TAM says ready to measure digitised homes

Will conduct survey in November in four metros to estimate of digital penetration after compulsory digitisation gets implemented

The Indian television audience measurement company TAM Media Research said that it is ready to measure the TV homes' transition to digital addressable systems (DAS) since 2007. It said that TAM is also geared up to measure Indian TV households’ transition and hand hold the industry through this phase.

TAM will also 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 continue to keep a close watch of the on-ground dynamics and will be flexible enough to keep adjusting its course, whenever needed,” it said.

L V Krishnan, CEO of TAM Media Research, 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. Ever since the Government announced the digitisation initiative, TAM has been focussing on the key steps required to manage the panel transition from analogue to digital efficiently. TAM has proactively prepared an Industry Guide that will be released soon.”

In May 2012, TAM had commissioned a special DAS Establishment Survey across four metros. These survey waves will continue through November 2012, even after the DAS deadline. Also, TAM will conduct a special ALL India Digital Establishment Survey – spanning both urban (including 4 metros) and rural Indian markets in December 2012.

Earlier this week, TAM was requested by the broadcasters and advertising bodies to defer the viewership data starting week 41 (October 7) till week 49 (December 8) in the wake of the mandatory switchover from analogue to DAS in the four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. TAM said that this decision is aimed aiding digitisation and maintain the benefits of all the stakeholders during the DAS implementation scenario.