme of things, BARC would be an apex entity for measuring television viewership ratings in India. It will appoint and monitor service providers like TAM providing on-ground services for measuring television ratings.

    The secretary also expressed dissatisfaction that the responsibility of setting up BARC was given to IBF but there has been no progress after it was registered in July 2010.

    The ministry officials said IBF president and Star India CEO Uday Shankar gave an assurance to the I&B secretary that “the three bodies have come together now and will speedily set up BARC”.

    When AAAI and ISA were asked about the status of BARC, their representatives said they had approved the articles of association of BARC and it was for IBF to take it forward now. IBF’s Shankar then informed the meeting that the document is yet to be approved by the IBF board and once it is done, IBF will get back to AAAI and ISA at the earliest, according to the officials.

    Apart from AAAI’s Sharma and IBF’s Shankar, among those who attended the meeting were IBF Treasurer and Zee Entertainment Enterprises managing director and CEO Punit Goenka, Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha, Draftfcb+Ulka executive director Nagesh Alai, RK Swamy BBDO chairman and MD Sundar K Swamy and Nestle India VP communications Virat Mehta.

    AAAI’s Sharma told Indiantelevision.com that “The meeting was held with specific focus on the progress of BARC. The AAAI and the ISA informed the Secretary that the two bodies have approved and given the Articles of Association to the IBF and are waiting for a revert on the same.”

    Earlier this year, I&B Minister Ambika Soni had told parliament that BARC would be functional soon and its first ratings would be released by July 2013.

  • I&B calls AAAI, ISA for meet on 4 Sept over TV ratings issue

    NEW DELHI: The pressure on TAM Media Research, India‘s sole television ratings provider, is just not easing. The Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has decided to act in response to the NDTV lawsuit against the corrupt television ratings and the demand by News Broadcasters Association (NBA) for its intervention.

    After reportedly asking television ratings provider TAM Media Research and its 50 per cent owner Nielsen to submit a report on the status of the plans to make the ratings system robust, the ministry has convened a meeting with the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) on Tuesday, 4 September.

    The meeting with AAAI and ISA is being held amid raging controversy over the credibility of television viewership ratings, after NDTV (New Delhi Television Ltd) filed a lawsuit in New York against TAM, its owners Nielsen and WPP and their officials.

    The meeting is also happening in the backdrop of a delay in operationalising the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which is to be jointly set up by Indian Broadcasting Foundation, AAAI and ISA.

    Sources close to the I&B ministry have confirmed to Indiantelevision.com that the meeting has been scheduled on Tuesday.

    According to a media report, the government has given to TAM 10 days and Nielsen two weeks to reply. The report said the government has also sought information from TAM and Nielsen on generation of viewership data from towns with less than 1 lakh of population and from north-east states and Jammu & Kashmir.

    “This has gone too far,” said the CEO of a media agency, suggesting that the meeting is a fallout of the war of words between WPP and NDTV.

    Leo Burnett chairman of India Subcontinent Arvind Sharma declined to talk on the meeting but referring to the media report said, “I can‘t blame the government for being concerned over what all is happening in media. The long term solution is that via the three players – AAAI, ISA and IBF – creation of BARC should be speeded up. One has to understand that there has to be a reliable, transparent medium. What government wants is similar to what we want and there isn‘t any contradiction.”

    Sharma said TAM has been giving AAAI and ISA progress reports since their meeting on 16 August. During the meeting, TAM had outlined a six-point action plan that included appointment of a security officer and a security agency, expansion in the number of homes with peoplemeters in the six top metros, an industry review of the viewership research processes, independent audit of outlier homes, faster rotation of the peoplemeter homes and setting up of an internal audit team.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Star India CEO Uday Shankar said: “I am glad that I&B Ministry has asked TAM to explain but how do we know that how many boxes are functional? There is no system of public audit. How do we know that the data which is collected has no uncertainty in that?”

    Shankar further said, “TAM is clouded in secrecy and according to me anything that isn‘t transparent and is under secrecy is subject to distortion and corruption.”

  • TAM: Arvind Sharma asks broadcasters to be patient as changes take time

    TAM: Arvind Sharma asks broadcasters to be patient as changes take time

    MUMBAI: Television broadcasters need to have patience as all the stakeholders are taking steps to move to a system of audience measurement acceptable to all, said Advertising Agencies Association India (AAAI) president Arvind Sharma, while speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com.

    Sharma’s counsel of patience follows outright rejection by broadcasters of the proposals forwarded by TAM Media Research to fortify its existing television ratings system.

    Sharma is pinning hopes on the proposed Broadcasters Audience Research Council (BARC) becoming operational in the next few weeks. A monitoring team constituted by BARC will then make sure that TAM carries out the commitments it has made.

    AAAI and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) had a meeting with TAM officials on 16 August during which the television ratings provider outlined a six-point action plan.

    The six steps outlined by TAM include appointment of a security officer and a security agency, expansion in the number of peoplemeters in six top metros, an industry review of the research processes, independent audit of outlier homes, faster rotation of the peoplemeter homes and setting up of an internal audit team.

    AAAI is hoping a meeting of AAAI, ISA and Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) will happen in the next few days to finalise the modalities of setting up and making operational BARC.

    Sharma said, “I completely understand the growing skepticism. It is only action and demonstration of action which will change skeptics into believers in the sense that something is happening.”

    “In real terms what will happen is that we are hoping that BARC will be created within weeks and there will be a team from BARC which will monitor the progress closely,” Sharma added.

    His argument is that unless the industry has the ability to monitor the progress in improving the audience measurement system, any timelines will make no sense.

    Sharma said he hopes a BARC team to monitor audience measurement is put in place pretty soon.

    Asked about how media agencies not present at the meeting on 16 August and those who are not a part of either AAAI or ISA can be taken into confidence, Sharma had this to say: “The Joint Industry Body (JIB) which was supposed to be guiding TAM has not been functional.”

    He said the fact that TAM has specified some definite action steps was in itself a good signal. “The rest will be up to BARC to assess whether the proposed steps are adequate for the short run and make sure that they get implemented.”

    About a decade ago when there were two suppliers of television ratings – INTAM and TAM, each had their own specific number of meters. The industry stakeholders at that time decided to pool in their resources instead of paying money to two agencies and make the study more robust.

    The problem arose when a list of some peoplemeter homes was leaked and then allegations of manipulation of data were made. “So, if a (television) channel wanted to play mischief, it could target three or four peoplemeters homes through extra activations and that would make a huge difference”, Sharma pointed out.

    The JIB, when it was functioning about a decade ago, had laid down a lot of processes and rigorous rules for how the sampling would be done and had also introduced electronic checking,
    validation of data, etc.

    “Associations have to follow their processes. We just have to be a little patient in letting things fall into place. We are definitely moving forward. I am sure of it. The whole point of having associations is to carry members along even though the solutions may take longer to reach,” Sharma said.

    His philosophical view was that people involved ultimately accept the changes even if it takes a little longer.

    Also read:

    TAM proposals fail to enthuse broadcasters

  • ACI sends 4 young professionals to attend AFAA’s first Fast Track Programme

    ACI sends 4 young professionals to attend AFAA’s first Fast Track Programme

    MUMBAI: The Advertising Council of India (ACI) has announced that it will sponsor four young professionals to attend the Fast Track program commissioned by the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA).

    This is the first year of the Fast Track Professional Excellence Programme and it will be held from 3 September to 7 September this year. The program aims to re-orient young professionals to build on their basic skills in marketing and advertising and become achievers. Veteran advertising professional Janet Lee will be conducting the five-day residential programme.

    AFAA chairman Pradeep Guha said, “This holistic training programme is aimed at identifying young talent and converting them into potential leaders. I believe they would emerge from this program far more productive and happier. They will receive a truly international experience with exposure to industry leaders.”

    AFAA was started in 1978 and has since then been in efforts to unify Asia‘s advertising associations and aims to upgrade standards, ethics and practices of advertising and to bring positive contributions from advertising activities at regional and national levels.

    ACI‘s members include The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) The Advertising Club Bombay, The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), The Indian Broadcasters Foundation (IBF), the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Standing Committee on Advertising (STACA).

  • IBF, ISA and AAAI announce launch of BARC

    IBF, ISA and AAAI announce launch of BARC

    MUMBAI: The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) Wednesday formally announced the official formation of a nationwide audience research joint body, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

    Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) will have 60 per cent stake in the new entity, while ISA and AAAI will equally hold the balance 40 per cent.

    Originally founded in 2008, BARC was earlier to be set up as a joint venture between the IBF and the ISA on a 60:40 ratio and initial investment of Rs 300 million. However, ISA wanted AAAI also to be a part of the joint body.

    The announcement was made at the inaugural day of Ficci Frames 2012 here in presence of I&B Secretary Uday K Varma, Trai chairman Dr JS Sarma, Zee managing director and CEO Punit Goenka, Star India COO Sanjay Gupta, Times Television Network MD and CEO Sunil Lulla, Star CJ CEO Paritosh Joshi, Madison Group chairman Sam Balsara and Landmarc Leisure Corporation MD Paulomi Dhawan.

    Talking about the way forward, Joshi said BARC will be similar to what BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) is in the UK. BARC will not conduct audience measurement directly but commission independent specialist research vendors.

    A technical committee is being set up, now that all the stakeholders are in place. The committee will identify the needs and requests for proposal will be invited.

    “We are not a research agency, and we are not going to compete with TAM. Instead, BARC is a joint body, which will evaluate all the research needs of the industry and in a commercially sensible manner,” Joshi said.

    BARC would represent all the clients and address all the issues on a single platform, he added.

    The primary objective of BARC is to conduct and commission market research using appropriate research methodologies, to provide accurate, up to date and relevant findings relating to broadcast audiences, including TV ratings.

    Earlier in the day, Goenka, during his keynote had mentioned that there is nothing wrong in the data provided by TAM, but it is inadequate.

    Joshi said that with the formation of BARC, the quality and scope of TV audience research in the country will get upgraded, the findings will be more robust and financials more transparent.

    “The major challenge will be to cover all the broadcasting modes in the research – terrestrial, cable & satellite, DTH, analogue and digital platforms, developing and new platforms,” he added.

    The Board of the council will have 10 members, six members from the IBF and two members each from the ISA and AAAI.

    BARC will engage in extensive industry consultations with stakeholders, specialist research consultants, existing & potential measurement service providers to identify the key concerns and requirements with regards to audience measurement. This may be followed by an R&D exercise to evaluate potential solutions including technologies & techniques.

    Dhawan said, “We are always looking for robust research in this rapidly changing television landscape. With time, it is going to be more challenging and you will need more insights from research. We have been working together since some time to launch BARC.”

    Added ISA chairman Bharat Patel, “ISA is extremely delighted to be a part of this joint industry body, BARC, along with the IBF and AAAI to provide continued and meaningful research.”

  • Contesting a monthly ratings system for news channels

    Contesting a monthly ratings system for news channels

    MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Television news broadcasters are pressuring for a monthly ratings system that will free their content from being weighed on a weekly basis, but advertising agencies do not seem to be in agreement.

    News Broadcasters Association (NBA), an umbrella body of TV news channels, has decided that the weekly ratings for all national news and business channels in Hindi and English should be done on a monthly basis from next month.

    The NBA board feels that this will improve news broadcasting standards as “coverage and reportage of news and programmes cannot always be linked to popularity or audience measurement”.

    India’s ratings agency TAM, however, has not yielded yet. Though in dialogue with the NBA, TAM wants consensus from the other stakeholders like the IBF, AAAI and ISA who are also users of the same central TAM database.

    Said TAM Media Research CEO LV Krishnan, “It is imperative for NBA to first discuss their proposal with other industry bodies. Only after this should one arrive at an overall industry consensus on the frequency of TAM data reporting. TAM will require written approvals from each of the member’s industry bodies on the decision taken with respect to the change in frequency of data reporting. Till the time we receive a formal overall approval from all stakeholders of the TAM database, no decisions on the change in current frequency of reporting will be taken.”

    Building a consensus will not be easy. Leo Burnett Chairman of India Sub-Continent Arvind Sharma said, “Advertising agencies will oppose such a move. To make a more informed decision, an advertiser needs transparent, frequent and current data. Moving to a monthly ratings system will not allow us to read patterns. It is not a progressive move.”

    News broadcasters argue that their content is distinct from other genres as they have a responsibility to inform and empower their viewers with quality programming and dissemination of news rather than providing content merely for garnering viewership. News broadcasting standards can only improve with time spent on strategic planning and research rather than knee jerk reactions taken on a weekly basis.

    NBA wants TAM to introduce the monthly ratings system initially for a period of two years. Regional news channels could be brought under this system on a later date.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, several senior executives said on condition of anonymity that agencies look at 4-13 week data when they make advertising deals for their clients. “There is no revision in rates done after a deal is inked. So there is no reason for them to be upset,” a top official said.

    The NBA also clarified in an official statement that the initiative taken by it would not in any way hamper the decision making of advertisers and advertising agencies.

    “In the new monthly dispensation, advertisers would continue to get access to data broken down to a minute or a day-part or a specific programme in a manner similar to how data points are currently accessed in the weekly format,” it said.

    Sharma, however, disagrees. “News channels are indirectly saying that more frequent information (weekly ratings data) makes their content worse. This seems to be built on an unsound premise,” he said.

    Added Madison Media Group CEO Punitha Arumugam, “The same data getting reported on a monthly basis instead only delays the decision making process.”

    Will a monthly ratings system clean up content? “This will certainly reduce pressure on the editors,” said Pankaj Pachauri, NDTV Managing Editor – Special Projects and VP of the Broadcast Editors Association. “Editors were often constrained to make last minute changes in the fixed point charts or the content of the various news programmes on the basis of weekly TAM reports.”

  • Nick US’ Dora takes a trip down memory lane

    Nick US’ Dora takes a trip down memory lane

    MUMBAI: Nick US has announced that on its show Dora The Explorer, preschoolers will join Dora on her first adventure ever and discover how she met her best friend Boots on
    a new episode called Dora’s First Trip.

    The special flashback episode will premiere on 7 April. On Dora’s First Trip, at the dinner table, Dora tells her parents, grandma and her cousins Diego and Daisy the story of her very first adventure through the forest. Without the help of her trusty backpack, Dora embarks on her earliest trip with a simple messenger bag — her first explorer kit from her parents. She travels through the Nutty Forest and across the Rio Grande to return the Fiesta Trio’s lost instruments so they can play for the cranky Queen Bee.

    Along the way, Dora meets her sidekick Boots and they soon befriend Tico, Isa and Benny. Dora continues her journey with her new pals, and they travel together by car, boat and airplane until they finally return the instruments to the musical trio. Before long, they learn that they must watch out for that sneaky fox, Swiper.

    On 11 April, Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Entertainment will release a DVD and VHS Dora’s First Trip, which will feature the title episode in addition to three other Dora the Explorer adventures. The DVD will also feature a music video, Best Friends.