Hansa Research to stop offering TRP services to BARC & MDPL from June 30

Hansa Research, the largest Indian consumer insights company that has been engaged by BARC India to carry out field operations for TV viewership measurement and installing the Bar-o-meters, has stated that it will withdraw its services to BARC India (Broadcast Audience Research Council) and Meteorology Data Pct Ltd (MDPL) from June 30, 2021.

MDPL was formed as a new company to integrate services of BARC India through additional infrastructure (manpower and devices) of TAM (Television Audience Measurement) to meet the sample requirement posed by the government.

On the other hand, sources at MDPL maintained that Hansa and MDPL had “mutually agreed to part ways/ disengage” and that MDPL “is well equipped and will continue to provide services like it already does in parts of the country”.

According to industry sources, Hansa Research CEO Praveen Nijhara had written a letter to MDPL, wherein he stated MDPL had not responded to its RPF in over four months regarding finalisation of new vendors/ contractors by December 1, 2020. “We assume you have finalised the new set of vendors for managing your panel homes and that we can now be relieved of our duties,” the letter added.

Nijhara further wrote, “In any event, kindly treat this as notice of withdrawal of our services to MDL/ BARC. We would like to withdraw our service to MDL/ BARC by June 30, 2021.”