Introduction
In an industry largely run from the advertisement revenue, essentially every decision regarding the creation of content is taken solely on the basis of the preferences of audience and the potential of earning revenue from that content. The media planners and advertisers in recent times have access to a plethora of platforms for presenting their products, services or ideas. What the planners and advertisers want to know before spending their money is which targeted audience a specific media entity is trying to reach out to and the response that the content received from the audiences. This decision making is done on the basis of television rating which is calculated by the audience measurement data. The Television Audience Measurement (TAM) is the widely accepted formula in the entire Indian television industry for more than two decades.
TRP- Meaning
The number of people watching a show, advertisement or any creative content is an important factor even holding more significance than the qualitative value of show.
TRP basically stands for Television Rating Point. It is a quantum representing complete details about how many people are watching the particular show, advertisement or any content and of which socio-economic category they belong to along with which channels are being watched. It is a tool which evaluates the most viewed programmes and an index to viewer’s choices. This system of rating has witnessed much deliberation in the past few years.[1]
It is a device signifying a show’s success on television screens. It evaluates and finds out which program has been viewed more providing a measure of people’s interests and disinterests. A program that reflects a good TRP is an indicator showing that it has substantial viewership. This data also holds value to the advertisers as it suggests them where to put their ads and in between which show. It assists the investors and advertisers to apprehend the mood and likings of the people.
Television Audience Measurement system: Current Scenario
The existence of Television Rating Points in India can be traced back to 1993. In the initial period, Doordarshan Audience Ratings (DART) was the only data that was available and which was followed all over the country. The data was formulated by Audience Research Unit of Doordarshan (DD) which included 100 All India Radio stations and 40 Kendras. Typically, the main task performed by audience research consisted of providing research support on Doordarshan network for the programming. A system of panel diaries was also introduced by Doordarshan in 1989 which was prevalent till 2001. The system od panel diaries was again revived in 2004 which covered almost 3600 TV homes in rural and a number of 1600 in Urban region of the country.
A new device for the measurement of TRP was established in 1994 which was known as ORG-MARG’s Indian National Television Audience Measurement (INTAM). INTAM was restricted to major cities and hence was not that efficient because of its miniscule size. A new agency TAM (1998) came into existence for the calculation of TRP while the INTAM was still in operation. In the year 2001 both were formally merged. In the year 2004 another new agency for the television ratings emerged as Audience Measurement and Analytics Ltd. (aMap), however its workings were limited to few cities and its formal commercial operations started in 2007.[2]
It was the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that firstly raised issues in January, 2008 with the prevailing television rating system. In relation to the issues MIB sought the advice of TRAI regarding the changes that should be made in the current system and about the guidelines that should be set up. The TRAI in its recommendations stated certain guidelines and advised for setting up of a self-regulatory body with the name, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
Various meetings were held, guidelines were suggested which led to several developments and advancements. On 10th January, 2014 the modified recommendations provided by TRAI were accepted by MIB and by the notification the policy guidelines for Television Rating Agencies were circulated. According to the guidelines the self-regulatory body, i.e., BARC was given the authority on 28th July, 2015 to carry out television ratings in India and since the widely accepted TAM media research was not in uniformity with the guidelines provided by MIB, it discontinued providing Television Rating services. Since 2015 BARC, the self-regulatory body that is represented by Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), by Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) is the sole provider for the services of Television Ratings in India. [3]
What is BARC?
Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India is a joint body established by the stakeholder bodies. The joint industry body is rendered by Media and Advertising Agencies, Broadcasters and Advertisers. The body works on a robust and future ready technology owning a transparent, accurate and inclusive TV audience measurement system. The data provided by BARC is of great importance and holds efficient value for the media and the content creators.[4] Initially BARC was formulated with the aim of providing an alternative system for audience measurement but after the new guidelines by the MIB that were given by the recommendations of TRAI, BARC evolved as the sole provider of the audience measurement system as the other existing system were no more in uniformity with the guidelines of MIB. In the beginning, BARC India started its services with 277 subscribed channels which has now reached more than 470 channels.
How is TRP calculated by BARC?
The TV Channels that are included in the audience measurement system are watermarked by the Broadcast Audience Research Council. Prior to the linking up of a channel to satellite a watermark which is a code is inserted into the audio channel of the signal of a TV channel. Each channel consists of a unique code for its identification. The audience measurement by BARC is carried out by forming a panel of households through survey in which meters are installed on TV sets.
These meters which are installed on TV sets on a continuing basis capture the audio codes that are implanted on TV channels which are being viewed by the people in real time. The BARC server then receives the raw data is captured by the installed meters which is then transferred to pre- processing software that cleans the raw event data after checking the errors and inconsistencies. The refined data that is pre-processed is then subjected for further checking under another software that performs data editing, validation and weighting. The terminal audience viewing output after the encryption is provided to the BARC subscribers in a form that is suitable for use and easy in understanding for the media companies, advertisers and media agencies. [5]
The TV rating are provided by the BARC to its subscribers on a daily basis. This is how the viewers are surveyed in the for of justice and sampling. BARC has now proved its authenticity and established its name by installing over 45,000 BAR-O-meters.[6]
Conclusion
TRP plays a very significant role for the Media and Advertising Agencies, Advertisers as well as the Broadcasters. It is important to be able to rely on an efficient system. However, the manipulation and alteration in the rating provided by the sole offeror of the audience measurement system (BARC) which was exposed by the CBI that these rating were being manipulated since 2016 has raised questions on the accuracy, transparency and efficiency of the BARC audience measurement system. The issue here is that Broadcast Audience Research Council, the joint industry body which was set up after the then providing agency TAM was found inadequate and insufficient in proving their services and now after years the same issue has come up again which definitely proves that we might have found a short-term alternative but we haven’t eradicated the problem from grass root level and there is the need of better machinery and an efficient system for the calculation of Television Rating Points that is more reliable, accurate and transparent.
The agencies providing the audience measurement services must improvise the quality and method of the system on a regular basis by getting along with the fast developing and changing technology to provide relevant, accurate and up to date findings. The agencies must make sure that the highest possible standards of integrity are retained and ensure that these findings are not manipulated or misused in any way by the agency or the subscribers to which they are providing the services. Just and fair ethical standards should be maintained by the agency and healthy practices should be adopted in order to make the services more reliable and ethically correct. Stricter enforcement of laws should be done and an efficient committee should be set up to look that unfair and deceptive methods and practices are not adopted for calculation and sale of ratings. Proper enforcement of norms and guidelines that are prescribed by the government should be done.
[1] A History of India’s TV Ratings Measurement, INTIN INTELLIGENT INSIGHTS (Sept. 15th, 2021, 8:30 AM), https://intin.co/a-history-of-indias-tv-ratings-measurement/.
[2] Singh, Dev Vrat, Television Ratings: Techniques, Issues and debate, Vol. No.2 MEDIA WATCH, Pg. 4-5 (2011).
[3] Review of Television Audience Measurement and Ratings in India, TRAI (Sept. 15, 8:30 PM), https://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/CP_TAM03122018.pdf.
[4] About BARC, MEDIA AND OUTREACH (Sept. 15, 2021, 10:30 PM), https://barcindia.co.in/media-center.
[5] Supra 3.
[6] What is TRP and how is it calculated, INDIA TODAY (Sept. 16th, 2021, 10:30 PM), https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/what-is-trp-and-how-it-is-calculated-check-here-1729909-2020-10-09.
YLCC would like to thank Diksha Paliwal for her valuable insights in this article.
