ITV

Tag: Peoplemeter

  • Prakash Javadekar says UPA government suppressed media

    Prakash Javadekar says UPA government suppressed media

    MUMBAI: “There are 16 crore TV homes in the country, but only 8000 to 9000 peoplemters are being utilised to measure TRPs,” said Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar during his Mumbai visit on 21 June.

     

    The ever smiling Javadekar, did not fail from raising a few relevant issues even during his packed schedule. The Minister addressed the press on two occasions during the day. While he was the chief guest at the ‘Narad Gaurav Puraskar’ award ceremony organised by the Vishava Sanvad Kendra, he also was present at the Foundation Day celebration of the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh.

     

    Javadekar also stressed on how every channel was fighting to gain the maximum eye balls. “In this quest, every channel claims to be numero uno, but how is that possible and especially with only 8000-9000 peoplemeters measuring TRPs?” he questioned.  

     

    Every form of media, according to the I&B Minister, must evolve their own mechanisms which are independent to behave in a responsible manner. “Since India’s own freedom struggle, the freedom of the press has not come free. Great leaders have sacrificed and therefore the freedom of the press must be preserved,” he emphasised.

     

    The newly appointed Minister also dropped a word of caution. He said, “The UPA government had followed a draconian emergency mindset.”  He added that he has come some files pertaining  to a channel called Janam where the previous government had shown tremendous reluctance in providing the necessary licenses as one of its promoters was allegedly a RSS sarsanghchalak. “This should not be the case as the same principles should be followed for all channels,” he expressed.

     

    The channels promoters told a newspaper that they had been given the run around for a couple of years but a licence was issued with the explaination being that one of the channel’s promoters is associated with the RSS. They additionally informed the newspaper that those backing Janam  were NRIs and one of the promoters’ father was a RSS member.

     

    Javadekar has apparently written about this case to home minister Rajnath Singh, and it’s quite possible that its licence will be processed and cleared soon, says the newspaper.

     

    Commenting on the current media scenario, Javadekar concluded by saying that sensationalism is not journalism.

  • BARC gets IRS data, to start installation of peoplemeters soon

    BARC gets IRS data, to start installation of peoplemeters soon

    MUMBAI: A fortnight ago, concerns were raised about India’s audience measurement system, Broadcast Audience Research Council’s (BARC), rolling out its operation on time.

     

    BARC’s chairman Punit Goenka had earlier said that due to delay in receiving the establishment data from Indian Readership Survey (IRS) there might be a delay in the roll out of the rating system in October, as scheduled earlier.

     

    As reported earlier by indiantelevision.com, the council had also set a deadline for the IRS to share the data with it. The council had then pointed out that since the matter wasn’t sub judice as the Bombay High Court had allowed media houses and agencies to use the IRS report 2013 for marketing and media planning purposes on the petition filed by HT Media (HTML), IRS cannot deny sharing any data.

     

    However, all such concerns can now be shoved under the carpet as IRS has shared the data required to start the roll out process. “We have got the IRS data,” says an industry source. But, this is just one part. Informs the source, “Installing peoplemeters will still take a month or so. Now that the data has come to us, we need to design actual panel, identify the households, recruit them, get approval from them for installing peoplemeters and only then can the installing of peoplemeters take place. All this will take a minimum of a month or so.”

     

    BARC has already installed test meters to check for any faults in the peoplemeters being manufactured. “We need to test the peoplemeters for several conditions like: power fluctuation, environment condition etc. So far the meters have been working properly,” he adds. When asked about the number of test meters installed, without revealing much he says, “It is in three digits.” 

     

    However according to another industry source who could not contain the excitement says that the installation of peoplemeters shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks. “As soon as we sort out the process, the installations will start across the 22,000 households across the country in the first phase as the council had said earlier,” informs the source, while stating that the entire installation process will take up to six weeks. BARC will produce 25000 peoplemeters.

     

    “It’s that fast,” proudly boasts the source.