Tag: TV viewership

Advertisers target rural north & south zone on serials & film-based content: BARC

MUMBAI: None realised the importance of rural market until BARC India started monitoring viewing habits in the countryside. After the TV audience measurement system gave its ratings, the industry woke up to the potential of this market.

A recent newsletter released by BARC India emphasises on the viewing habits of the viewers on different fronts.

From one front, this research explores the advertisers and marketers targeting north and south zone on serials and film-based content to reach their respective audience.

On an overall level for rural India, serial-based programmes secure the highest share, followed by film-based programmes. This pattern is consistent across zones with the exception of south India. Viewership for serials is driven majorly by the north zone while film-based programmes have maximum viewership in the south zone, which does not come as a surprise.

Most of the programme themes are driven by south zone. The only exception is music which is driven almost entirely by the north zone. For broadcasters in the serials and music genre, north rural market is the key.

For advertisers and marketers targeting north and south zone, serials and film-based content will be the ‘Holy Grail’ to reach their audience respectively as over 30 per cent of the viewership is attributed to each of these content types across zones.

For marketers targeting west or east zone, frequency-based plans yield results easily. On the other hand, for those targeting north, reach-based plans may be more achievable.

On an overall level, the south zone registers the highest reach and ATS ( Average Time Spent) among the four zones in rural market. Looking at the west zone, ATS is the second highest after south zone. However, it has relatively lower reach. This shows that audience in the western rural market has lower reach but they spend a high amount of time consuming television content. Conversely, the north zone has the lowest ATS but has a comparatively better reach. One can infer that audience in the north zone does not stick to television viewing for as long as those in other zones.

The rural viewership pattern

Urban and rural India follow distinctly different viewing patterns across the day. Rural India starts its day much earlier than urban India around 5am, and continues to have higher viewership until 9am.

Post 9am, urban India’s viewership catches up and has higher viewership than the rural India throughout the afternoon and evening. Both, urban and rural India see a marginal peak during 2-230pm. However, rural India sees an early spike for prime time as compared to urban India. The highest viewership in rural India is generated during the time-band 830-9pm followed by the time-band 8-830pm.

Viewership starts declining around 1030pm hinting at an early wrap-up for the day for the rural audience.

If one compares all the four zones in the rural market, it seems like the viewership is driven by southern rural market followed by the west zone. The lowest viewership in rural market can be observed in the north zone which has the lowest average rating percentage for the entire day.

If one looks at the zone-wise viewership, both weekdays and weekends are driven by the south zone followed by west zone. Overall viewership for weekends is marginally higher than weekdays for rural India. At the zone level, this increase for weekend viewership is the maximum for the west zone and the least for the east zone.

Viewership differs during prime time

Millennials in rural India could be the next big target for broadcasters and advertisers to hold on to.

Viewership in India during prime time is equally divided among both the genders. However, if compared by the four zones, north and west zone have a higher percentage of male viewers (51 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively) and Millennials (age-group 15-30) form the largest percentage of audience in rural India. The pattern is the same among all the four zones with the exception of south where Gen X (age group 31-50) forms the largest percentage of the audience.

NCCS C (New Consumer Classification System) has the highest share of viewership among all zones in rural India. While the west zone and the east zone display a composition similar to rural India, the north zone and south zone have some variations. The north zone has a substantially higher composition of NCCS A & NCCS B, while the contribution of NCCS C is lower than the rural India average. Conversely, in the south zone, the contribution of NCCS A is low.

Surprisingly, film-based programmes, which have the maximum reach during prime time, have one of the lowest stickiness across rural India for all the four zones. Game/talk/quiz and lifestyle-based programmes can hold the audience for long as they have a healthy ratio for reach to fidelity. In rural India, stickiness for serial-based programs is the highest across programme themes.

Surprisingly, it is driven mostly by south zone, which had the lowest reach among all zones for this content. Interestingly, if one compares this to the audience composition analysed above, north zone and west zone, which have a higher percentage of male audience, also see higher stickiness for sports programmes. Lifestyle-based content in terms of stickiness has much better ratio of reach to fidelity across zones.

Ad sector popularity

The top ad sectors by viewership during prime time in rural India are personal care/hygiene, food & beverages, hair care and services etc.

Personal care/hygiene and hair care sector have a higher share in the north zone. This can also be seen while comparing all the zones for the ‘personal healthcare’ category, where again the north zone takes the lead.

On the other hand, the south zone is more inclined towards categories such as food and beverages, auto, durables and personal accessories.

Switching pattern for GEC & movie genre

Since most of the TV viewership is generated by GEC and the movie genre, it would be interesting to understand the switching pattern of rural India on a day-part level.

As observed in the paragraphs above, throughout the day, most of the switching to or from a channel genre happens due to audience switching the TV on or not. However, it declines during the later time-bands. The only exception is 6pm to 12 midnight where switching between movies and GEC is higher than viewers switching TV on during that time-band (with movies as reference). On comparing switching from movies to GEC genre, switching percentage remains almost comparable throughout the day.

On the other hand, switching from GEC to movies declines during later time-bands. On an overall level, switching from GEC to movies is seen more often that the switching from movies to GEC.

January 6, 2017
BARC seeks RFPs for consultancy to subscribers

MUMBAI: BARC India has called Request for Proposals (RFPs) from professional consultancy service providers who would provide strategic consultancy to BARC India subscribers.

MIB guidelines prohibit BARC India from involving itself in any activity like consultancy or any such advisory role, which would lead to a potential conflict of interest with its main objective of TV ratings. However, many subscribers have been expressing their need for this service and hence reputed Data Insight consultants may provide this. This is also in line with global best practices where the ratings are being done by joint industry companies.

With this, BARC India is seeking to build a small pool of approved consultancy companies, which will allow subscribers to choose their supplier and also help mitigate against potential conflicts of interest when dealing with potentially competing clients. Interested parties can mail BARC, and finally submit proposals for providing TV Viewership related consultancy services to BARC India subscribers.

While BARC India data will continue to be delivered directly to subscribers via the BARC India Media Workstation (BMW) analysis system, consultancy companies will be able to analyze this data using their own systems to generate consultancy outputs. However, these systems cannot be made available to subscribers as an alternative to BMW system.

“BARC India being a joint industry company of broadcasters, media agencies and advertisers needs to remain independent and objective and hence cannot provide consultancy service to subscribers. However, after building a strong television audience measurement system in the country, we have now decided to grant licenses to select consultancy companies to provide analysis to our subscribers who are in need of professional consultancy service to effectively utilize and strategise with BARC India data,” said BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.

November 28, 2016
BARC seeks RFPs for consultancy to subscribers

MUMBAI: BARC India has called Request for Proposals (RFPs) from professional consultancy service providers who would provide strategic consultancy to BARC India subscribers.

MIB guidelines prohibit BARC India from involving itself in any activity like consultancy or any such advisory role, which would lead to a potential conflict of interest with its main objective of TV ratings. However, many subscribers have been expressing their need for this service and hence reputed Data Insight consultants may provide this. This is also in line with global best practices where the ratings are being done by joint industry companies.

With this, BARC India is seeking to build a small pool of approved consultancy companies, which will allow subscribers to choose their supplier and also help mitigate against potential conflicts of interest when dealing with potentially competing clients. Interested parties can mail BARC, and finally submit proposals for providing TV Viewership related consultancy services to BARC India subscribers.

While BARC India data will continue to be delivered directly to subscribers via the BARC India Media Workstation (BMW) analysis system, consultancy companies will be able to analyze this data using their own systems to generate consultancy outputs. However, these systems cannot be made available to subscribers as an alternative to BMW system.

“BARC India being a joint industry company of broadcasters, media agencies and advertisers needs to remain independent and objective and hence cannot provide consultancy service to subscribers. However, after building a strong television audience measurement system in the country, we have now decided to grant licenses to select consultancy companies to provide analysis to our subscribers who are in need of professional consultancy service to effectively utilize and strategise with BARC India data,” said BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.

November 28, 2016

The TAM story continued…

It has clearly broadcast its intent: the Rs 37,000 crore Indian TV broadcasting industry wants change in the way TV viewership is monitored in India. Though a lot of noise has been made about the quality of and what was wrong with the ratings, followed by broadcasters‘ cancellation notices to TAM Media Research‘s service, nothing specific was forthcoming from them on what those changes should be. This was followed by a period when speculation was that TAM‘s ratings would be blacked out for a while until it corrected itself and satisfied broadcasters.

But despite denials from the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) very senior management sources in television channels have toldindiantelevision.com that the cancellation notices by the broadcasters stand cancelled. I guess one shouldn‘t be surprised. Long after some broadcasters unsubscribed, they continued to claim their No 1 position. How? As per ratings, of course.

Confirming this is the CEO of a TV channel: “Most of the broadcasters who sent in their subscription cancellation letters to TAM have withdrawn them. Nobody will come on record; the IBF will say no it has not happened, but the cancellations stand cancelled. All the channels who say they have unsubscribed have been circulating ratings internally and to their producers. So who says that they have cancelled their subscriptions to TAM?”

_________________________________________________________

Most of the broadcasters who sent in their subscription cancellation letters to TAM have withdrawn them. Nobody will come on record; the IBF will say no it has not happened, but the cancellations stand cancelled.
_____****________________________________________________

But to be fair, the broadcasters did write to TAM withdrawing their subscriptions, but they did not ‘enforce‘ those letters. TAM continued to give out ratings and the industry continued to download them. Besides, one-third of the broadcasting industry unsubscribing was not a shut-down, but a warning. A warning which was very much required.

While Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) is underway and will possibly take over the industry as the sole ‘currency‘ for television ratings by mid-next year, a black-out in the interim period is not a desirable situation for any of the stakeholders, is what we understand.

So the fact is TAM never went away really. What happened was that there were threats to make it go away, but behind closed doors the broadcasters worked on elucidating what they would like TAM to do to win their favour and their custom. Their list of demands, part of which was reported by Mint, includes:

Monthly data v/s Weekly data

Broadcasters prefer their ratings on a monthly basis as opposed to every week. This means data will be week specific, yet it will be available for consumption only at the end of the month.

No ratings for smaller niche

Any cell or segmentation which has less than 30 peoplemeters employed in it, should not be reported. This translates to no ratings for smaller niche channels in that particular month. The idea behind this restriction is self-explanatory. ‘No data is better than insufficient data.‘

CPT v/s CPRP

A lot of the chaos surrounding TAM ratings arises out of tall claims made by channels based on ‘share‘. The broadcasters wish to do away with the share syndrome and want the data strictly in numbers. This implies that the market standard will now have to change from Cost Per Rating Point (CPRP) to Cost Per Thousand (CPT). Broadcasters want to be told the exact number of viewers they are reaching in thousands, irrespective of the share aspect, which as I understand, is prone to loopholes.

BARC supervision

The broadcasters‘ have demanded that the implementation of all their demands and the overall technical procedure is subject to BARC‘s tech committee‘s supervision.

_________________________________________

Broadcasters have complained for long, that in a country where millions of viewers are getting added annually and there is a robust digitization exercise in place, how can they believe TAM’s claim of the TV universe shrinking? In this context, the demand for increasing the viewers, only seems justified.
_____****__________________________________

From 145 million to 260 million

The total television viewing universe in India is approximately 500 million. Out of this, around 240 million comprises rural viewers which are not covered by TAM. This leaves 260 million urban, semi-urban and semi-rural viewers. Currently, TAM covers a universe of 140 million viewers only. The broadcasters rightly demand that the sample base should be boosted to 260 million viewers to cover the entire non-rural universe.

Broadcasters have complained for long, that in a country where more viewers are getting and there is a robust digitization exercise in place, how can they believe TAM‘s claim of the TV universe shrinking? In this context, the demand for increasing the viewers only seems justified.

The fallout happened due to a number of causative factors. Inaccuracy, lack of transparency and illogical explanation were some of the complaints made by the broadcasting industry for a considerably long period of time.

Besides, it was important to send out a clear message to TAM and the rest of the world, that the Indian broadcasting industry is capable of dismantling an existing system by their united strength. Also, the time was right to set the stage for the upcoming BARC. The sudden outburst against TAM was not so sudden after all.

The concerns of all involved have to be addressed sooner than later. And it is definitely a positive development to know that broadcasters finally chose to break their golden silence and initiate corrective measures.

The consensus between TAM and broadcasters is believed to have been reached for the above-mentioned demands. So far everyone stands divided on the way forward based on broadcasters five or six point plan. It is now up to TAM to convince agencies and advertisers, both of which are very crucial stakeholders in the entire set up.

July 2, 2013

“BARC would like to make the entire TV ratings process future-ready”: BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta

At first appearance, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) CEO Partho Dasgupta comes across as a pretty mild-mannered professional. But don‘t let that fool you: beneath the mild exterior is a steel-backed executive who has faced many a challenging task in diverse consumer industries and media where he has implemented large and small start up projects. Among this figure: Times Now, Future Media, The Economic Times and Times Multimedia. This apart, he also had an entrepreneurial stint where he co-founded a media company, apart from advising media startups and venture firms and their invested companies on brand strategies. So it is no surprise that the BARC board chose him to steer the setting up of a TV viewership monitoring system when there is a crisis of confidence around the only currency operational in India today – TAM Media.

Indiantelevision.com‘s Seema Singh and Zeba Warsi spoke to Dasgupta to find out on what challenges await him, why he took up the job, and how he sees the road ahead.

Excerpts:

What are your feelings on being appointed the first CEO of BARC? What have you been busy with since joining it? And why did you take up the challenge considering the kind of brickbats that are being hurled at LVK now after years of doing the ratings? Who was it that coaxed you take it up?

I am very happy to sit in the hot seat. Just before this I was managing the preschool business and the k12 school business growth of Educomp. I am looking forward to contribute to the broadcast industry, which I am very fond of. I love challenges – if you see my background none have been very easy roles. There was a time, then, when the joke was going around and similarly I am hearing now- whether one will ‘Bark or Bite‘ (pun intended). That is simply whether we will live up to all the hype surrounding BARC. It‘s all in good humour and I enjoy the challenge.

You have worked with Times Now, Future Media and also worked with ET during their growth years. You also took a shot at entrepreneurship. How will you use that experience while working with BARC?

I have been doing startups for the last 14 years – I love the whole drill – of blocking urls, looking for office, setting up new teams, new brands, processes and managing finances. I have also been on both sides of the table, as a broadcaster and also a client – so I guess I understand the pains of all sides. I am looking forward to go the whole hog again.

What are the first few major tasks ahead of you taking over as the CEO?

The single mandate is to design, commission, supervise and own India‘s Broadcast Measurement System. Towards this end, the establishment survey, covering approx 2.4 lakh individuals across India is already underway. This survey will give us details on television penetration in both urban and rural areas; viewership habits across all broadcasting modes, be it terrestrial, C&S, DTH, analog and digital platforms, and other developing and new platforms including newer modes of viewing; as well as viewer demographics. The study would become the basis of designing the rating panel.

At the same time, separate RFPs for research and technology have been floated globally. Once the proposals are in, the technical committee will scrutinize all proposals in order to select the best in class research methodologies and technology. This will comprise senior experts from the industry representing all stakeholders. Experts in the technology domain are being co-opted to give us insights on the best technology available. So we are ensuring that thought leaders, domain experts and people with relevant skills are all on board from across our stakeholders to assess the best methodologies available globally.

The group will look into all three parameters:

Technology of equipment across all broadcast mechanisms
Capture and analysis of data
Dissemination of data to users

The global competitive bidding will ensure that India gets the best in class, cutting edge broadcast measurement system.

Tell us about the structure of BARC, the members, representation and so on. Should there be equal representation from broadcasters, agencies and advertisers like it was initially envisaged?

The broadcasters, agencies and advertisers are duly represented through their respective bodies namely IBF, AAAI and ISA. We are a neutral nodal body which will be working in a tandem with the three representative bodies. The members of each body find representation in the 10-member Board of BARC, which is already in place. The council will have its own management structure reporting to the Board.

The tech committee has been working on certain presumptions? What are these and how do you see the tech committee contributing to making the BARC more relevant over the years?

There are no presumptions that anyone of us are working on. Our one line mandate is to design, commission, supervise and own India‘s broadcast measurement system. And all of us are working to ensure that we get the best in class research and technology to deliver a product that would be the gold standard of broadcast research.

BARC is striving to ensure the best of research methodologies combined with the best of technology to deliver world-class measurement.

How do you envision the BARC office to be like – how many staff, how many people employed by it? How do you see this evolving? What will they be doing?

We are evolving the structure. The mandate is clear and the structure will follow. We will be headquartered in Mumbai and we will be outsourcing a lot of professionals and services for specific functions.

Tell us about the professionals you have hired so far from the industry…Any reputed names?

We will be getting many professionals on board. Currently we have Mubin Khan as the vice president of BARC. (Khan has previously worked as senior AVP at Zee Network, media controller at Contract Advertising India Ltd., associate media controller at Mudra Communications Ltd. and was also vice-chairman of the Technical Committee of the IRS – the premier readership survey – conducted by Media Research Users Council among several other accolades.)

What was the response to the RFIs like? Were there any surprising firms which have been observed on the list – like Infosys and TCS? Which other surprises popped up?

The response has been very good across both research and technology companies. Global research and technology leaders have collected the RFP documents. I cannot reveal anything more at this point as NDAs have been signed with all firms concerned.

How is the RFP process progressing? How many responses have you got? When do you expect to make announcements for the same?

We haven‘t received any responses as of now. Separate proposals for research and technology have been sent to the various companies involved. As they go through the RFP, companies are raising certain queries, which are being formally addressed. The deadline to submit proposals is still more than a month away. The evaluation panel would scrutinize all proposals in order to select the best in class research methodologies and technology. This will comprise senior experts from the industry representing all stakeholders. Experts in the technology domain are being co-opted to give us insights on the best technology available. So we are ensuring that thought leaders, domain experts and people with relevant skills are all on board from across our stakeholders to assess the best methodologies available globally.

What‘s the current status of the council?

The council is already operational. We are waiting for the RFP responses and talks are on with all bodies to better understand their concerns. The responses are expected next month.

With the likelihood of TAM not being used as a barometer for the broadcast industry, it is quite likely that you will have to speed up your coming to market time to earlier than mid-2014? Do you think you are geared up to achieve that and what is the game plan and what signposts you will have to move forward to achieve this requirement quicker?

The establishment survey is underway and should be out for us in December-January. After the panel discusses it, we may release it for public in February -March. The process is not an overnight one, it will take its due time and we don‘t want to rush. We are on course for a launch next year as originally planned

Do you think what is happening to TAM is reasonable – the broadcaster back lash? What in your perception accelerated this? What is your advice to LVK and TAM?

No comments.

TAM has been accused of being ambiguous and lacking the required transparency. How do you plan to bring in transparency, accuracy and logical reasoning in the results?

BARC is striving to ensure the best of research methodologies combined with the best of technology to deliver world-class measurement. To that end separate RFPs for research and technology have been floated globally. The evaluation panel will scrutinize all proposals in order to select the best in class research methodologies and technology. This will comprise senior experts from the industry representing all stakeholders. Experts in the technology domain are being co-opted to give us insights on the best technology available. So we are ensuring that thought leaders, domain experts and people with relevant skills are all on board from across our stakeholders to assess the best methodologies available globally.

The baby is not born yet. It is too early to start speculating on how many siblings it should have. Besides, if others want to set up a rating agency, we are not stopping and cannot stop them. It is a free country.

Do you think the ministry, TRAI and the industry as a whole prepared for a self regulatory mechanism of TV ratings? What kind of checks and balances are you going to put in to make everyone in the ecosystem comfortable?

BARC is not a research agency. We will be working with specialists in research and technology to deliver cutting edge research. There would be adequate representation of various stakeholders in the process to ensure proper checks and balances.

Do you think all categories will be content with BARC- GECs, news- English and regional and Niche? How will BARC achieve that?

It is obvious that we have to address the concerns of all stakeholders. And we are doing so through dialogues with all concerned. If anybody has a concern, they will obviously share it with their representative bodies, who are a part of the Board.

Is the Indian TV universe more rural or more urban? How will you address issues of broadcasters who have seen a reduction of the TV universe under TAM‘s expansion into LC1 towns? Are you sure the results will not be the same as TAM‘s are currently?

Let us await the results of the establishment survey before commenting on this.

How will you address and cover a continually digitising India in terms of cable TV rolling out in phase III and phase IV of the cable TV universe? As well as expanding DTH homes…

It is too early to comment on this. However, as mentioned earlier, we have a mandate to design, commission, supervise and own India‘s broadcast measurement system. This system will have to be inclusive, covering all aspects of our country‘s heterogeneity. We believe digitisation will actually make it easier for us.

What kind of tech are you looking at putting in place? Stationary intrusive people meters which involve users to manually put in their inputs by pressing their remotes? Or more evolved ones which senses people‘s presence in the room via advanced tech? Or mobile hand held devices which have similar capabilities? And how will you incorporate tech which can be integrated with the STBs? In the next five years India will probably have about 100 million of these?

It is too early to comment on the kind of technology, given that the RFP process is underway. Having said that, let me state that BARC would look at all technologies available. We would like to make the entire ratings mechanism process future-ready.

How will the ratings system be funded annually? What kind of ratings are you hoping to deliver – overnight or weekly or monthly?

BARC is a non-profit organisation under Section 25 of the companies Act, 1956. The various industry constituents would fund the research. All users of data and analysis will subscribe and pay for the same.

TAM used only 8150-10,000 households for its rating system which was perceived as not being adequate to represent the population of 15.5 crore TV households in India. Tell us about your survey sample, how many homes, which markets, etc.

The final contours of the panel size and dispersion will be decided only after the establishment survey is complete and the proposals studied. As mentioned earlier, the establishment survey is covering approx 2.4 lakh homes across urban and rural India.

When the decision of setting up the council first came up in 2008, it was a joint venture only between IBF and ISA. Then how did AAAI enter the venture?

BARC represents the entire industry. Hence, it made eminent sense to have all stakeholders on board.

The initial investment for setting up BARC was Rs 300 million? Has the investment gone up? If yes, by how much? How was the breakup ratio between IBF, ISF and AAAI decided?

No Comments

Self-regulation mechanism has worked in some cases, and hasn‘t in some. How do you think BARC will envisage this mechanism in its functioning as opposed to TAM?

BARC has representation from all stakeholders of the industry. It thus has an in-built mechanism.

There is an accusation that “Self-regulation of television rating system in India has failed to take off as BARC has not been able to take any credible action on the recommendations made by TRAI and by Dr Mitra‘s Committee. What did the report say? Are the accusations true? How much has BARC worked on it?

I have taken charge just this month, and the BARC team has also been just set up. We shall take up the issues as they come. Right now, the focus is on the RFPs.

Following the report, BARC had also set up in-depth research team to study audience measurement system, particularly BARB, the UK‘s audience measurement system, how has that translated in your current structure? Are there any comparisons to be drawn between the two?

BARC and its stakeholders have been studying the various models and methodologies adopted by broadcast measuring companies and organisations across more than 30 countries across the globe. And we will certainly look at incorporating the best research methodologies and technology available.

Having said that, India has a lot many complexities that are unique to our country. Be it in the demographic or socio-cultural heterogeneity, the linguistic, geographic and economic disparities or even the hours of accessibility to electricity, any study done in India has to take cognizance of each of these unique complexities, and many more.

BARC plans to be very robust. Does your set up involve putting in place a complaint mechanism system? If yes, please elaborate.

For any organisation that is in the service industry, a robust feedback mechanism is a must. BARC is an industry body representing all constituents. There would definitely be continuous dialogue between BARC and its constituents. And this would also incorporate formal feedback mechanisms.

We are aware that history has shown us that the market can only support one rating currency. But even as recently as yesterday, outgoing I&B secretary Uday Kumar Varma expressed reservations about a monopoly of ratings. He also said that maybe there should be more than one rating system to provide competition in the business, which will also result in enhancing the credibility of ratings. TAM which earlier was the sole rating system has allegedly goofed up and was highly criticised. What is your reaction to this? And why should BARC enjoy monopoly of ratings?

June 26, 2013

Indian TV B’casters: ‘TAM’ing TV ratings

Does the Indian TV broadcast industry want TAM? In one word, the answer is No. Definitely not in the form and manner it is monitoring TV viewership in India. Definitely not the kind of viewership numbers it has been spewing out for them week by week. The major Indian TV broadcast networks have already shown their utter disgust and disregard for its TV ratings by closing their checkbooks on TAM.

On almost every front, the Indian TV broadcasters – through the IBF – have been flexing their muscles and showing that they mean business. And they have been sorting out troublesome issues: like striking a wage accord with TV industry technicians; setting set up a self-regulatory mechanism when government wanted to muzzle the media; getting the advertising industry to agree to net billing after the government demanded taxes for the gross advertising agency bills it used to make payments on.

But one of the most vexatious issues it has been grappling with is the TV rating‘s one. And now that the lights have been put out on TAM, what now for the broadcast industry? What are the options before it? Let us take a look at a couple of them:

*For one they can continue with TAM Media. However, they can give TV ratings a hiatus for a couple of months. It‘s quite possible the chaos that is happening on account of analogue shutoffs and digital set top box switch-ons, will settle down and the ratings will stabilise in that period. They can also dialogue with TAM and ask it to get back to basics and do an establishment survey once again (if possible), represent the peoplemeters appropriately in power-lit areas in LC1, rather than in power-dark areas. And finally, take a closer look at the entire process of churning out ratings that happens every week, through a committee constituted for the very purpose.

There is a possibility that we could end up with a period of no TV ratings in India if issues are not sorted out by all concerned. How long that period will be is not clear (some say it could be until BARC comes up), but broadcasters will need to get advertisers and agencies’ support for their decision. So far, both have said they are not comfortable with ratings going away, and have spoken up for TAM.
_____****_____

With all major B‘casters unsubscribing from TAM TV ratings, only time will tell if the viewers‘ true choice can be reflected with the emergence of BARC

* Or if this is not working out forget that TAM exists, cut off its blood supply, and watch it gradually bleed and die. Come up with a viewership metric that works in the interim for all concerned – broadcasters, advertisers and agencies – and allows the business of communicating brand messages through television for a fee to continue.

The broadcast industry is torn between the two options. The first has been done before between October and December 2012 and it was painless for all concerned and allowed TAM to continue its existence in a profitable manner.

The second option, while it appears the easier one to see through, comes with its set of challenges.

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC)‘s TV ratings system seems nearly a year away and could take longer to get to the levels of coverage TAM is providing now. Unless, under the leadership of Puneet Goenka and Partho Dasgupta, BARC manages to do an Ambani on the system and get the establishment survey, the constitution of the sample, the installation of the meters, the development of the software, the stabilisation of the findings and everything down stream thereof completed in super record time. Most advertisers and agencies have been optimistic about BARC.

Industry can learn some lessons from the experience of Turkey in 2011. Turkey‘s broadcasters and the industry shut down the ratings service run there by AGB Nielsen in late December 2011, amidst allegations of corruption, which were denied by the ratings service provider. The industry body – The Television Audience Research Committee (TIAK) – prematurely severed its contract with AGB and urged TNS – part of the WPP Group‘s Kantar Research – to set up an alternative ratings system which finally got going in May 2012 with a 1000 peoplemeter panel, as against 2,500 people meters earlier.

Industry can learn some lessons from the experience of Turkey which faced a ratings blackout in 2011. During the blackout TV ad rates and prices were determined by using average ratings from the month before the shutdown, combined with monthly share performance from the whole of the year.
_____****_____

In the interim, adage.com reported in March 2012 that life went on for Turkish advertisers, agencies and broadcasters though the “TV-buying system has since been in shambles. Without reliable new-audience measurement data, prices have been determined by using average ratings from the month before the scandal erupted, combined with monthly share performance from the whole of 2011. The industry is working to regain media agencies‘ and advertisers‘ trust.”

Agreed, we are not questioning the ethics of TAM in India, though many have hurled allegations against it. There is a possibility that we could end up with a period of no TV ratings in India if issues are not sorted out by all concerned.

How long that period will be is not clear (some say it could be until BARC comes up), but broadcasters will need to get advertisers and agencies‘ support for their decision. So far, both have said they are not comfortable with ratings going away, and have spoken up for TAM.

With reason. Two or three months without TAM mean they will have little data to support a TV advertising expenditure between Rs 3,600-4,200 crore. That‘s not an amount you can sniff away.

Hence, all three will have to come to the table and agree on a performance metric to justify the expenditure and offer some accountability. Could the Turkish media industry‘s interim solution during the TV ratings shutdown there be adapted to work in India?

Broadcasters are slated to huddle very soon (either this week or next) to get some consensus on which route they will take. Some broadcast CEOs have been travelling and hence have not been able to get together.

June 15, 2013

Print coverage influences TV viewership of sports

MUMBAI: This afternoon the National Sports Seminar was held by the The Sports Journalist Federation of India.

The speakers included Fed Cup coach Enrico Piperno, BCCI executive secretary Ratnakar Shetty, Ogilvy & Mather chairman Piyush Pandey and Tam Media CEO L V Krishnan.

Krishnan looked at how coverage of sports in the newspapers influences television viewership. “Sania Mirza needs to thank two people – her coach and journalists. The coverage on her has been fantastic. When she played Serena Williams at the Australian Open recently it made front page news. Ratings soared in Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad.

“Newspapers educate sports fans on a topic. They are then motivated to go to the television to watch the happenings. A recent event that benefitted in a big way from newspaper coverage was the football World Cup. In 2002 when the event was on the Indian cricket team was playing England at the same time. Cricket won comfortably then.

“This time there was a 300 per cent jump in the viewership of the soccer World Cup. That is because of the huge newspaper coverage. There was 450,000 cms worth of print coverage which was more than what was seen during the 2003 cricket World Cup. For the common man, media is a seamless medium. They read about a sports event in the newspaper and then they gravitate towards the television.

“At the same time you need a personality that captures the public’s imagination. Hockey has suffered in this respect. There is no one dominant personality who can give the sport a push as far as visibility is concerned. Soccer on the other hand is filled with famous names. Their pictures in the newspapers create a lot of recognition even in the smaller towns.”

He also spoke about the effectiveness on advertising in sport. After all it is the one genre where in product placement blends in seamlessly. An example was Pepsi getting involved with a cricket series a couple of years ago. They branded the boundary rope with triangles. It worked well because the camera focus on the boundary rope was high. Replays also helped visibility. “By comparison if a character in a soap is shown drinking a Cola it looks out of place and disrupts the flow of the story.”

Pandey noted that in India there are two great advertising vehicles Bollywod and sports (mostly cricket). the advantage that a sportsperson has is that he/she is a great body of character. “There is performance which kids aspire for and parents appreciate. There is the power of youth and also physical activity. Unfortunately in India, there is laziness both on the part of the agency and on the part of the sportsperson.

“They do not sit together. If they did, then the scriptwriter would get a clear idea of what it is the sportsperson can and cannot do. Because there is lack of dialogue you get ads that ridicule a sports person. The Sehwag Ki Ma ads made a great batsman look like a fool. I can also think of just two ads where Sachin Tendulkar’s appeal was used well. One was the Pepsi mask ad. here the fact that he likes kids came through. Also Pepsi wisely did not let him speak,” said Pandey.

He noted that a lot of great ads use sportspeople in a natural environment. An example is Sampras and Aggasi playing tennis for a Nike ad. At least the company is not using Sampras to sell diapers. It is upto the sportsdperson to also be selective of the kind of creative he/she appears in. Otherwise his/her brand value can go down.

Shetty spoke about the different ways the BCCI is using money. One way is increasing the pay for domestic cricketers. This enables someone to look at cricket as a career even if he is not in the national side. The BCCI also gives pensions to retired cricketers. It is also looking to give women’s cricket a push.

Then there is the stadium upgrade project. He admitted that the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai needs a facelift if it is to host matches during the 2011 matches. The BCCI will reimburse the various cricket associations upto Rs. 250 million on their renovating or building stadiums. The BCCI is also looking to create a corpus fund to help other sports. He added that the BCCI is going to inaugurate its head office at the Wankhede stadium in October. It is also looking to build a musuem where visitors can look at artifacts.

August 9, 2006