English news channels opt out of BARC

Reacting to the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) releasing the viewership data for Republic TV yesterday, May 18, 2017, all the English news channels, with the exception of Republic TV, have decided to opt out of BARC and also remove the watermarking system with immediate effect.

As reported earlier, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) had urged BARC not to release the viewership data for Republic TV in light of the channel running on multiple frequency feeds, which is being looked into by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). 

In a letter written to BARC, NBA stated, “This has serious implications and has caused irreversible damage to India’s existing English news TV channels.” 

Referring to Republic TV’s debut week numbers, the NBA wrote, “On a pan India basis, discrepancies have been noticed across markets which completely distort the statistics for a very important and influential news genre.” 

As per BARC data for Week 19 (May 6-12) [All India (U+R) : NCCS AB : Males 22+ Individuals]. Arnab Goswami’s channel has garnered a gross viewership of 2,117, capturing a 52 per cent share of the viewership.