BARC stakeholders soon to appoint new chairman

With the three-year tenure of ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka as BARC India chairman coming to an end in December, the stage is set for the audience measurement organisation to pick a new person for the role.

According to sources close to the situation, the three stakeholders in BARC India - the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) - will meet soon to elect a new Chairman.

The ISA would have to designate its delegates to the Chairmanship as per BARC India's rotation policy. The ISA has opted to miss its opportunity to choose its Chairman the last time around.

ISA is apprehensive about taking up the Chairmanship and will most likely decline this time as well. As a result, either the AAAI or the IBDF will nominate the next Chairman. It's also likely that the Chairman will be chosen from among the board's independent members. BARC is also appointing independent members to its board of directors. Aside from the lone representation from public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, the BARC India Board currently consists of members from three industry organisations.

It is worth noting that Goenka has served as Chairman of the IBDF for three years in a row. He had taken over from Nakul Chopra, who had served as Chairman of the Joint Industry Body for a year.

Vikram Sakhuja, CEO of Madison Media & OOH Group, has been named Chairman of the Broadcasters Audience Research Council India's Technical Committee. He succeeds Shashi Sinha, CEO of IPG Mediabrands India, who served as BARC TechComm Chairman for over a decade, starting in 2012.