A set of contentious guidelines on the television audience measurement system in the country, issued by the Telecom Regulatory of India (Trai) and approved by the Union Cabinet threatens to plummet the television broadcast industry into another ratings crisis. As per the guidelines, television rating agencies need to have multiple owners in order to avoid conflict of interest and no single entity can have equity in excess of 10% in a rating agency and a broadcaster, advertiser or advertising agency. There is a 30 days lead time frame for incorporating the changes to the ownership pattern and any non-compliance will lead to the forfeiting of two bank guarantees worth Rs.1crore, furnished by the company in the first instance. If non compliance still persists, the registration of the agency will be revoked. The guidelines call for an immediate change in the equity pattern of Tam Media Research, the existing television ratings company, which is a joint venture between Nielsen India and Kantar Media Research, owned by WPP Plc.
The government also directed rating agencies to scale up to a minimum panel size of 20,000 homes within six months of the guidelines coming into force and there thereafter increase the panel size by 10,000 every year till it reaches 50,000 homes. Of the total panel homes, 25% will be rotated every year. The guidelines further state that every television rating agency will have to set up an internal audit mechanism to get its entire methodology audited on a quarterly basis and through an independent auditor annually. All audit reports will have to be made available on the website of the rating agency and the Government and TRAI reserve the right to audit the systems, procedures and mechanisms of the rating agency. A set of queries sent to Tam Media Research by email, went unanswered.
The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) is entrusted with the responsibility of setting up a new television viewership measurement system, but needs a good part of the year to get its affairs in order. Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director, Madison World said that an industry representation, will meet the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, in order to extend the 30 day deadline. ?We cannot possibly do without TAM ratings. Until the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) sets a new ratings system up, the existing television measurement system must be allowed to continue,? he said.
Ashok Venkatramani, chief executive of Media Content and Communications Ltd (MCCS), part of the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group says, ?The guidelines require the panel size to be increased to 20,000 in 6 months and thereby increased every year. If TAM runs the risk of losing out to BARC on the television audience measurement business, why will it put in this kind of investment in India?? He feels that the time frame, specified by the government for the incorporation of these guidelines was unrealistic. ?The government needs to take cognizance of ground realities. The ownership pattern of a ratings company cannot possibly be changed in a month. It is also physically impossible to put in these many people meters, within such a short time frame.?Still Venkatramani concedes that the guidelines were going in the right direction, in the long run. ?I am cautiously optimistic. Cautious because it will take a huge leap for the industry, already struggling on various fronts, to incorporate such massive changes in such a short time frame. Optimistic because I do believe that these are steps in the right direction and eventually, this is the way, the industry will evolve and grow.?
Shashi Sinha, chief executive of IPG Mediabrands India and part of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said that they had finalized the technology partners for the new audience measurement system and will make announcements over the next few days. ?We will have the new ratings system rolled out by September 2014,? said Sinha.
Independent media consultant Paritosh Joshi, who is also a part of the BARC technical committee, said that irrespective of whether the existing rating system manages to comply with the new norms or not, BARC was well on its way to launching the next generation television audience measurement system in India. It will be the gold standard, he says.