ITV

Tag: TAM

  • TAM to survey digital penetration in 4 metros in November

    TAM to survey digital penetration in 4 metros in November

    MUMBAI: TAM Media Research, the only television audience measurement service in India, will conduct a survey in November in the four metros to get an estimate of digital penetration after compulsory digitisation gets implemented on 1 November.

    TAM will also conduct a special survey called All India Digital Establishment Survey (DES) across the country in December to confirm the share of digital in total television households.

    The survey to be conducted in November is part of the DAS Establishment Survey it started in May in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata to keep track of the progress in switchover to digital delivery of cable television.

    In a statement released by TAM Thursday evening, TAM CEO LV Krishnan said, “TAM has been long ready to measure Indian Television Homes’ transition to the Digital World since way back in 2007. We implemented the state of the art, platform neutral, TVM5 Peoplemeter system then and started reporting data in July 2008.”

    TAM said it has been able to reflect the change from analogue homes to digital in its panel homes till now. But this change has been gradual and thus, the agency has had breathing space to make the corrections required. Of the total 8,000 homes where TAM has installed its peoplemeters to gather viewership data, 1,500 are in the four metros.

    As 1 November inches closer, there is a possibility that there will be a significant spike in the conversion from analogue to digital which TAM would find difficult to accommodate and reflect in its sample over a short period of time, which would then lead to inconsistencies in data. Hence, it accepted the decision of industry bodies Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) to have the ratings suspended for nine weeks till week starting 8 December.

    Clarifying further, Krishnan told indiantelevision.com, “The main question is what universe do we project the (ratings) data to? There are going to be some homes that have not shifted to digital by 1 November. Of these, some might shift; some might not while some may even go the terrestrial way.”

    This change will take some time to take place. During the stabilisation period, the universe TAM is projecting to will be in a state of flux. There are many factors that may affect the conversion from analogue to digital. Apart from people waiting till the last moment, there is also the question of availability and deployment of digital set top boxes.

    Echoing his thoughts, Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha says, “There are two issues. One is the panel (television homes where TAM has installed its peoplemeters). The second is the fluctuation (in data) and viewership. The panel is the basic data but what about the fluctuation in viewership that will happen because of the digital signals?”

  • 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

  • Sample parameters more crucial than size: TAM

    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.

  • Digitisation: Ad deals may be reworked on short term basis

    Mumbai: Advertisers may have to enter into transitory arrangements with broadcasters if some homes are left without digital cable connections in the four metros after 1 November.

    The government has mandated compulsory end to analogue delivery of television channels after the digitisation deadline, resulting in the possibility of a significant number of cable TV homes going without television signals for failing to have set-top boxes (STBs) installed to receive digital television signals.

    “In the worst case scenario, when we do have 30 per cent dark homes in the four metros, there may be need to rework the commercial deals on a short term basis,” Leo Burnett Indian sub-continent chairman and CEO Arvind Sharma told Indiantelevision.com.

    The Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry last week said 68 per cent of cable TV homes in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata have already installed STBs to receive television channels in digital form. It said Mumbai leads the progress in digitisation with 95 per cent homes digitised, followed by Kolkata with 67 per cent. In Delhi, 53 per cent of the cable homes have switched to digital and in Chennai, 49 per cent.

    The number of households, however, is based on census data and a broad section of the broadcast industry does not believe this reflects the actual estimate of the STB requirement in these four metros.

    “In my opinion, digitisation will ramp up and only in the interim period will we as industry (advertisers, agencies and broadcasters) have to work out short term commercial deals. More importantly, the events of the next 40 days will be crucial,” Sharma said.

    So will TAM, the television audience measurement agency, report from digital homes only in the four metros after 1 November? A TAM spokesperson said: “TAM started reporting Digital TV Homes viewing data since 2008 when Digitization crossed threshold levels in some of the markets. TAM currently reports data from Non-C&S households (Terrestrial Antenna reception mode)and two types of C&S households: Digital C&S and Analog C&S – depending on whether households receive channels through a Set-Top Box (STB) or without Set-Top Box.

    As per TAM JAN 2012 TV baseline report, almost 35% of All India C&S homes have already adopted Digital way of watching TV, with 1/3rd of them coming from Urban markets. The government, by its DAS notification, has mandated that from November 1st 2012, C&S channels can be legally received in the Municipal Corporation (MC) limits of the four major metros (NCR for Delhi) only through a Digital STB. Therefore, from NOV 1st, TAM will not report data of channels viewed in TV Homes that are not received through a Digital STB in these areas (exception being, viewing happening in TV Homes through Terrestrial Antenna signal reception)”.

    The spokesperson added: “In other words, TAM will only be reporting Digital TV viewing data and Non C&S TV viewing in the DAS implemented areas of the 4 City. Data from Homes in the non-MC area of the cities (which does not fall under Phase I of DAS implementation) will continue to be reported as usual. We will be sending out a formal communication to our clients in the coming few days spelling out the details.”

    As a broad section of the industry feels that a total 100 per cent STB penetration will not be possible on day one itself (1 November), there will be some empty homes. If TAM sticks to its current statement, this will mean the analogue coverage in the four metros will not be reported by TAM. So what happens if cable TV operators transmit the analogue signals illegally (take digital signals through a STB and convert it through a modulator for carriage on their analogue networks)? The government, however, is determined to implement digitisation and may take recourse to strict action by arresting the ‘violators‘ under criminal offence.

    Media agency ZenithOptimedia CEO Satyajit Sen fears some kind of temporary disruption in business. “We presume that there will be disruption in the business. In the four metros, there aren‘t enough STBs to make them (cable TV homes) all go digital. Majority of the consumption of various categories happens in the four metros. Our clients will demand for TAM ratings and hence we will also ask for it,” Sen said.

    Lodestar UM CEO Shashi Sinha, however, is not disturbed by the disruption in TV viewership. “People who matter to us are the consuming class and they will switch to digital. May be in the beginning for two to three months, we will see some impact but gradually everyone will switch to digital. At least the consuming class will by the last week of October,” he said.

    Broadcasters to switch off analogue, Rajat Sharma to work in interests of viewers

    Broadcasters are largely confident of a smooth changeover to digital delivery of television channels from analogue. Like Lodestar‘s Sinha, Times Television Network MD & CEO Sunil Lulla too felt there is no need for any worry as the first phase of digitisation is happening at good speed.

    “Digitisation will happen. People who want to get STBs will get those who don‘t want won‘t,” Lulla said.

    The government is dead serious this time around in ensuring digitisation happens in the four metros by the deadline of 1 November and that all the stakeholders are brought on board. It has issued orders directing broadcasters to switch off analogue decoders in the four metros, unlike in 2003 when certain pockets in the metros were asked to shift to digital delivery of television channels.

    The government has gone a step ahead and made carriage of analogue television signals after the digitisation deadline in the four metros a criminal offence.

    BAG Films CMD Anurradha Prasad said, “All broadcasters want digitisation and, hence, we all will be switching off our analogue signals from 1 November. This is an order of government.”

    An NDTV spokesperson said, “The government order is sacrosanct and the broadcasters are adamant on switching off the analogue signal from 1 November.”

    India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma sounded a different note. He said, “For all stakeholders — IBF, NBA, I&B Ministry and MSOs, the viewers‘ interest is foremost. We will take a call keeping in mind that the viewer doesn‘t suffer.”

    Pay TV channels will be more than willing to shift to digitisation as early as possible as it will mean a rise in their subscription revenues as the number of cable television subscribers disclosed by local cable operators will rise. In analogue, cable operators under-report the number of cable TV connections and thereby cause a loss of revenue for broadcasters with pay TV channels.

  • Prasar Bharati to move CCI against TAM

    NEW DELHI: Prasar Bharati, which had been asked by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to consider action against TAM, is expected to file a petition before the Competition Commission of India within the next few days.

    Doordarshan Director General Tripurari Sharan told indiantelevision.com that the final draft was prepared yesterday and it would now be cleared by legal counsel before filing.

    Earlier, Prasar Bharati chief executive officer Jawhar Sircar had told indiantelevision.com that it was astonishing that TAM had been side-stepping Doordarshan, which has the largest reach terrestrially through local cable operators and around 20 per cent of the market through various DTH platforms.

    The Prasar Bharati Board had taken up the matter in its meeting on 6 August and given the go-ahead to DD to proceed with the matter.

    The Ministry had written a letter to TAM and its international partner Nielsen earlier, wanting to know the steps taken to improve the television rating measurement system and ordering for a third party audit to be conducted with an increased sample size. The Ministry has asked them to respond within 15 days on allegations of viewership manipulation.

    The Ministry had also written to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for suggestions on an accreditation mechanism for TV ratings in India to curb the monopoly and asked it to frame guidelines in context to cross holdings in companies that are involved in TV ratings system in India.

    Trai had on 19 August 2008 issued Recommendations on the Policy Guidelines and Operational issues for Television Audience Measurement Television Rating Points (TRPs) suggesting Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), a suggestion which was later endorsed by the Amit Mitra Committee.

    The action by Prasar Bharati comes close on the heels of the case filed by NDTV in a New York court against TAM, Nielsen, Kantar and WPP.
     

  • Colors moves up to No 2 courtesy soaps & Jhalak

    MUMBAI: It had been pacing on the sidelines for the past seven weeks, waiting to reoccupy the second slot in the Hindi GEC sweepstakes. And week 34 of the TAM calendar 2012, saw the Raj Nayak-led Colors getting there courtesy its fiction and non-fiction properties registering improved viewership ratings.

    As per TAM data (C&S, HSM, 4+), provided by Hindi GECs, Colors added 20 GRPs to its last week’s tally to record 258 GRPs in the week ended 25 August. The channel saw growth in viewership of shows like ‘Balika Vadhu’ (4.8 TVR), ‘Uttaran’ (2.8 TVR), ‘Zindagi Ki Haqiqat se Amna Samna’ (2.2 TVR) and ‘Jhalak Dikhhlaja’ (4.3 TVR).

    Star Plus, which had slipped to second place last week following a great showing by the DID Lil Masters finale on Zee TV in the previous week, clawed its way back to the No1 position this week. The leader added 10 GRPs to close the week with 264 GRPs (only six ahead of Colors, mind you). Its fiction show ‘Diya aur Baati Hum’, which is top gun among all fiction shows in the Hindi GEC space, crossed the 6 TVR-mark clocking 6.7 TVR (last week 5.7). Other shows like ‘Saathiya Saath Nibhana’ (3.7 TVR) and ‘Pratigya’ (2.4 TVR) registered gains while Arjun, which opened with 2.3 TVR on 11 August, rated 1.7 TVR (last week 1.3 TVR) . Meanwhile, ‘Teri Meri Love Story’ also grew to record a 1.2 TVR (last week 0.8).

    Last week‘s leader Zee TV lost 46 GRPs this week to take the No 3 position, despite the fact that its DID lil Masters-2 replacement, ‘Dance ke Superkids’, opened with 5.6 TVR on 25 August. The show, an extension of ‘DID lil Masters,’ will run for five weeks until the channel launches another season of its blockbuster Sa Re Ga Ma on 29 September. Ramayan which racked up 2.7 TVR on debut dropped to 1.8 TVR in its second episode. Fear Files continues to generate good numbers with 3 TVR.

    Though the shows like Crime Patrol (3.9 TVR), CID (3.6 TVR) and Indian Idol-6 (2.6 TVR) have seen increased eyeballs, Sony Entertainment Television (Set) with an overall loss of three GRPs continued its run at fourth place. But expect its ratings to move northwards in the coming weeks with KBC slated to launch during weekend primetime.

    Meanwhile, Set’s sister channel Sab, lost 7 GRPs and ended the week with 126 GRPs. A GRP away from Sab, Life OK followed with 125 GRPs. It lost eight GRPs in the week.

    Sahara One with 37 GRPs (last week 35) remained at the bottom of the ladder.

  • WPP, Group firms file for dismissal of NDTV lawsuit against them

    WPP, Group firms file for dismissal of NDTV lawsuit against them

    MUMBAI: Global communications conglomerate WPP Plc and its group companies have filed an application for dismissal of New Delhi Television Ltd‘s (NDTV) lawsuit against them in the New York Supreme Court over corruption in television ratings system in India.

    Nielsen group companies and TAM Media Research are not party to the dismissal application.

    Law firm Davis & Gilbert LLP has filed the dismissal application on behalf of WPP, Kantar Market Research Services Pvt Ltd, IMRB International, Cavendish Square Holding BV and J Walter Thompson.

    NDTV filed its lawsuit on 26 July accusing 31 entities, including TAM, Nielsen, Kantar and their officials, of knowingly allowing continuation of manipulation of television viewership data in favour of broadcasters willing to pay bribes to its officials or representatives.

    WPP owns half of TAM in India through its subsidiaries – Kantar and Cavendish, and the other half of TAM is owned by The Nielsen Company.

    The title of the application filed by WPP group reads “Memorandum of Law In Support Of Moving Defendants’ Motion To Dismiss The Complaint In Its Entirety As Against Them”. WPP and its group companies are the moving defendants, which means defendants who have moved the application.

    WPP has cited the following grounds for dismissal of the NDTV lawsuit:

    • The complaint must be dismissed for insufficient service on the moving defendants. It also said that the New York court lacks personal jurisdiction over Kantar India as it does not maintain an office in New York and neither does Kantar India do business in New York.
    • The dismissal petition says that the complaint must be dismissed on grounds of forum non coveniens. WPP argued that neither New Delhi TV nor the moving defendants are residents of New York and the situs of the transaction points to India as the only appropriate forum for this dispute. It stressed in its petition that India is an available, appropriate forum for this Indian dispute and added that action will impose a substantial burden on this New York court and defending this action in New York will impose a severe burden on moving defendants.
    • The media agency network also pointed out in the dismissal petition that NDTV has failed to allege facts sufficient to pierce the corporate veil. The motion explains, “The concept of piercing the corporate veil is a limitation on the accepted principles that a corporation exists independently of its owners, as a separate legal entity, that the owners are normally not liable for the debts of the corporation, and that it is perfectly legal to incorporate for the express purpose of limiting the liability of the corporate owners.” It further explains that in order to depart from these accepted principles and pierce the corporate veil to hold the owners of a corporation liable for the corporation‘s conduct, a Plaintiff must allege facts establishing “(1) the owners exercised complete domination of the corporation in respect to the transaction attacked; and (2) that such domination was used to commit a fraud or wrong against the plaintiff which resulted in plaintiffs injury.”

    WPP has also claimed in the dismissal petition that each and every cause of action against Kantar India, WPP, Cavendish, JWT AND IMRB is not adequately pleaded and, therefore, must be dismissed.

    The petition also points out that in the lawsuit filed by NDTV, many of the companies have been improperly named. “Kantar Market Research Services Pvt. Ltd. (improperly sued as Kantar Media Research Pvt. Ltd.) (“Kantar India”), IMRB International, a division of Hindustan Thompson Associates Private Limited (improperly sued as IMRB International) (“IMRB”), Cavendish Square Holding BV (“Cavendish”), J. Walter Thompson (although no such entity exists and no proper J. Walter Thompson entity has any connection to the facts alleged in the Complaint) (“JWT”) and WPP plc (“WPP”) (which also has no connection to the facts alleged in the Complaint) (collectively),” said the petition.

    Before the filing of the dismissal application, WPP on 22 August started a war of words with NDTV through media statements. In the first statement WPP said, “In any event, there is no merit, whatsoever, in any of the claims made in the hypothetical Law Suit relating to the WPP Parties, nor do the courts of New York have any jurisdiction to hear any such claims.”

    TAM India and Nielsen have so far not reacted to the filing of the lawsuit by NDTV.

    In its lawsuit, NDTV said after countless efforts to resolve with TAM the issue of corruptionin ratings system, for many years prior to 2012, to no avail, in January 2012, NDTV complained directly to David Calhoun, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nielsen, about the serious defects in the Nielsen Process, as applied to the Indian market.

    Following NDTV’s complaint in January 2012 to Calhoun, senior officials from Nielsen and Kantar attended several meetings with NDTV in January, February and April of 2012 and have made decisions as well as provided (which NDTV says have now known to be false) assurances to NDTV.

    NDTV’s lawsuit said senior Kantar officials such as Eric Salama, CEO worldwide, and senior Nielsen officers such as Paul Donato, Global Head of Research and Measurement and Science, Robert Messemer, Global Head of Security and Piyush Mathur, President, India Region, have been directly and actively engaged in initiating and leading the investigations within TAM in India as well as from the US where Nielsen and Kantar have ordered forensic examinations of IT Systems of TAM officers.

    Nielsen and Kantar personnel dominated these meetings, rendering all key decisions affecting TAM’s future course of conduct, and making it abundantly clear to NDTV that Nielsen and Kantar were in total control over TAM’s operations, the lawsuit pointed out.

    It further stated that Nielsen entities such as the “The Nielsen Company” based in the United States and senior officers at Nielsen including the Global Head of Nielsen Research Services Paul Donato and Chief Security officer Robert Messemer have, on behalf of Nielsen, witnessed and in Messemer’s case, additionally provided contractual assurances to whistle blowers in India who provided evidence of manipulation and corruption within TAM in India.

  • NDTV’s reasons for filing the lawsuit against TAM in New York

    NDTV’s reasons for filing the lawsuit against TAM in New York

    MUMBAI: Why New York? This is the question those keenly following the NDTV’s lawsuit against TAM Media Research would want answered.

    For the past several years, news broadcaster NDTV (New Delhi Television Ltd) has been making a noise against manipulation of the audience measurement or television viewership ratings in India. It had been drawing the attention of TAM towards corrupt means employed by some of the representatives of TAM and by some broadcasters to engineer television ratings.

    TAM is the monopoly television ratings service provider in India, owned by US-based Nielsen group and global communications agency WPP group companies Kantar Media Research and Cavendish Square Holdings.

    Every time NDTV escalated the issue of manipulation of TAM TV ratings and demanded corrective steps, TAM would refer the matter to its parent companies Nielsen and Kantar. All the meetings that were held with NDTV during the period were led by Nielsen and Kantar officials on behalf of TAM, going by the narrations in the NDTV’s lawsuit against TAM.

    All the assurances of corrective steps to make TV ratings in India fool-proof were given to NDTV by senior officials from Nielsen and Kantar. NDTV says it relied on the direct and unequivocal promises made by senior officers of The Nielsen Company, the Kantar Group and Nielsen and, hence, did not take any further steps to influence necessary remedial measures.

    “Those promises have been broken, and NDTV has suffered losses as (a) direct result of those broken promises. Under New York law, each of these Defendants is liable to NDTV whether or not they had control over TAM’s operations,” NDTV states in its lawsuit.

    NDTV’s case is that Nielsen and Kantar, despite their explicit promises to address rampant corruption in TV ratings processes in India, have negligently, deliberately and wilfully failed and refused to discontinue publication of corrupted data, failed to increase sample size and failed to increase security measures, all of which they knew they should have done, at the latest, after the January 20 2012 meeting.

    The failure constitutes negligence, gross negligence, reckless disregard of duties and the various other causes of action set forth in the lawsuit, it says.

    NDTV argued that the negligence includes, but not limited to, negligence per se for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). TAM‘s largest shareholder, Nielsen primarily operates out of the US and the processes for measuring television ratings are that of Nielsen.

    NDTV would have believed that a severe indictment of TAM’s parents is possible under the US legal system that governs corporate functioning. Filing of such a case in India would have been a futile exercise as corporate governance standards are very low and the laws governing them are weak compared to the US.

    TAM owners have persistently avoided providing funds to TAM required to increase the sample size for television ratings, so that manipulation becomes that much more difficult.

    NDTV is harping on the fact that TAM, though a company registered in India, functions like a department of Nielsen and Kantar. And that Nielsen, which was a few years ago acquired by private equity investors, was on a cost-cutting drive prompted by the investors, now the sponsors (or in Indian parlance promoters) of the company.

    NDTV said one method adopted by Nielsen for cutting costs is to refuse to increase sample sizes to adequate levels. Another method is to place the Nielsen process in markets, such as India, the Philippines and Turkey, without making suitable adjustments for local conditions. The need to make such suitable adjustments is recognised, but not followed, by Nielsen.

    Indeed, in its 2011 Annual Report, Nielsen acknowledges that there are additional costs for implementing the Nielsen process in emerging markets, such as China, Russia, India and Brazil, but Nielsen has consistently refused to incur such additional costs, including a refusal to increase sample size and adopt adequate security measures in India.

    Such cost cutting or cost avoidance measures, motivated by corporate greed, have resulted in violations of Nielsen’s duties to NDTV, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, violations of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code (as the other TAM parent is also governed by the Dutch law) and are the direct and proximate cause of NDTV’s damages.

    TAM has sold the ratings analyses generated by the Nielsen process by explicitly stating that it is using the process created, developed and implemented by Nielsen to generate ratings analyses, that is owned by Nielsen and Kantar, the leading provider of such services across the globe, that it is backed both financially as well as technologically by Nielsen and Kantar, the international giants in the field, and that, therefore, the data collected must be reliable. Indeed, TAM has presented slides at various presentations to support such assertions.

    Following NDTV’s complaint in January 2012, senior officials from Nielsen and Kantar attended several meetings with NDTV in January, February and April of 2012 and have been making decisions as well as providing (now known to be false) assurances to NDTV.

    Two critical witnesses in this case are Robert Messemer, Chief Security Officer, The Nielsen Company, and Paul Donato, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer, Nielsen, who conducted a full investigation into the manipulation of TAM data, NDTV points out in the lawsuit. Both Robert and Paul are based in the US. Furthermore, the actual evidence regarding the manipulation in TAM data is on the laptops seized by Robert Messemer during the course of his investigations in India and taken to the US for further analysis.

    As known to Nielsen, Kantar, TAM, at all relevant times, the corruption in the collection and dissemination of TAM data is rampant in India, is pervasive and is carried out at various levels. It was incumbent on Kantar and Nielsen to ensure at all times that the acts and operations of TAM, as exercised through the Nielsen process, were in accordance with international standards including maintaining such standards by way of adequate systems, training, safeguards and oversight. Nielsen and Kantar failed to follow such standards, as they later admitted in January, February and April 2012.

    The facts, as presented by NDTV, probably make a stronger case against Nielsen and Kantar in the US, where the justice system is swift and has no concern for the status of the defendants.

  • NDTV, WPP harden stance over lawsuit against TAM

    NDTV, WPP harden stance over lawsuit against TAM

    MUMBAI: News broadcaster New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) on Thursday hit back hard at global communications agency WPP, which indirectly owns 50 per cent of TAM Media Research, for threatening defamation proceedings over allegations in a lawsuit against TAM’s faulty television ratings in India.

    In a rejoinder to WPP’s statement on Wednesday, NDTV said WPP has made a “silly error” in dismissing NDTV’s lawsuit as “hypothetical” and claiming that the lawsuit has not been served weeks after it was filed in the Supreme Court of New York.

    In a rebuttal, NDTV said the service of the lawsuit was made on 10 August in New York, and the normal processes under the Hague Convention are also under way. The Hague Convention relates to serving of judicial and extrajudicial documents abroad in civil or commercial matters, under the Hague Conference, a global inter-governmental organisation.

    WPP, on its part, insisted, “Service has not taken place and any suggestion that this has taken place is false. There has been a faulty attempt to serve on one company but nothing on the others at all. No lawyer acting on behalf of any WPP company has made any such statement.”

    NDTV filed the lawsuit late last month alleging gross inaction against manipulation of television ratings in India on the part of TAM, its parents AC Nielsen Research Services Private Limited and Kantar Market Research Services Private Ltd, and Kantar’s owner WPP, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq.

    According to NDTV, the lawyers for Kantar Media Research (UK) have already confirmed to NDTV that the service on his client was acceptable in New York. “In fact, matters have progressed much beyond ‘service‘; the lawyers for Nielsen have been in touch with our lawyers and have requested for an extension. In addition, the CEO of Kantar has been in touch with us and has acknowledged receiving the complaint. NDTV has affidavits to substantiate this,” NDTV said.

    WPP, in an email response to Indiantelevision.com, said, “In fact, Kantar Media (Research) UK is not even named as a party to any lawsuit.” WPP is the owner of Kantar. WPP is right as the only Kantar group company named as defendant in the NDTV lawsuit is Kantar Media Research.

    In a retort for terming its lawsuit hypothetical, the news broadcaster said it is “baffled and amused by the PR effort issued by WPP. PR is clearly the main aim, as the WPP statement contains a number of legal flaws.”

    “We suggest WPP refrain from using their massive PR machine to make baseless threats against NDTV. Instead we request that WPP should focus on honestly fixing (for want of a better word!) their badly damaged and dishonest (television) ratings system in India – which in their statement they acknowledge they have control over and is their responsibility,” NDTV said.

    On Wednesday, WPP had said it has instructed its lawyers to consider filing defamation suit against NDTV and that it along with its operating companies – Kantar and TAM – were also in the process of filing an application in New York to have the lawsuit dismissed.

    “We are taking the unusual step of proceeding to dismiss the hypothetical lawsuit, despite the lack of any service, simply due to the attempted “trial by media” which has been generated by the (unserved) lawsuit. In any event, there is no merit in the purported claims, nor do the US courts have any jurisdiction to hear any such claims. Any claim should be made properly, in India, in front of the Indian courts, which are more than capable of properly hearing any valid claim,” WPP said.

    WPP, in a teaser, said NDTV appears to be blaming their poor financial performance on the ratings. “NDTV ‘s financial state shows a dramatic decline, with its market capitalisation declining from around $800 million in early 2008 to around $60 million today (23 August). Over the same period NDTV‘s share price has declined from a high of Rs 512.70 to around Rs 50 today. NDTV is operating in an extremely competitive market, and its competitors have also been in a difficult position, NDTV‘s decline is not down to any perceived failures in TAM data.”

  • TAM owner WPP speaks up, threatens defamation suit against NDTV

    TAM owner WPP speaks up, threatens defamation suit against NDTV

    MUMBAI: WPP, the world’s largest communications services group, has threatened to file defamation proceedings against New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV) for offensive allegations made by the Indian news broadcaster in its lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court.

    NDTV has filed the lawsuit alleging gross inaction against manipulation of television ratings in India by TAM Media Research, its parents AC Nielsen Research Services Private Limited and Kantar Market Research Services Private Ltd, and Kantar’s owner WPP, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on Nasdaq.

    NDTV has sought $810 million as compensation for the loss in revenues it has suffered over the years because of manipulated viewership ratings and $580 million in penalty for negligence by Nielsen and Kantar officials.

    “In the light of these circumstances, WPP is also giving active consideration to issuing proceedings against NDTV for defamation and has instructed its lawyers accordingly,” WPP said in a statement on Wednesday.

    WPP and its operating companies – Kantar and TAM — are in the process of filing an “immediate application” in the New York court to strike out the law suit, which it has dismissed as “hypothetical”. It said it will also be seeking costs for having to do so.

    TAM had so far declined to comment as the matter was in the court.

    WPP said, in the light of the media comments following the filing of the NDTV suit, “it feels it is appropriate to comment on the lawsuit.”

    WPP pointed out that the lawsuit has not been served on WPP, nor on any of WPP’s operating companies, referred to in the NDTV lawsuit. “In any event, there is no merit, whatsoever, in any of the claims made in the hypothetical Law Suit relating to the WPP Parties, nor do the courts of New York have any jurisdiction to hear any such claims,” the WPP statement said.

    Referring to the six-point action plan proposed by TAM last week, WPP said, “As recent developments indicate, TAM is committed to working with the industry to continuously improve the use of technology, coverage and transparency. TAM has taken and continues to take stringent measures to protect the panel against repeated attempts at tampering by currently unknown parties and has recently agreed a series of additional steps with the industry to remove any question marks about the quality and reliability of the TAM data.”

    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.