Barc to broaden TV rating system to include laptops, phones

A day after government criticised the present television rating system, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) said it is planning to measure audio-visual content across platforms such as mobile phones and laptops to offer a more composite study from next year.
"We are moving towards a cross-platform system to measure audio-visual content across platforms such as mobile phones, iPads, laptops, over-the-top platforms to put out a more composite study from next year," Barc Chief Executive Partho Dasgupta said here today.
"The technology is not so difficult as we have already cracked that, but some companies keep data close to their chest. So we've to figure out how we can co-operate with them. We are working towards that," he said at 'FICCI Frames', the annual gathering of media and entertainment industry.

Addressing the same event yesterday, Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said he was not impressed with the current TV rating system.
"Television ranking must become fair and researched. I don't know what happened now. Whatever alternative bodies have come in, I am not impressed by that. How can a few hundred boxes determine which programmes are better and which are not?" Prasad said in his inaugural address at the event.
Though he said the government did not want to get involved in the system, he underlined the need for better and more credible methodology of TV ratings.

Barc India was set up in 2012 with the specific purpose of designing, commissioning, supervising and owning the television audience measurement system.

For around eight months, the new agency co-existed
with its predecessor TAM, which had a monopoly on television ratings measurement, and it began reporting weekly data from April 2015.
The two combined their resources earlier this year. However, from March 1, only Barc released television viewership data while TAM has exited the business.
Dasgupta, however, defended the functioning of the agency, saying the Barc works under a roadmap specified by the sector regulator Trai.
"Barc follows government guidelines on the matter. We have expanded the coverage with a doubling of sample homes to 20,000 with a 10 per cent surplus, and plan to expand the sample size to 30,000 by next year," he said.

Barc also started reporting rural data, a first in the country, since last October.
Colors Chief Executive Raj Nayak, however, urged the agency to put out separate data for urban and rural areas as this would help broadcasters monetise their shows better.
"Broadcasters want as much value from the data as possible, which you don't provide now. I would want separate data for urban and rural areas. It is important for us to know in which market what is working," he said.
Nayak said separate data for pay channels and free-to-air ones would be useful for broadcasters. Further, for niche channels, Barc needs to release a four-week rolling average for the data to be relevant.

"This was discussed at the time when Barc was set up as well, but for niche small channels more than GECs, you need to release a four-week rolling average," Nayak pointed out.