Joint venture between BARC and TAM India all set to kick-off operations

Effective Feb 29, BARC India will be the sole television ratings provider in the country as TAM India exits the TV measurement industry after a stint of 16 years

The joint venture between BARC India and TAM India was launched on February 9, with the formation of the new meter management company. This new entity, called Meterology Data Pvt Ltd. (MDL), will commence its operations in the next couple of weeks as TAM India exits TV viewership measurement business effective 29th February. As part of the new system, all TAM India meters will be re-deployed in panel homes selected by BARC India’s sample design. This JV will help BARC India in growing its sample size.

BARC India will have full management control with a 51% stake in the JV, while TAM India – which includes Nielsen and Kantar – will have the remaining 49% stake.

Up to this point, BARC India and TAM India, both have been generating and reporting TV Viewership data individually to the Industry.  Now, with the completion of this JV, BARC India will be the single provider of TV Viewership data.

MDL’s role will be to run and manage the meter operations and supplying raw data to BARC India. TV Viewership data will be computed and disseminated through the BARC ratings data software BMW (BARC India Media Workstation). MDL will manage the panel households and will also be responsible for future TV panel expansions.   

The spot monitoring and channel monitoring data will be exclusively sold by BARC India to broadcasters, agencies, advertisers and others.

Meanwhile, TAM India will continue in operations in India across AdEx services of TV, print and radio AdEx, Daily & Weekly Sales Index Reports, Bollywood & Music Monitoring Dashboards; Audience Measurement in Radio (RAM); Sports Sponsorship ROI Measurement (TAM Sports) and PR Measurement data & Audit services (Eikona) to its valuable clients.

“The industry was eagerly waiting for this merger to be completed from the time we announced it in August last year. We are happy to state that the Joint Venture Company is complete and all set to kick-off operations,” said BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.

“We will work closely with BARC to ensure a good outcome for the industry and our joint clients. We have worked productively with BARC to get here and under the circumstances, have agreed a good way forward for everyone concerned,” added Kantar CEO Eric Salama.

“We are happy to collaborate with BARC India. The coming together of BARC India and TAM India has only strengthened the Indian broadcast industry, as they will now be getting viewership trends from a larger panel size,” informed Nielsen MD Prashant Singh.

TAM Media Research CEO, L V Krishnan, said, "I am very happy to see that the JV has finally taken shape. What is even more heartening is that TAM India's current 12,000 meters, which was built and constructed tirelessly over the last fifteen years will get combined to give BARC India a larger and robust TV panel sample base for the Industry. We will do our best in providing our expertise to MDL. Meanwhile, TAM India will continue focusing its efforts towards value adding the Industry through constant enhancements of its existing businesses."