Channels pulling out of BARC: What will advertisers’ next move be?

The News genre has been facing some tough times in the last couple of years even as the aggressive battle for supremacy continues among the news channels. Issues like the TRP manipulation scam that came to the fore in 2020, landing page placements, uplinking and downlinking permissions have been plaguing the News genre.

Given the raging controversy over the TRP scam, BARC India had suspended releasing ratings data for the News genre in October 2020. This ratings blackout continued for over 17 months. Just ahead of the resumption of the ratings data, NDTV decided to pull out of BARC ratings in March 2022.

Six months later, on September 30, 2022, Zee Media announced its decision to quit from BARC ratings, which included 14 of its channels including Zee News. In a statement issued, Zee Media said, “Biggest concern and challenge is that BARC has not given any solution nor accepted as they are continuing reporting for Landing Pages & barker pages which impact ratings favourably for those who use these at the peril of others who do not subscribe to these unethical practices.”

However, industry insiders have told Adgully that the prime reason for Zee-owned news channels to exit BARC ratings has to do with the recent move by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, denying permission to uplink their 10 new channels simultaneously on Ku-band.

According to the MIB order, Zee Media was violating clause 5.1 of uplinking guidelines and clause 5.6 of downlinking guidelines. The broadcaster had taken dual transmission approval for uplinking both in Ku-Band and C band, and due to their co-location, they got the advantage to be on DD Free Dish without paying for the huge auction fee other broadcasters were paying to be on.

Industry insiders strongly feel that Zee Media’s latest move is a repercussion of the Ministry’s action.

The aftermath

Naturally, such a major move will send ripples down the industry. Industry sources have told Adgully that advertisers like P&G, Parle Agro, Samsung, People Interactive are among those that have decided to stop advertising in Zee Media channels.

It may be recalled that in April this year, the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) had issued an advisory to its members about advertising with those TV channels that have exited BARC.

The advisory, dated April 27, 2022, stated that brands were only wasting money by giving ads to those channels which have opted out of the BARC ratings. “Attention of advertisers is invited to the practice of some platforms which do not subscribe to the established system of measurement, as jointly agreed by all stakeholders. Advertisers may independently assess the situation and make an informed decision with respect to such platforms while dealing with advertisements,” the ISA’s advisory stated.

So far, ISA has not issued any fresh advisory after Zee Media’s pullout from BARC.

It needs to be mentioned here that in October 2020, when the TRP scam hit the news industry, several brands had decided to withdraw advertising from news channels. At that time, these brands had quoted the toxic and hateful content on some news channels as the reason for blacklisting them. Among these brands were Bajaj and Parle-G.

Content Vs Ratings

Adgully reached out to several leading media agencies and some key brands to seek their perspective on the issue, however all the agencies and some of the brands declined to comment on the issue.

In the conversation with two leading advertisers in India, two divergent views emerged on what constitutes as the prime parameter for selecting news channels for placing ads. For one, content was the key, while for the other ratings formed the objective criteria.

Speaking to Adgully, Krishnarao Buddha, Senior Category Head, Parle Products, clarified that the advertiser had not pulled out of Zee Media channels yet. He noted that generally brands which are relatively new to television advertising or newer brands on the block might decide to pull out, but the traditional and conventional advertisers like Parle may not want to really exit such platforms immediately.

The logic and understanding, according to him, is “suppose Zee News was delivering certain ratings irrespective of whether it was with BARC or not, we have been advertising on the channel for a long time, so overnight that conviction will not disappear. However, maybe over a period of time it may start to have an impact on the advertising even for conventional advertisers like Parle, Amul, Godrej and many others.”

Buddha conjectured, “Why new brands are exiting is because they are predominantly numbers driven and with them not being able to get the numbers, they wouldn’t want to put their money on uncertainty. Without the numbers, they wouldn’t know whether the channel is performing or not, therefore, they would want to put the moneys where the numbers are clearly visible. That’s the reason.”

He added that Parle’s exposure in channels like Zee News is there. While Parle has not taken any such decision immediately to pull out of Zee, but Buddha said that it definitely was of great concern that Zee has decided to pull out of BARC, “which is definitely not appreciated”. He added, “As an industry body representative, it is not appreciated that Zee has pulled out of BARC – the reasons could be anything, but I expect them to strictly assess their situation and return to the platform as early as possible.”

Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, told Adgully that while the auto major had taken no decision regarding whether it would pull out advertising from Zee Media channels, he added, “but it seems to be a very likely possibility, because we have to make our investment decisions based on some objective criteria and BARC seems to be that common objective criteria”.

Adding further, Srivastava said that in the absence of any other rating or any other way of measuring viewership methodically and objectively, it would be difficult for Maruti to invest without that base of objectivity. “Especially for larger companies, large investments happen, where we are also audited for the basis on which we decide on which channel to invest in, this could be a big problem. And therefore, while we have not decided so far, it is very much a possibility. If we do not have any ratings as basis of investing, it just does not exist,” he explained.

When asked about what Maruti Suzuki’s ad exposure has been on Zee’s news channels, Srivastava replied, “We have been investing in Zee News, Zee Bangla, Zee Marathi separately – maybe about Rs 2-3 crore in the last year.”

Another advertiser, who spoke to Adgully on conditions of anonymity, said that if Zee Media continues to remain out of BARC for the long term, then brands might decide to pull out advertising from its news channels. Without the availability of ratings for a longer period, it would be difficult for brands to take a decision on investing in the channels. “A channel’s equity and legacy can only go so much and no more,” he pointed out.

Criteria for selecting a news channel

Elaborating on the criteria for selecting news channels for placing ads, Parle’s Buddha said, “We want to encourage news channels which are providing clean and good content. We are absolutely against news channels which are promoting toxic content. Very loud, annoying, dominating kind of content is not advisable because it has a negative impact on the viewers, especially the younger generation, because it breeds a lot of aggression amongst the viewers.”

He further said, “For us, the guidelines remain the same – we want content that is very clean and good. And our conviction is that we just don’t go by the ratings – not just for news, but for any and every other channel genre.”

Buddha elaborated that Parle remains in continuous touch with their regional teams across the country. There are monthly meetings and interactions with their channel partners, who include the distributors, retailers, CNS, etc. “We ask them what is it that is being viewed according to them. It is a continuous input, and many a times we go against the ratings and take a channel, because we know that though the channel ratings are showing something else, but in reality it is gaining traction with the viewers.”

“Ultimately, it is all about projecting a certain number. So, there could be errors, it cannot be 100% relied upon. Therefore, our decisions for channel selection in the news genre are also not based on just numbers, but our understanding from our teams across markets.”

On the other hand, Srivastava said that while content is important, “but looking from a planning perspective, we must have some measurability on how much ROI you will get on your investment. So, clearly content has a limitation there in the measurability part. If the content of some news channel is really negative, it could be a way of elimination. The automobile sector TG has a very high affinity for genres like TV news and sports, so news is important. Therefore, the amount of investment that we make depends on the number of brands that we are promoting, the frequency of our communication, and so on.”

“But considering everything, we need to have measurement,” emphasised Srivastava, adding, “there have to be viewership parameters if we have to include any channel in our plan. And that is where the dilemma is – for a channel which is not being measured, how do you invest basis some parameter? Therefore, we haven’t taken a final decision on Zee News, but it is very likely that in the absence of any objective criteria, investments may become difficult in the channel.”

Is content strategy overhaul a solution?

Meanwhile, Parle’s Buddha has an entirely different take on the way news channels operate, especially the kind of reportage that passes as ‘news’ on channels. He stressed, “News has to be really of substance. I am driving towards the cleanliness and relevance of the content on news channels.” He further called for better regulations in this genre.

Buddha also considered news channels airing bites of TV soaps and comedy shows as “a regressive thing”. Currently, several news channels show such content in the afternoon slot. “News channels are not supposed to be showing that,” he said emphatically.

Continuing further, he said, “My viewpoint is ideally how much news is happening everyday across the globe, and not just India? Do we really require to have a 24-hour channel, is my question. Just because you are a 24x7 channel and you need to fill content, you cannot be giving repeats and filling it with irrelevant content.”

He recalled the old days of Doordarshan when there used to be 3-4 news bulletins a day, which gave all the necessary information and analysis. He called for the news industry to examine how global news networks such as the BBC, New York Times and CNN handled and presented news.

(Additional inputs by Nehal Shukla.)