TV networks blink in war with advertisers

Agree to switch back to weekly viewership ratings; fine print of the agreement with advertisers still being worked

The tussle between India’s top advertisers and leading broadcasters is set to end, with the latter agreeing to switch back to weekly ratings, instead of the monthly ratings system they had adopted last week.

The broadcasters included STAR, Multi Screen Media, ZEE, Network18 & Viacom18, BAG, Times Television and NDTV. The eighth player, Discovery Networks India, had broken ranks and switched to a weekly ratings system on Tuesday. The group of advertisers included Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dabur.

According to leading advertisers who had threatened to pull out their advertisements from these broadcasters, under the agreement worked out, the weekly television ratings for programmes wouldn’t be divulged externally; these would be available only to advertisers and the media agencies representing them. External stakeholders would have to be content with weekly reach data (number of people who viewed a television show for at least a minute, expressed in percentage). Ratings are arrived at by using reach data and time spent by viewers on a particular show. The latter is considered a more accurate gauge by advertisers. Media buyers argue the more frequent the ratings, the better these are.

Ashish Bhasin, chairman of Aegis India and chief executive of the media agency for Southeast Asia, says, “In most parts of the world, service providers are moving to providing viewership in real-time. Therefore, a move from weekly to monthly (ratings) was a retrograde step.”

Those in the know say the fine print of the agreement between advertisers and broadcasters is being worked. A senior executive from a television group that switched to monthly ratings said a resolution would be arrived at soon. He declined to give further details.

Earlier, advertisers had given a 72-hour deadline for the broadcasters to come to a resolution, failing which they would be forced to cancel advertising.

The 25-30 advertisers had also clarified if a solution wasn’t found, another 50-odd advertisers would pull the plug on the broadcasters.

“Had they (broadcasters) not come to the discussion table, at least 50 more advertisers would have joined the top 25-30, giving instructions to their agencies to cancel release orders,” said a senior media buyer briefed on the matter.

The broadcasters are believed to have shifted to monthly ratings due to issues related to service provider TAM’s methodology of measuring viewership.

Last year, NDTV dragged Nielsen and Kantar (partners in the joint venture that runs TAM), as well as a few others, to court for allegedly rigging TV ratings.

In the furore that followed, broadcasters insisted on accelerating the setting up of independent body Broadcasters Audience Research Council (BARC), which would provide ratings as an alternative to TAM.

BARC is yet to see the light of day.

THE DEAL AFTER THE DRAMA

• Weekly television ratings for programmes would be available only to advertisers and the media agencies representing them
• External stakeholders will have to be content with weekly reach data of programmes
• Reach, expressed in percentages, means the number of people who saw a television show for at least a minute
• Ratings, arrived at by using reach data and time spent by viewers on a show, is considered more accurate by advertisers