BARC to roll out new system from October

BARC's meters will work with digital, analogue & terrestrial signals and can measure delayed viewing

Setting things in motion for the rollout of its television ratings agency from October 1 this year, the Broadcasters Audience Research Council (BARC) on Monday announced a tie-up with France’s Mediametrie for technology services and licensing of a television metering system. The six-year contract will see the French firm and the Indian sectoral body collaborate to set up the technology infrastructure of the ratings system.

TAM is currently the sole television ratings provider in India and operates with a panel home size of 9,600, which is less than the 20,000 panel home size mandated in the new guidelines, under which TAM has got six months to increase its panel homes size.

The new rating system will begin the service with a panel size of 20,000 compared to one of 9,600 that TAM currently provides. The target is to have a panel size 50,000 in due course. This is in consonance with the new policy cleared by the Cabinet, under which a television ratings provider should have a panel size of at least 20,000. The guidelines also mandate the number of panel homes should increase by 10,000 every year to eventually reach 50,000.

Mediametrie is the joint industry body in France that operates the television, internet and radio currency ratings systems. Under the tie-up, it will provide BARC with the licence for using the water-marking technology for television audience measurement, the backoffice structure and provide specifications for peoplemeter hardware that BARC can use. BARC will later outsource the manufacture of these peoplemeters to another entity.

Punit Goenka, chairman of BARC and director and chief executive of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, said: “Our technical committee and the management had scouted the global marketplace for suitable technology and we are happy with our choice (of Mediametrie).”

Benoit Cassaigne, senior vice-president, Mediametrie, said: “We are thrilled to bring our know-how to such a TV market and share it with BARC, a company very similar to us in its DNA.”

BARC’s rating agency will use the watermarking technology to measure television viewing, something which Mediametrie has been using for the past seven years. The technology uses a watermark (code) that is inserted into the channel’s signal when it is relayed from the television station. This code helps register and record viewing patterns of television sets that are attached to peoplemeters. The technology is platform-agnostic (works with digital, analogue and terrestrial signals) and can be used to measure delayed viewing (content is recorded and viewed later).

Shashi Sinha, member of the BARC technical committee and chief executive of IPG Mediabrands India, said: “The idea was to provide a future-ready system that can last for the next 15 years. The watermark technology is already three generations ahead of the current technology used to provide ratings in India.”

 

He added that while it was not the main driver for choosing Mediameterie, the cost effectiveness of its services is definitely a plus point. “While I cannot reveal the exact commercials involved, it would suffice to say that the ratings agency under BARC will provide the service with 20,000 to 25,000 panels at more or less the same rate at which it is available currently with 9600 panel homes,” he said confidently. He also added that the same would apply when the sample size will be ramped up to 50,000 over due course of time. 

 

TAM faces a bleak future in wake of the guidelines for television ratings agencies issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 16 January. It is a joint venture between Nielsen and Kantar Media Research.

 

The latter is part of the Martin Sorrell led WPP Group that owns and operates media and advertising agencies around the globe, including India. This is in conflict with the guidelines that says no single company / legal entity either directly or through its associates or interconnect undertakings shall have substantial equity holding that is, 10 percent or more of paid up equity in both rating agencies and broadcasters/advertisers/advertising agencies. 

 

TAM thus has one month from the date of issue of the guidelines to restructure its holding pattern, failing which, it may not be eligible to operate as the television ratings provider. In this case, the industry is potentially looking at a ratings dark period from March to September 31 (considering BARC claims to roll out the ratings from 1 October). This may result in a lot of chaos as there will be no currency to negotiate advertising deals and no way to measure the effectiveness of the media plans employed. 

 

A senior media agency professional who wanted to remain unnamed says, “It will be a tough time. The last time we had a blackout for 9 weeks in 2012, we got a taste of what a ratings-less environment looks like. The advertisers will opt for the safer bets. However, six months is too long a time to go without ratings.” 

 

Some quarters of the industry are however slightly more optimistic. Sanjay Gupta, Star India COO says, “We cannot be sure that there will be a ratings dark period as TAM may appeal for an extention. It also has the option of approaching the judiciary for a stay. However, in case this does not happen and we do have a ratings dark period, it could get tough, especially for the new launches. The historical data can be used for the on going properties, but problem will rise while selling ad time for shows like Satyamev Jayate and properties like IPL.” 

 

He added that the industry will have to adapt and depend on qualitative ratings like reaching out to consumers to know top of mind recall. 

 

While the technology and technology provider has been announced, Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC reveals that many more announcements can be expected from BARC in the coming weeks. The industry body is in the process of finalizing the panel design agency and will also decide on the hardware provider for peoplemeters.