Indiantelevision.com Team

(7 May 2008 8:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: Broadcasters and advertisers are opposed to any interference from the government in the business of monitoring the television ratings points (TRPs).

In their response to the consultation paper floated by Trai, they have said that TRPs are of interest only to broadcasters, advertising agencies and advertisers and should not concern the government.

The Advertising Agency Association of India (AAAI), the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) along with broadcasters like Star India, ESPN, and Zee TV are among those who voiced this common view.

The TRPs decide the fate of Rs 80 billion that goes behind advertising on TV channels.

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) which represents the IBF, the AAAI, and the ISA, feels the government has no role to play in the matter of TRPs which represent a robust economic currency.

BARC has pointed out that realizing there may be conflicting interests between its three constituents, it has commissioned an audience measurement research. In the first phase, this will mean designing and commissioning an establishment survey which will be a cross-sectional study of television penetration, viewership habits, and demographic taxonomy of the viewers. Phase two will include the actual gathering of viewers likes and dislikes.

The Council also feels that the key to a reliable, representative and transparent rating system lies in smart rather than indiscriminate sampling. BARC also says it will give priority to data quality over indiscriminate coverage. Phase One will, therefore, be representative of the entire country, and will be open to audit.

Since BARC has been set up as a not-for-profit body to tackle the ratings business, IBF believes there is no need to encourage competition.

Agrees AAAI: "TRPs are a matter of interest only to broadcasters, advertising agencies and advertisers as its an estimate of the number of people who watch a TV programme and this number is of interest essentially to broadcasters because it helps them establish a benchmark or a guideline to determine the price that they should charge for advertising on various prgrammes in different time bands...its essentially a commercial tool and guide that determines the pricing for advertising time on television. The government's interventation is not required."

Television Audience Measurement (Tam) has also stated that government intervention wasn't needed. Instead, the government should ease the customs duty on peoplemeters so that more of them could be added.

Tam has said that there are 7200 peoplemeters in India for the 35 million television homes covered by the TV ratings agency. This represents 206 peoplemeters for every one million TV sets. A total of 145 towns have been selected to represent approximately 388 towns in urban India. Tam has also insisted that there is need for a single service for audience measuring.

Zee Network has suggested that the government regulation should prescribe the creation of an oversight agency on the lines of MRC in USA or BARB of UK. "Such body should be based on industry participation and not direct government control. We have already supported the industry initiative of BARC in this regard," Zee has stated in its response.

The Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education (Voice), however, strongly favours regulating the system of measuring television audiences.

Voice feels that the way TRPs are manipulated can influence the prices at which goods and services are sold because the advertising costs are part of the criteria for fixing these prices. This is because the advertising costs are passed on to the consumer. It also influences the kind of programme that is being made.

Voice says that an industry body can be expected to deliver honestly only when the desire to behave in a socially responsible manner is stronger than mere commercial interests.

There is, therefore, need for a reliable system of accreditation for broadcast audience measurement. However, while the government can help to ensure scientific basis and accuracy, it should not be involved in the management of such measurement.

Voice has also stressed the need for mandatory audit of any measurement system. It also feels that with more than 100 million homes having television sets, the measurement is not representative at present.

Trai had come out with the consultation paper after the information and broadcasting ministry had urged the sector regulator to start a consultative process.

Trai has already received responses from BARC, Star India, Reliance Big TV, Zee Network, AAAI, Tam, ISA, ESPN, ETV, Bharat Jyoti Consumer Advocacy Group, MTNL, TV Today, Television Monitoring and Research, Times Global Broadcasting, Total Telefilms, Voice and two individuals: Kumar Sanu and Dhanya Rajendran.