Media consumption tracking – too little but much-hyped?

Monitoring of different media in India, particularly Television and Print, has come a long way. Yet the basic question, how authentic it is, pops up now and then.

The recent TRP controversy brought the spotlight back on the veracity of media monitoring. Few TV channels are accused of manipulating viewership data at the data collection stage. It is alleged they bribed households to keep their TV focused on those channels. Battle lines are drawn. Debates about its ethicality, whether it’s an old practice or new, and its impact on advertising are raging.

BARC has announced that it is pausing audience estimates (ratings) of news channels. BARC has proposed that it’s Technical Committee (Tech Comm) will review and augment the current standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes. This exercise will cover all Hindi, Regional, English News and Business News channels with immediate effect.

Also read: Mobile internet to account for 31% of global media consumption in 2021: Zenith

Size and Authenticity of Data

According to the BARC website, it is the largest measurement company of its kind in the world with a panel size of 180,000 individuals and 44,000-panel Households measuring TV Viewing habits of 197 million TV households in the country. The measurement size, data authenticity apart, seems like a case of too little and too less. It will take a while for the rigging controversy to settle down before we get some concrete answers to the depth of manipulation, its impact, if any, and how one can fool-proof it in the future.

Interestingly, BARC came into existence five years ago replacing TAM Media Research, which some TV Channels contended was inaccurate. BARC, its website says, promises “transparent, accurate, inclusive, TV Audience Measurement System”. TAM Media Research was the audience measurement system of Nielsen and Kantar Media. BARC is more inclusive as it is founded by Broadcasters (IBF), Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising & Media Agencies (AAAI).

Print Media too!

Print media also has its fair share of media authenticity problems. Some of the smaller and regional newspapers have lamented the loss of advertising revenue as the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) doesn’t capture their readership data accurately. There are instances of IRS data conflicting with the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) data. Actual circulation numbers and readership numbers are the bone of contention among several media. If one digs deeper, in some cases, print runs vs actual copies sold vs certified circulation numbers may vary.

Till a decade ago, there was both the National Readership Survey (NRS) and IRS reporting on print media consumption data. NRS was scrapped in 2011. IRS says it has a sample size of 2.56 lakh respondents in the country. It is the largest continuous readership research study in the world. The survey collects a range of demographic information and is not restricted to surveying readership alone. It also provides data on consumption across various FMCG products. MURC, the parent body of IRS, was formed to identify the need gaps in media research and provide relevant solutions. How much of that it has achieved is debatable.

According to Media Ownership Monitor India, there are 1,18,239 media publications, 38,933 weekly newspapers and magazines, 17,160 daily newspapers, more than 880 satellite television channels, more than 380 news television channels, and 550+ non-news entertainment radio stations. Statista says the pay-TV penetration in India by cable and satellite is likely to touch 84 per cent by the year 2023. It is not easy to bring in accuracy and authenticity to media measurement in such a large-scale sector. However, allegations and counter-allegations from owners of media themselves don’t help in boosting advertiser’s confidence to rely on such data for their media planning.

(Radha Radhakrishnan is a corporate & marketing communications consultant and a podcaster. She anchors a PR & Communications podcast – Mrigashira.)

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