Discovery Networks tunes back into weekly TV ratings

Cracks seemed to appear in the group of eight broadcasters that had switched to a monthly TV rating system last week, with New-Delhi-based Discovery Networks India on Tuesday breaking ranks and moving back to the weekly system.

According to media planners representing the country’s large advertisers, the move could pave the way for others to follow. In India, the Discovery Networks runs seven channels, Discovery Channel, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Science, Discovery HD, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet and TLC.

Last week, STAR, Multi Screen Media, ZEE, Network18 & Viacom18, BAG, Times Television, NDTV and Discovery had decided to shift to a monthly ratings system. The move had come under heavy fire from some of the country’s leading advertisers, including Hindustan Unilever, Coke, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and Dabur, which account for 50-60 per cent of the total television ad spend.

Discovery Networks’ senior vice-president & general manager (South Asia), Rahul Johri, who heads the group’s channels in India, remained unavailable for comments. But people in the know said the group had withdrawn the letter it had written to advertisers and agencies.

The group’s move follows the build-up of pressure by advertisers, 25-30 of whom had issued notices to broadcasters in the past few days that they would black out ads on these networks.

Had the broadcasters not blinked, the likelihood of more advertisers joining the 30-odd would have grown, media buyers briefed on the matter said.

In a statement on Monday, the Advertising Agencies Association of India, the apex body of ad and media agencies in the country, had admitted that cancellation of TV releases by advertisers had begun and that more clients were likely to join. As things stand now, only Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble have cancelled ads on the networks. With Discovery falling in line, the blackout of ads on its network would be revoked, people in the know said.

Weekly ratings, for the record, has been the standard practice by TAM in the Rs 35,000-crore television industry.  TAM is believed to have agreed to providing monthly data to the eight broadcasters following intense pressure from them. The group of eight broadcasters had stopped subscribing to TAM data last month to protest what they felt was TAM’s inaccurate method of measuring viewership.

FLIP-FLOP
The story so far

• Discovery becomes the first among the dissenting broadcasters to move back to the weekly rating system
   
• Last week, Discovery, with STAR, MSM, ZEE, Network18 & Viacom18, BAG, Times TV and NDTV, had written letters to advertisers and agencies saying they had moved to a monthly system
   
• Advertisers retaliated by issuing notices to these broadcasters saying they would pull out ads from their channels