Broadcasters - TAM ROW intensifies!

The grievances of the broadcasters with Television Audience Measurement (TAM) Media Research, the only agency that measures TV viewership in the country has gradually intensified. First to voice its objection to the rating system was NDTV followed by Doordarshan –both claimed advertising revenue losses due to faulty methodology and bias in viewership ratings. They even moved court over the matter.  – they even knocked the doors of  the court.

It may be noted that on a complaint file by Doordarshan (DD), the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in a significant judgment has ruled that TAM Media Research (TAM) has abused its position of strength with respect to measurement of viewership in contravention of the provisions of section 4 of the Act. It has further said that TAM which is the dominant and the only viewership measurement firm in India had caused irreparable advertising loss to DD by omitting it from viewership TRPs.

Now it is the bigwigs, Sony TV and Times Now that have complained against the TAM for giving out wrong data based on faulty and grossly inadequate rating samples. This is a major development for the broadcasting industry as the two networks have decided to discontinue using TAM’s viewership ratings data altogether for the first time. Among others, Network18 has asked TAM to refund its subscription money running into crores and decided to stop using TAM data. Sources to whom Adgully spoke to say that other channels may also follow suit.

In a recent prior conversation with Adgully, Man Jit Singh, CEO, Multi-Screen Media (MSM), owner of the Sony Network of Channels had said, “TAM at this stage is so loaded with problems that it has absolutely no credibility. We have been voicing it for  quite a while now to relevant organizations but we realized that the sample rating system is too small so the reliability of the system is questionable  hence the ratings that are coming out now are ludicrous and ridiculous. Some of the results that are coming out are unexplainable. We are planning action.” He said these two days before Sony decided to unsubscribe from June 6th onwards. Comment from Times Television Network could not be obtained.

Broadcasters feel that TAM’s sample size of 9000 metres is very low and unrepresentative for a country of India’s size and diversity. While television viewership is increasing, TAM data shows it the other way round leading to advertising revenue losses and restraining of ad rates hike. It may be noted that some even feel that since TAM is co-owned by WPP, the largest advertising & communications group globally, there might be a vested interest of the group to present factually wrong data so as to prevent broadcasters from hiking ad rates. WPP has nearly 50 per cent stake in TAM and also has large number of domestic advertising agencies under its umbrella.

Commenting on the development, IBF general secretary Shailesh Shah said, “There was a point which was made to broadcasters pertaining to erratic ratings not making sense. Last week, as an example, CNBC TV 18 got a rating of zero in Delhi. Do you think that is possible that rating is higher in one week and zero in the next week? We have been making a request to TAM to give a rational and effective answer to erratic ratings.’ He further added that there are other broadcasters who are contemplating stopping TAM subscription. The action is all by themselves. Shah said that all they wanted was a simple answer. There are many more people buying TV sets and viewership is also growing by  15 % Y-o-Y, so how it is that sigma ratings have not gone up post-2009.

He was of the view that all the broadcasters have good faith in TAM’s CEO, L V Krishnan. He is a good guy but that does not mean that TAM has to be ineffective. “We want to work with him. None of us want TAM to be ineffective. We want TAM to succeed but cannot put up with faulty rating methodologies.”

When contacted, a TAM spokesperson confirmed that Sony and Time Now networks have withdrawn subscription and there were grievances. He further said that TAM was ready to sort out the various complaints with the broadcasters and ready to talk.

On the possible solution, Man Jit Singh had indicated this to us, “I guess we should go without a rating system. The question is going with a system that is full of errors or going with no system at all. Most broadcasters feel that it better to go without any measure than go with one that is wrong. I know everyone will have a hard time with no measure including us. It is useful for all since we want to see how we have performed but if the underlined measure itself is wrong you are getting false information and if you are acting on false  information that can be even worse. The industry is moving towards Broadcasting Audience Research Council (BARC). That concerns AAAI, IBF & ISA and that will be the measurement standard in the future. We are expecting BARC to be operational by March 31st of next year.”

BARC will have separate entities installing metres, collecting data and analysing data. Forty eight vendors have expressed interest, and the IBF hopes to have the system up and running by March, 2014. An interim arrangement between broadcasters and advertising agencies can be worked out to measure a channel’s reach & viewership.