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How
will TAM be impacted in the post conditional access system
(CAS) scenario?
This
was the question posed to advertising/media agencies. Some reactions:
 MindShare
MD Ashutosh Srivastava says: "Data from set top boxes could
be a good supplement to the establishment surveys, provided it's
authentic. We need to see the depth of info also. Also, contrary
to what is being said - some people seem over-excited at the capabilities
of set top boxes (STBs) and are ascribing 'mythical' properties
to it. But, STBs cannot ever replace peoplemeter!!!"
Srivastava
adds: "To my mind, it's a big step backwards, from the sophistication
of the peoplemeter. Firstly, not every household will have a box,
and therefore the STB universe as a replacement for peoplemeter
is a 'biased' sample, as only the more affluent households will
go for it. Secondly, it captures information at the household level,
whereas the peoplemeter captures viewing information at individual
level. Nowhere in the world have STBs replaced peoplemeters."
"Also,
the consolidation of all the information on STB homes will be quite
a task - considering that the operators in the cable distribution
business are not able to see eye to eye on basic issues affecting
their business, it would be foolhardy to rely on them getting together
to give the market an authentic replacement for large scale establishment
studies," says Srivastava raising questions about the authenticity
of data.
 Optimum
Media Solutions senior VP Amit Ray says: "The conditional access
system (CAS) provides an opportunity for the media fraternity to
go beyond ratings. Rating agencies or other institutions will have
to install consumer panels. There is a need to test consumers and
find out how many of them remember advertising and respond to them.
The heterogeneity of audiences is much more complex and it cannot
be tackled by minimal amount of data; one needs to add supplements."
Ray
adds: "Yes, capturing the data through STBs would be extremely
important as it would 'very very accurately' throw up the viewership
at a household level. And if one checks out the household profile
from time to time, then it can be a very good database for planning
and buying. The biggest advantage would be the size of the respondents.
Most importantly, whatever little bias exists at the metred homes
- people are conscious that there TV is metred and their viewing
is being used for the world at large! - will not be there."
 Lodestar
Media's national media director Nandini Dias says: "We work
with the maxim that 'data unused is data wasted'. Any data that
is available needs to taken into consideration. As long as the data
depicts reality, it will be considered as an important dimension
to the process of media planning. Of course, there is a need to
go beyond TAM. TAM gives you one set of analysis. But there is another
perspective too."
Elaborating
on this further, Dias adds: "Within the organisation we do
use various techniques to enhance our media planning process. Specially
on the qualitative front! For example, we have used a technique
call Visual Image Profiling (VIP) to understand how consumers perceive
the user imagery of Star Plus vs Zee TV vs Sony TV. Before the World
Cup Cricket started, we went out in the market to do research on
the recall of the various properties and the feeling that each property
evokes. So while we do use TAM as the main source of quantitative
data, we do layer it with NRS, OTS Update distribution data, our
tools and techniques so on and so forth."
 WPP
Marketing Communications India director (marketing and corporate
affairs) Sai Nagesh has a word of caution to the constituents: "Well,
the significance of the data provided by the MSOs and the cable
operators will be enormous - but only if the data is gathered, mined
and disseminated in a proper manner. If this happens, then the face
of media planning in this country will change. The word micro-planning
will come alive."
Madison
Media client services director Neelkamal Sharma talks about the
different determinants: "Yes of course, TAM only gives quantitative
numbers for viewership but there are lots of other determinants
used in planning and buying. The list includes qualitative factors,
distribution factors, predictions which help us looking beyond viewership
numbers and make media plans more comprehensive. At Madison, we
use readership data, various distribution data, various optimisation
techniques, Madison Programme Predictor, various dipsticks, syndicated
researches available and media tracks (client specific). As far
as relying on data from MSOs or cable operators - yes and no both.
It actually depends on how foolproof is the system which captures
this data."
 Initiative
Media's media director Anita Kotwani says: "Yes, there is a
need to go beyond quanti data to quali data, understanding of programme
loyalty, time spent on a programme (higher the time spent more the
likely chances of the ad being recalled). This could be researched
and bench marks could be set on let's say: If 15 minutes of a programme
is being watched; of the half hour slot the chances of noticeability
of your ad goes up by 50 per cent. Also, if one could look at a
single source data that would help us relate spends/viewership/
purchase/life style variable/attitudinal data, tracking the changes
over a period of time would be easy."
Kotwani
adds: "Yes, I feel the data given by the MSOs and cable operators
would be useful as it is the universe size and not a sample. If
the planner knows the SEC (socio economic class) break up of the
households and the channel mix that they have taken, then that information
would need to looked into along with viewership data. Consumer durables
and household appliances could look into such data as we are looking
at the propensity to spend of the consumer. Despite not having individual
data, the channel mix of the CAS household would be indicative of
the individual preferences (Cartoon Network would be for Kids, news/sports
channels for males would be a natural assumption)."
Advertising
Avenues associate VP-planning Kishore Mamidi says: "TAM now
has to proactively understand the changing environment and judge
for itself where it fell short even in the earlier landscape. TAM
has to commit a holistic deliverance - because it always has that
head-start; it only has to honestly focus itself! About the international
norms that can be adapted to India - I am not aware - but have this
gut-feeling that such 'introductions' will surely add to the CAS
Chaos and CAStrate our feeling of self-belief, confidence and equilibrium
- even more!"
Mamidi
adds: "Yes, quality data from MSOs and cable operators will
surely be an additional and important source of information - all
the more in the post CAS scenario - where the TV-environment would
be like a real 'counter' - a la 'Aaj ka score kya hai' --- sort
of a scene --- till CAS settles down!
This (euphemistic) counter needs to keep a tab on
CAS ----- Adopters today (on this day - well actually for a certain
period!)
CAS ------ Drop-outs today (on this day)
C&S ----- FTA Homes (again new additions and drop-outs!)
Terrestrials ------ Neither the MSOs nor the cable operators can
provide - especially as they are not particularly known to be vocal
with their 'ground-empathy' - us with this feel and fill!"
Before
signing off, Mamidi adds: "Every ground-zero information about
the trends and directions on the areas and arena would be of great
help to every planner and buyer - worth his salt!"
Also
read:
Ad
agency representatives speak the relevance of TAM and the distribution
data
Quibbles
apart TAM is the only currency broadcasting industry can use
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