ITV

Tag: viewership

  • DD gets watermarked

    DD gets watermarked

    MUMBAI: The pubcaster has finally got itself inked for ratings. Doordarshan’s 20 channels have got watermarked as per the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India’s standards for viewership ratings.

    Doordarshan, which has been a founding member of the measurement council, took a while to get the channels watermarked. As per sources, the cost of watermarking a channel costs around Rs 20 lakh and the pubcaster has spent close to Rs 4.5 crore to get the technology on board.

    The audience measurement company has already got on board 250 channels that have ordered for watermarking embedders. Half of this has already been installed.

    The watermarking technology has been taken from Netherlands based Civolution and field testing of the meters is underway for homologating them to Indian conditions. As BARC India has consistently maintained, the meters have been assembled in India at a fraction of the cost of global suppliers.

    Deals with 26 vendor partners such as Intel, Hansa, Mediametrie, Civolution, Markdata, Magic9Media across 12 processes have been finalised. It also claims that this is the largest such audience measurement system globally with cutting edge technology.

    The government has laid down policy guidelines that prescribe a minimum of 20, 000 homes, which BARC India feels isn’t enough in the long run. It has also opted for the harder and tougher method of assembling systems from various vendors to offer a superior and cost effective output.

     

  • BARC India likely to roll out weekly data

    BARC India likely to roll out weekly data

    MUMBAI: Industry led TV ratings measurement body BARC India has shed some more light on its operational format.

     

    The biggest question that has been answered is that of reporting frequency. In an official communication, BARC India has said that the frequency of reporting is likely to be weekly except for certain data types for which it might aggregate the data by period, time band or geography.

     

    It also says that since currently the number of households with multiple TV sets is low, it won’t be reporting this number separately but will still measure multiple TVs wherever it may be in sample households. At the same time it is aiming at releasing viewership data and adex data simultaneously.

     

    The upcoming ratings agency also claims to be future ready by having the technology that will allow it to report even time shift viewing from the first day.
     

    Addressing the concern about broadcasters switching off watermark, it says that such a step is not in the interest of the broadcaster. ‘But like any technology, such eventualities could happen due to various reasons. To arrest these instances stringent processes with escalation matrix across watermark monitoring agency, broadcaster and BARC India are in place. They will highlight even if a small bit of content is not watermarked,’ it says in the communiqué. This will dissuade media agencies from buying the channel, forcing the broadcaster to correct this.

     

    A stringent monitoring process is on the cards. BARC India is looking at appointing a senior police official for heading vigilance. But it says that the data collection format and technology that it uses makes it highly unlikely for tampering.

     

    Watermarking technology can also support capturing cable TV channels and if MSOs want their channels to be measured, they can invest in the embedding technology. However, no MSO biases would be considered for sampling as the panel would be a reflection of what people watch.

     

    For its extensive and advanced technology, it is looking at an ingenuous pricing model that will make affordable data available to the last mile.

  • TAM woos subscribers with mobile app

    TAM woos subscribers with mobile app

    MUMBAI: Even as it awaits the verdict of the Delhi High Court on the case filed by its parent body Kantar Market Research, media ratings agency TAM has taken a bold move to cement itself in the industry. A new mobile app has been created to facilitate easy data access by subscribers.

     

    The app, called ‘TAM India’, will provide weekly top line TAM data to subscribers through App Story (iPhone), Google Play (Android) and Blackberry World (Blackberry). It will be updated every Thursday, immediately after the regular release of TAM data to the industry. Subscribers will instantly be intimated about the update.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the app, TAM Media Research CEO LV Krishnan said, “Our focus, as always, has been to enrich our customers with actionable insights through credible data. With this first ever unique initiative of launching ‘TAM India’ mobile app, we have fortified our service commitment to the industry with that of anytime anywhere access to data and quicker decision making process for clients. I am especially excited about the different ways in which this mobile app will be of value to the senior management across advertiser, media agency and TV broadcast organisations.”

     

    On a weekly basis, the app will provide insights of different TV channel genres, markets, programmes and new promotables. At any given point in time, it will have data not just for the latest week, but also for the preceding four weeks.

     

    The following is the kind of data that will be available on the app

    · Channel Genre: Overall genre wise viewership data and five weeks trends for select genres

    · Markets:  Market wise viewership data and five weeks trends for select markets

    · New Programme Launches:  List of new programmes launched during the latest week on respective channels

    · New Promotables: List of new programme promotions on respective channels during the latest week

     

    The app will also provide a feature to bookmark a favourite market or genre which will be shown as a first screen from the next update. The app is available for download on the TAM website www.tamindia.com.

  • Nielsen to track TV viewership on mobile devices through FB

    Nielsen to track TV viewership on mobile devices through FB

    MUMBAI: With changing times, researchers want to know more than what people are watching on their TV screens. They now want to know what people are viewing, on the go.

     

    Nielsen, a research company, has announced a partnership with social media giant Facebook to know what TV viewers are watching on their tablets and other mobile devices. The agency currently tracks TV viewing habits through peoplemeters.

     

    By the end of this year, Facebook will send aggregated data on the age and gender of users watching TV shows on their smartphones and tablets to the research agency. Facebook is said to have been working with Nielsen under strong privacy principles.

     

    In the past, Facebook had came under much criticism for a research activity it had conducted in 2012 on anonymous users by modulating the user feed to elicit certain types of emotions from them.

     

    “The world is shifting radically, and so we had to evolve our measurement so that we could capture all of this fragmented viewing,” said Nielsen EVP Cheryl Idell to LA Times.

     

    When device users will watch TV shows on apps that have Nielsen ‘software meter’ embedded, they will be notified about their views being counted unless they wish to opt out. However, Facebook insists that this will be an anonymously collected data that will be shared with Nielsen.

     

    The double-blind study involves Nielsen assigning numbers to names of TV shows and giving it to Facebook which will then aggregate the age and gender of the users that have seen a specific show. Nielsen claims that Facebook won’t be aware of which numbers relate to which shows while the social networking site claims that the study will not influence any type of online advertising displayed in users’ feeds.

     

    However, the data will be used by advertisers to better target majority of mobile watchers for ads that are inserted within shows.

  • TV ratings issue listed for cabinet discussion on 9 Jan

    TV ratings issue listed for cabinet discussion on 9 Jan

    MUMBAI: The year 2013 saw quite a ruckus being raised about the ratings process being followed in the country. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in September 2013 came out with a recommendation paper after receiving suggestions from stakeholders on its consultation paper regarding the same.

     

    The paper got the ministry of information and broadcasting’s (MIB) nod in mid-November. Now it has been listed for consideration and approval by the cabinet committee on economic affairs on 9 January.

     

    Complaints about TV ratings in India have been aired for several years now. However, the TRAI released its recommendations only late last year on the way forward. In its paper it gave several suggestions to improve the quality of the ratings, one suggestion was that ratings agencies should register themselves with the MIB  and no one from its board of directors  should be involved in the business of broadcasting or advertising. They will have to give Rs 10 lakh as registration fee and produce a bank guarantee of Rs 1 crore.

     

    The minimum number of houses was recommended to be doubled to 20,000, to be increased by 10,000 till it reaches 50,000. 25 per cent of the viewership panel being monitored should be rotated every year. 

     

    If the ratings agencies failed to follow the guidelines they would be penalised, the severest being cancellation of the registration. 

     

    If the new ratings guidelines do get the cabinet’s nod, it means that the existing ratings agency TAM Media will have to invest anywhere between Rs 200-250 crore to scale up its panel and get itself registered with the MIB. The Broadcast Audience Research Council – which currently has the full backing of the broadcast, advertising and marketing industries and is racing to start its services by mid-2014 – will also have to follow the same course of MIB registration.

  • Week 50 ratings: Major GECs register a hike

    Week 50 ratings: Major GECs register a hike

    MUMBAI: In the week 50 of TAM TV ratings, Zee TV, which has reported consistent growth over the past few weeks, saw a fall in viewership. Life OK too witnessed a drop in its viewership. As for the other channels, it was a good week as they saw an increase in the ratings.

    As per the TVT data sourced from TAM subscribers for week 50, Star Plus remains at the number one position with 579 million TVTs as compared to last week’s 561 million TVTs.

    Colors reported 449 million TVTs, as compared 480 million in week 49. Zee TV slipped to the third position, seeing a decline in viewership at 439 million TVTs as compared to last week’s 456 million TVTs.

    Life OK was at number four position with a fall in the viewership and reported 313 million TVTs, as compared to 325 million TVTs last week. Sab occupied the fifth position, however the channel recorded hike in the viewership with 291 million TVTs, as compared to 261 million TVTs last week.

    Sony witnessed a growth in the viewership but still continued to occupy the number six position with 267 million TVTs, as compared to 241 million TVTs last week.

  • BoxTV integrates mobile payments; introduces new subscription packs

    BoxTV integrates mobile payments; introduces new subscription packs

    NEW DELHI: BoxTV, Times Internet’s on-demand video service, has recently integrated mobile payments on its platform and introduced multiple subscription packs offering a range of plans from a super small three-day plan (weekend pack), seven day plan (week pack), 15 day pack (fortnight pack) all the way up to an yearly pack.

    Data on viewership patterns indicates that a lot of online content consumption happens on weekends and BoxTV’s weekend pack makes it easy for people to watch premium content without paying for an entire month. The mobile subscription plans also enable people without credit cards to buy a subscription plan easily on BoxTV.

     

    BoxTV has integrated a seamless process for mobile payment for smaller duration packs of three, seven and 15 days, which allows users to pay directly from their mobile phones. The prices range from Rs 49 (for a three day pack) to Rs 99 (seven day pack) and Rs 150 (15 day pack). All a customer needs to do is to select the plan and input his or her mobile numbers on the BoxTV website. The user receives a one-time password which once submitted, activates the plan for the given duration. The process does not require any credit information to watch the premium content available on BoxTV at any time. The payment will be charged to the customer’s mobile bill or deducted from his balance.

    For the long-term users, there are multiple plans available which range from Rs 199 for a monthly plan to a yearly plan priced at Rs 1499. For these plans, users will need to subscribe using their credit cards on BoxTV. This provides a lot more flexibility to select a plan which best caters to their individual requirements.

    “The BoxTV team is constantly working towards increasing customer satisfaction and improving overall experience, be it by introducing newer features on an ongoing basis or provides product flexibility by incorporating flexible price packs. Since inception, we received several requests from our users to provide multiple plans and payment options and that is exactly what we have introduced. With the introduction of new subscription packs BoxTV service will cater to all segments of users looking for suitable service, which provides flexibility in terms of payment and a seamless movie watching experience. The mobile payments will allow users without credit cards to watch premium content on BoxTV thereby increasing our overall user-base,” said BoxTV business head Pandurang Nayak.

  • Sony LIV rolls out new TVCs to drive viewership

    Sony LIV rolls out new TVCs to drive viewership

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM), has released three new TVCs for the video-on-demand brand-Sony LIV. The key message of the ads has been derived on the basis of a consumer behaviour study, which revealed that today’s consumers are hard pressed for time and like their entertainment in byte-sizes on the go.

    The marketing strategy is inspired by the well-established truth that modern life is all about the little escapes. The objective of Sony LIV is to make these breaks as exciting and rejuvenating as possible for netizens by making their favourite content available on their fingertips. Hence the campaign idea- Mazey ke break lo, kahin bhi dekh lo!

    Sony has a two-pronged relation with its consumers: nostalgia to the past and relevance to the present. The ads significantly perpetuate the idea that instead of wasting their breaks doing nothing worthwhile, viewers can fill them with small entertainment doses from the Sony stable. Conceptualised by Havas Worldwide, the ads are a great extension of the underlying value proposition of the brand – ‘Mazey ke break lo, kahin bhi dekh lo!’  

    Sony Entertainment Network executive VP– new media, business development and digital/syndication Nitesh Kripalani commented, “India is defined by time crunches, personal and professional pressures and long work hours. The only way to deal with this everyday stress is to carve out some time for a little break. We at Sony LIV want to make these breaks as entertaining as possible for Indian consumers.” 

    The three TVCs: Jawab, Washroom and Burglar, carry forward the thought of Jab break ho, toh entertainment banta hai! and Mazey ke break lo, kahin bhi dekh lo! The ads also link well with the tag line of  SonyLIV.com – Jab Aap Chahen.

    Havas Worldwide Mumbai president-west and south Shavon Barua commented, “Time is the biggest luxury for the young urban consumers of today. They like their entertainment in byte sizes on-the-go. This segment of young urban consumers is the potential early adopters for Sony LIV. The most pleasant thing in their time-crunched life is a short break worth its time. That’s how we arrived at the campaign idea. Quirky humour and exaggeration have been used in the campaign to be memorable. The key take away is that ‘Modern life is all about the little escapes’!”

    Click here for ad links:

    Washroom Campaign

    Jawab Campaign

    Burglar Campaign

  • Ormax Media launches Ormax Brand Matrix for viewership maximisation

    Ormax Media launches Ormax Brand Matrix for viewership maximisation

    MUMBAI: Media insights firm Ormax Media announced the launch of Ormax Brand Matrix (OBM), a viewership maximisation tool. Broadcasters across categories can utilise OBM to identify a focused plan to increase viewership by upto 20 per cent within six months as the firm claims.

    The tool has been created using Ormax Media’s expertise in the area of television insights, built over more than five years, with an experience of working across 55 television channels in India.

    Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor elaborated: “Channels make huge investments, both in terms of time and money, to increase their viewership. But it is well known how difficult getting new viewers, or more time-spent from existing viewers, can be. Traditionally, viewers have been segmented by age, gender, markets, SEC and intensity of viewing, such as heavy and light viewers. In Ormax Brand Matrix, we have turned the idea of viewer segmentation on its head, and used a radically different approach – one that’s simple, intuitive and effective in equal measure.”

    Ormax Brand Matrix uses a mix of quantitative and qualitative research to recommend a viewership maximisation blueprint to channels using the product. But Kapoor believes the real power of OBM lies in its construct, adding: “Brand research can be very high on good-to-know value but poor on actionability. While developing OBM, we were very conscious that the tool had to be completely action-oriented, with only one goal – viewership maximisation. If an information need or data point is not going to help a channel increase their viewership, it’s not a part of OBM.”

    National and regional channels across categories can commission an OBM project, which has been custom-made for GECs, movies, news, music, infotainment, lifestyle, kids, youth, etc. Four channels as per Ormax are already using Ormax Brand Matrix, in less than a month since the product has been ready after two years of extensive research.

  • Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand tops channel race in its region

    Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand tops channel race in its region

    NEW DELHI: Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand is the most preferred channel in its region and has been a resounding hit. According to TAM data, the channel is No. 1 in terms of viewership. The channel has acquired the No. 1 spot leaving behind channels like ETV UP and Buland News UPUT.

    The channel has become the preferred channel in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, because of its informative content that caters viewers from all walks of life. Its programming mix has created a niche for itself, resulting in huge and loyal viewership. Source: TAM, Viewership data in (GTVT’000), CS 15+, Avg. 4 Weeks (Wk 31-Wk 34 ’13), Uttar Pradesh.

    Going by its philosophy “Apna Pradesh, Apna Desh”, the channel strikes the right balance between National and Regional News, Current Affairs Programming with Feature Programming like Naari, Money Matters, and recently started Debate@8. In a nutshell, the channel’s objective is to inform viewers not only about their region, but also about other relevant information from across the country.

    Speaking on the achievement, Zee News Regional Channels editor Vasindra Mishra said, “It’s due to the programming mix and content that we have been successful in educating and empowering our viewers, and this is the reason why most of the viewers in our genre patronise our channel. It has been our constant endeavour to innovate and create content tailor-made for the viewers’ needs and this is the cornerstone to the consistent success of the Channel. Hopefully we will continue to deliver content as per our viewers’ choice and they will continue to like us as always.”

    Zee Media CEO Alok Agarwal said, “We have put in the best of our efforts by adapting our self to the regular feedbacks, Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand resonates well with the people of both the states and best exemplifies the new-found zeal, aspiration and resilience of the people of the two states. Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand believes is filling a void in the viewing experience of our viewers in these two states. The viewers have selected us over competition and this surely makes us feel special as well as more responsible to our duties.”

    Zee Media, which beams Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand is the pioneer of News Channels in the country and has always been on the forefront of promoting regional programming. With over 100 million viewers, the largest news network in the country has always provided content to its viewers which is topical and of relevance to the viewer, keeping in mind the ever-dynamic taste of the viewers.