The long-running standoff between the two readership surveys in India, the National Readership Survey (NRS) and the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), is finally resolved with the formation of a merged entity?Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI). RSCI will not only conduct the biggest readership survey in the world, it is also expected to address some serious concerns media research users have had with the ways in which readership has historically been measured in India. To begin with, it brings two warring factions of the industry together, which is expected to bring in some peace among stakeholders that have been at daggers’ drawn. Besides, it is also likely to be more economical as the two research bodies can pool in their resources to gather a richer data and hence, reach better conclusions on media consumption trends. RSCI’s newly-elected chairperson Lynn de Souza, who is also the chairman and CEO of Lintas Media Group, says the new council will change old practices and adopt newer measures to capture contemporary readership habits across diverse geographies, demographic and socio-economic groups and various other consumption trends.
Readership data mainly concerns the print industry and the advertisers who ride print platforms to reach their target consumer groups. India has the largest number of print publications in the world. According to a media and entertainment report published by industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and audit and management consultancy KPMG, more than 107 million copies are circulated in the country daily. The sector is extremely fragmented and comprised 77,600 newspaper titles in 2010. In 2010, the size of the print sector in India was Rs 19,300 crore and the report suggests it will grow to Rs 31,000 crore by 2015. In 2010, the sector accounted for Rs 12,600 crore of advertising revenue, which is projected to grow to Rs 23,600 crore by 2015. This entire budget is spent on print publications based on the intelligence drawn from the data readership surveys put out and this makes the readership measurement exercise very important for both the advertisers who buy space in print and publishers who peg their advertising rates to their readership numbers.
Before 2006, when IRS and NRS both released their reports and even after that when NRS stopped the exercise and IRS was the only research body left, readership numbers have been a bone of contention in the industry. NRS was managed by INS (Indian Newspaper Society), AAAI (Advertising Agencies Association of India) and ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulation), a body of advertisers and media companies that oversees circulation audits. IRS was conducted by research agency MRUC (Media Research Users Council).
Before 2006, both IRS and NRS were involved in unpleasant skirmishes as the users of the data would question the disparity between their results and also, pick and choose that data set that portrayed them in a good light. Later, with only IRS around, questions were raised about the inadequate sample size, the quality of the data and its ability to capture contemporary trends. The constant bickering in the industry put a question mark over the sanctity, and even credibility, of readership measurement exercise.
Budgetary concerns and unwillingness among many stakeholders to pay for the exercise also threw in serious challenges and it took the industry years before it could thrash out all the issues.
With the coming together of IRS and NRS and a new RSCI in place, the industry is hoping the old days of distrust and animosity are finally over. ?A new committee has been formed with 10 representatives from each side. A lot of decisions need to be taken,? says Bharat Kapadia, former chairman of MRUC. The most important issues that RSCI needs to resolve include the size of the sample, the kind of qualitative research that could and should be done, the investments and the periodicity of the research report. ?It is very easy to say instead of a 2,62,000-sample size, we will do 10 lakh. But whether we can pull it off, whether it is necessary, whether it adds any value to the existing study ? all these things needs to be decided. The new council will decide the frequency of the report,? says Kapadia, who recently quit as director of Lokmat Media to set up media and marketing consultancy Ideas@BharatKapadia.
To maintain continuity, the report will continue to be called IRS. ?We are looking for fresh ideas. We don’t think the answer lies in doing the same thing or tweaking it slightly. It won’t help. There has to be serious new lateral thinking,? says de Souza.
The new council is likely to have its first meeting on October 14 when members for the technical committee will be finalised. It is after this some clarity will emerge on what the new RSCI plans to accomplish.