Zee Entertainment's Punit Goenka named as new chairman of BARC India

The MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), Punit Goenka has been elected as the new chairman of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC).

Goenka was elected by the board at its meeting held on Tuesday. He will be taking over from Nakul Chopra, a senior advisor at Publicis.

Goenka was the founder Chairman of BARC India and played an instrumental role in setting up of the TV Viewership measurement company.

He called it an "honour and a privilege" to be re-elected as BARC India Chairman.

"The company has grown and evolved over the years under the able chairmanship of Sudhanshu (Vats) and Nakul (Chopra). Partho and his highly talented team has been able to achieve what we had all set out to. I am honoured to be back as this responsibility has come to me at a time when our industry is undergoing enormous changes and BARC India’s robust and accurate measurement system will only accelerate this transition. I am hoping that in my tenure, we will be able to take BARC into the next generation of viewership measurement and stay true to its mission of ‘What India Watches',” he said.

Outgoing chairman Chopra said that BARC India had made "enormous strides in the insights and analytics piece" during his tenure.

“Being the chairman of BARC India has been a great experience... with visualisation products like the BIO suite of products as well as OOH viewership measurement, BARC India has been able to give to the industry a powerful tool which will help in the growth of the industry. I am glad that I have been a part of this journey. I wish Punit all the best for all the future endeavours,” Chopra said.

BARC India's CEO Partho Dasgupta also welcomed Goenka, saying "..he played a critical role in setting up of BARC India, and has also been guiding us all through. His support has always helped the organisation take bold steps and innovate. We look forward to his leadership when the whole distribution paradigm is changing.”