A host of advertisers, broadcasters and audience research agencies have disputed the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) premise in ordering a probe into the functioning and operations of television rating agency TAM Media.
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati is the complainant in the matter and CCI ordered a probe through its investigative arm ? director general (DG) ? on March 5. In its complaint, Prasar Bharati had alleged that TAM was limiting the provisions of audience measurement services.
Industry executives point to the gaps in the findings of CCI upon which the probe was ordered against the country’s sole provider of viewership measurement. TAM Media Research is a joint venture between Nielsen (India) and Kantar Market Research and has been providing the ratings data since late 1990s.
While directing DG to probe the ratings agency, the commission had said that the sample size of 8,000 homes in a vast country like India, having population of more than 126 crore, was minuscule and misleading.
The gist of the complaint against TAM by Prasar Bharati is of neglect of Doordarshan ratings, thereby impacting its revenue earning capacity. The pubcaster maintains that the reach of Doordarshan channels is the highest across terrestrial, cable and digital delivery platforms. Also, there is an allegation of determining TRP via only 8,000 people meters (devices that capture viewership data) placed in urban centres. TAM’s currently places its people meters in towns having population base of over one lakh.
?On most counts, the counter arguments can be made. For example, the government has stated on numerous occasions that the objective for Prasar Bharati is to spread information, education and entertainment to the citizens and not revenue maximisation. DD channels need to be carried on all platforms by law therefore its reach is the highest. But is it the most popular channel? Plus TAM is separately mapping the reach of Doordarshan on the terrestrial platform (non-cable/non-digital) in which it is the sole operator whereas private broadcasters are not allowed to offer terrestrial services. So, Prasar Bharati has a monopoly,? said a senior industry executive who is familiar with the workings of TV rating agencies.
Experts said TAM is also in the process of increasing the number of people meters in India ? from 8,000 to 30,000 ? as per the Amit Mitra committee report.
?However, that can not happen till its target consumers (broadcasters and advertisers) device a mechanism of funding the expansion. The new industry body called broadcast audience research council (BARC) is already operational and mapping the industry requirements. Soon, all issues will get addressed,? said a BARC functionary. The Mitra panel has recommended mapping of rural and urban centres across every states in the country.
Incidentally, even a parliamentary panel probed TAM on similar lines seven years ago based upon which the I&B ministry had set up Amit Mitra panel for reviewing the TV rating business in India.
When contacted, TAM executives declined to comment. Sources, however, said the DG investigations has not interacted with TAM as on March 31.
Responding to inadequate viewership measurement devices, another industry executive said: ?The services of TAM are for the industry and the decision on installing a particular number of people meters were not made by TAM, but by the industry itself. Now, the industry is demanding increasing the number of people meters and the ratings agency will respond as soon as funding mechanism is in place.?