BARC spells out exclusivity of the new system

As the Broadcast Research Audience Council (BARC) works towards finishing work for the new television audience measurement system, at a special roadshow held in Mumbai, the Council has disclosed that the first major difference between TAM and BARC’s measurement system will be that the audience classification will not be based on the old SEC (socio-economic classification) demographic. Other differences include covering rural India and measuring recorded telecast. This roadshow, last in the league after Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore had discussions around the status of the project to-date, initial thoughts on reporting and broad sample designs being presented to the stakeholders.

It may be noted that there were two demographic variables upon which the earlier SEC was based on - one occupation of chief earner and secondly the education of chief earner. However, the old SEC, was unikely to consider the movement of any household to upper SEC, despite the increase in the spending power of respondents today.

We were futher informed that the New Consumer Classification System (NCCS) will be based on two variables: education of chief earner and number of ‘consumer durables’ owned by the family. The list has 11 items, ranging from electricity connection and agricultural land to cars and air conditioners. Seated as the Chairman for the Technical Committee at BARC, IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha stated that this, will be the biggest change as ratings will be trading currency and the NCCS will offer a better picture of purchasing power of the household or the demographic, which is in the interest of the advertiser. He also mentions that BARC believes that the NCCS, which was also used for the latest Indian Readership Survey (IRS), is a better demographic. 

The Council also claims to find out exactly what the country is watching and hence highlights that the resources are placed to cover not just urban, but rural India as well. In keeping with this, the research body is installing approximately 30% of its ‘barometers’ (people meters) in rural India. . Excluding the six metros, in comparison with urban demographic, rural India will have 43% share. With the initial sample size of 20,000 homes, double of what TAM currently captures, BARC will also include Jammu & Kashmir and the north-east. Interestingly, when it comes to the share of states and Union territories, BARC has divided the country into three separate clusters. The top five are with over 8% of TV-owning households, next five have 5 to 7% and the remaining five have less than 5% TV-owning households. 

Also the frequency for reporting data is likely to be weekly. However for certain data types (depending on viewership numbers), BARC might aggregate the same either by period or time-band or geography. Announcement to that effect will be made after we have validated the data. The idea is to make affordable data available to the last mile. Sinha said they are working on an ingenuous pricing model to capture the principles of BARC India of inclusivity, equality and transparency. After necessary iterations and approvals it will be revealed closer to launch.

As per the Council, one of the biggest problems the rating system faces is the incapability to consider recorded telecast in the ratings system. However, the Council is confident that the audio watermarking technology used by BARC will allow the measurement of recorded programmes as well. Explaining the technique, Sinha said, "The audio watermark is embedded in the transmission by the broadcaster, it cannot be removed and BARC meters will measure it, even if it is played after the actual telecast. During the course of discussion, Sinha explained that while the meters can store data for up to two months, as per international standards, it will be measured up to seven days of the original telecast or VOSDAL (viewed on same day as live).

We learn that the the total investment in the new ratings system from BARC and broadcasters is close to Rs 225 crore (Rs 2.25 billion). Out of this, BARC has put in Rs 120-125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion) for the mechanism while broadcasters have spent additional Rs 80–100 crore for audio watermarking the channel feeds.

However, what keeps our minds occupied is, when the BARC system is operational, how does the industry deal with two measurement systems simultaneously. Responding to this, BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta, said, “Well, if the industry players are stakeholder in this system, I believe they want to abide by this system; however, one cannot comment for the broadcaster (laughs)”. Echoing similar sentiments, Sinha also, said, “It is for time to tell whether authenticity prevails or no more importantly, the parties involved in the business shall decide for themselves”.

While officials refrained from confirming any date for the roll-out, they maintained that it would happen very soon. Sources inform that the rollout may happen early next year.

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