Week at a glance: Indepth coverage of the TRP scam; Industry stands with Tanishq

BARC to pause audience estimates (ratings) of news channels

Punit Goenka, Chairman of BARC India Board said, “Given the most recent developments, the BARC Board was of the opinion that a pause was necessitated to enable the industry and BARC to work closely to review its already stringent protocols and further augment them to enable the industry to focus on collaborating for growth and well-natured competitiveness”.

NBA welcomes 12 week suspension of TV ratings

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) welcomes the decision of the BARC to suspend the measurement of television viewership ratings of news channels for a period of twelve weeks.  NBA, which represents the news broadcasters, believes that the suspension is an important step in the right direction.

Also read: Week at a glance: Uday Shankar moves on; TRP racket; Viacom18-Sony merger talks off

TRP scam: BARC’s decision is one-sided and undemocratic, says NBF

InNBA President welcomes advertisers’ tough stand against toxic content on news channels

Rajat Sharma, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, India TV and President, News Broadcasters Association (NBA), has welcomed the decision taken by advertisers against toxic content on news channels. It may be recalled that advertisers, including Bajaj, Parle, Dollar and Amul, among others have decided to withdraw their advertising from news channels spreading toxicity and hate speech.

ABP Network’s Avinash Pandey backs BARC’s decision to pause ratings

Reacting to BARC's decision, AvinashPandey, CEO, ABP Network, which operates 10 language news channels, remarked, "It is certainly a crucial and important step towards ensuring and improving statistical robustness in the measurement system. Reviewing the current protocols will lead to more secure safeguards and best practices. The onus is now on the industry and the measurement body to collaborate and address this situation at the earliest in all earnestness."

Media consumption tracking – too little but much-hyped?

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.

TRP tampering case: One more arrest made

Media reports have quoted Mumbai Police as saying that Tripathi was a key accused in the case. The police said that it was under Tripathi’s instruction that another accused in the case, Vishal Bhandari, also a former employee of Hansa Research, asked five panel homes to watch a particular news channel.

Even after deleting film, Tanishq’s Ekatvam ad leaves social media opinions polarised

Jewellery brand Tanishq’s latest ad film has sparked a furious debate on social media, which is now being joined by the likes of celebrities like Richa Chadda and Kangana Ranaut.

AAAI and The Ad Club issue statements condemning attacks on Tanishq ad

While netizens have been commenting on the silence of Ratan Tata, former Chairperson of Tata Group, in this matter, Tanishq issued a statement regarding the Ekatvam campaign, stating, “The idea behind the Ekatvam campaign is to celebrate the coming together of people from different walks of life, local communities and families during these challenging times and celebrate the beauty of oneness. This film has stimulated divergent and severe reactions, contrary to its very objective.”

Bollywood hits back at news channels for spate of allegations, files lawsuit

Four Bollywood associations and as many as 34 producers have come together in a show of strength to take on the relentless hounding by news channels. These include names like Karan Johar, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Farhan Akhtar and many more.

How bullish consumer durables sector is whipping up demand this festive season

Festival season is one of the best times of the year for consumer durable brands to garner sales. While some of the categories of the durables are seasonality driven, but during the festive season there is a good spike noticed for the overall consumer durables category.

How e-commerce strategy is boosting brands’ festive season prospects

According to Unicommerce’s impact report, ‘E-commerce Trends Report 2020’, the consumer buying patterns and preferences have changed significantly with categories like health & pharmacy, FMCG and Agriculture seeing a surge and exponential growth, and with a significant rise in the number of first-time online Shoppers.

Pursuit of brand value in COVID-19

The Brand Finance India report which made this assessment also studied the impact of COVID-19 on Indian industries enterprise value in the first quarter of 2020. The findings were then industry-wise divided into three sectors according to the loss of brand value: Limited impact, moderate impact and heavy impact.

How Pocket52 is keeping the card playing spirits up this festive season

In conversation with Adgully, Debashish Bhattarcharjee, Co-Founder and CMO, Pocket52, speaks about what keeps his company excited and positive about a bounce-back during the festive season.

&Pictures will stake claim to a greater share of the viewership pie: Ruchir Tiwari

The channel was launched in 2013 and completes seven years in the TV broadcast space this year. Their curated line up of films in their programming for the next few weeks includes flashy titles like ‘Bumblebee’, ‘Jawaani Jaaneman’, ‘Dream Girl’, ‘Good Newwz’, ‘Bloodshot’, ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’ and many more in the thriller, action-adventure and entertainment genres. They are also planning to launch their original production ‘Footfairy’ in a direct-to-TV release on 24 October.

Who is winning the Short Video War?

TikTokers in India, especially influencers on the platform, were shocked and in a frenzy to find alternatives. While users jumped on to several apps to keep scrolling, the night of June 29 was unending for TikTok stars. Imagine spending months on building an audience and even a living on a platform, and the next day – everything vanishes!

How Havmor is using the idea of travel in COVID times for focussed targetting

Adgully spoke to Abhijit Awasthi, Co-Founder, Sideways, to know more about how the whole idea of a travel show was conceived and produced.

‘Spring: Bouncing Back From Rejection’ is Ambi’s best book till date: R Sridhar

AmbiParameswaran, a branding and marketing expert and author, very recently launched his book, ‘Spring: Bouncing Back From Rejection’, targeting primarily millennials. The book talks about rejections, failures, success and challenges as part of life. According to Ambi, people should sit back, face rejection, process and learn from it.

Trell’s users are spending over 40 min on the platform consuming content: Pulkit Agrawal

To know more about spike in Trell’s audience after it recently launched new languages, and how the app has benefitted from TikTok’s exit, Adgully spoke to PulkitAgrawal, Co-Founder, Trell.

Havas Life Sorento appoints Sachin Talwalkar as Executive Creative Director

Sachin Talwalkar is an award-winning ad professional with over 18 years of experience in communications, brand consultancy and film making having worked across agencies and geographies. Sachin has worked with leading agencies across various countries in Europe, APAC, SAMEA & India.

TV9 appoints Rakesh Khar as Editor & Business Head

After consolidating its leadership in the linear news TV format, TV9 Network is now turning its attention to revamping its digital business. As a step in this direction, the group has appointed Rakesh Khar to set up and lead the business content vertical of its upcoming digital offerings.