A year since the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India released its first set of data measuring television audiences in the country, it’s time to take a look at how the new system has fared so far
On April 29, 2015, the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) released its first set of data measuring television audiences. A year down the line, how has the joint industry body - set up by stakeholders the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) - delivered on expectations? BARC, set up as an alternative to the erstwhile ratings system TAM, was designed to address the complaints people had against TAM with regard to sample size, data inaccuracy and data integrity. With the industry adopting BARC - now the only ratings system in the country – have the problems disappeared?
The Year Gone By
Talking about the initial days of BARC, Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India says the new system scored on three counts - model, cost and time-frame. A new model was created from a supply ecosystem point of view, wherein instead of one vendor, multiple stakeholders were brought in to ensure that “the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing” in the interest of protecting data. In terms of time-frame and numbers, the entire system was put in place in about 20 months at an approximate cost of $44 million. (The cost of a BARometer is Rs 25,000 - roughly one-sixth that of the global cost of the device.) Compared to European countries, where the sample size is around 5,000 to 6,000, BARC initially started out with 12,000 BARometers and increased to 25,000 BARometers seeded in 20,000 homes. This is expected to reach 34,000 metered homes by the end of this year and further increased to 50,000 in the next three years.
But has it achieved what it set out to do? Says Shashi Sinha, CEO, IPG Mediabrands India and Chairman of the Technical Committee of BARC, “Currencies all over the world take time to stabilize. Compared to other parts of the world, we have done a far better job. It takes time and there were challenges, but the progress made by BARC is very satisfying so far.”
Data Fidelity, Not Volatility
Post the release of BARC data, there were murmurs in the industry about it being volatile, and the initial feedback was that many did not understand the data at all. Nandini Dias, CEO, Lodestar UM, says, “BARC is a new learning and there was frustration as we were not as familiar with it as we were with TAM. It’s a new system and it will take time to stabilize. There’s a gestation period for any research data, and I am sure in another couple of months, it will stabilize as we can see it stabilizing even now.”
BARC did face teething problems, particularly in the initial days, with some broadcasters and media planners raising concerns, particularly about its servicing prowess. However, BARC quickly upped its manpower and strengthened the bench across verticals and improved the ability to service the needs of stakeholders. No doubt, BARC is aided in its efforts by adequate resources and that it has been well-funded is a factor in its favour.
Says Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, and Chairman, Posterscope & psLIVE, Asia Pacific, “When you transition from one system to other, you will always have some pain points, but BARC handled that well. When the pain points were coming up, we were able to address them and make sure that they were quickly taken care of.”
Still, a common refrain among some media planners is the volatility of BARC data. Dasgupta says, “I don’t understand this term, very honestly. What you call volatility, I call it fidelity. Fidelity and accuracy are two sides of the same coin. I don’t think we have volatile data at all. It’s a new system and people take some time to adjust to it.” Dasgupta explains fidelity thus: “For example, if there is no power in a particular area, it directly reflects in the ratings. Similarly, a twist in a fiction show corresponds with ratings going up. The fidelity of data is extremely high. Rating comes out of content. If there is an India-Pakistan match or a large impact property, ratings have to go up. Ratings go up because of some reason and more often than not, we have been able to tell the broadcaster the reason.” He continues, “Over time, people have stopped asking those questions, by now they know the answers themselves. We report the data as it comes, we don’t touch the data at all, which basically means what happens on the ground, gets reflected, it’s as simple as that. The smallest of change - external or internal - is given to a channel/ broadcaster, which is a big change from what it was earlier.”
What gets a thumbs-up is the BARC India Media Workstation (BMW), which is seen to be very user-friendly for a media planner. BARC has also heeded requests from media agencies and done its bit by way of modifications to the software to aid planning and optimizing functions.
Launch of Rural DATA
Even before its launch, BARC India had set itself a series of finite objectives – release of household data, individual data and the all important all-India rating – Urban+ Rural data. While it started out by releasing household data and then progressed to individual data, the big move was the release of Rural data into what until now was considered a ‘black box’. With 45-48% of total TV viewership coming from rural areas, rural data provided valuable insights such as Rural contributing to about 41% of the English viewership. While this was a surprise to some, the data-points - English as an aspirational language and increase in number of English schools - supported the data. Says Dasgupta, “When we went into certain panel homes to double check the data, we found 20-24-year-olds actually watching a large amount of English content - be it news, entertainment or movies, to learn the diction and language.”
Prasanth Kumar, CEO South Asia, Mindshare is happy that more panels and households are being measured, to give planners a better understanding of TV viewership. “Rural is an important opportunity for many of the categories and now we have a better understanding on Rural,” he says.
On the change from the old Socio-economic Classification (SEC) system, which profiled on population basis the Education and Occupation of the Chief Wage Earner (CWE), to the New Consumer Classification System (NCCS), which profiles viewers based on Education of the CWE, Dasgupta says, “The way advertisers and agencies are targeting their advertising is being relooked. The whole TG definition of each brand is being relooked.”
Adds Bhasin, “After Rural data came in, you could clearly see a trend emerging with certain channels and types of programmes doing better. Once the Rural data stabilizes and gets more depth, the so-called hierarchy in ranking of channels might undergo a change. Some broadcasters might start looking at their content slightly differently because for the first time, you have information of what all of India is really watching, otherwise on Rural, you were just doing guess work or following a perception.”
The FTA conundrum
The introduction of rural data in Week 41 of 2015 saw a dramatic change in the pecking order in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space. Zee Anmol, the free-to-air (FTA) channel from Zee Network and Star India’s Star Utsav took the third and fifth spot respectively in the ratings ladder, leading some broadcasters to call for separate data for pay and FTA channels as they believe it is not fair to assess both pay and FTA channels together. On his part, Dasgupta says, “Pay and FTA channels are two different business models. Why should we get into what is the business model of any channel?” On the same note, he says that Urban and Rural data can be differentiated because they are in two different demographics/geographies.
Solving The Pain Points
BARC has seen some pain points in its journey of one year. The Marathi, Bengali and English genres saw a decline in the BARC system compared to the industry’s former measurement system. Says Sinha, “There were various issues like data fluctuation and it was tough to decide whether it was the new normal or there was variance happening. For example, there was a change in Maharashtra and West Bengal where the numbers dropped as compared to TAM and there was a big discussion whether we were on the wrong or right track. There were many such challenges even with English as a genre.” Sinha adds that efforts are on to solve the problem areas with the help of consultants. “Managing the environment and learning what are the best tactics from around the world have helped us,” he says.
Dasgupta adds that in the Marathi genre, it is not about the sample size but the fundamental sample design. He explains, “We have re-assessed the Marathi genre and other language genres as well. It’s very clear that what we are doing is right. There is always scope for improvement.”
Keeping the niche genres in mind, BARC launched a monthly communique, Alpha Club, based on feedback from subscribers with the intent of providing sharper consumer insights, particularly for niche channels. Alpha Club splits the TG into NCCS A1, A2, A3 genres separately and offers analysis and insights into NCCS A1, A2, and A3, and viewership of six mega cities. In addition, BARC is also contemplating an affluent panel or even a news panel for niche channels and the proposal has been put forth to the technical committee for approval.
Bane of over-segmentation
One of the peculiarities of the Indian market, says Dasgupta, is the over-segmentation of data. Simply put, there are 6,656 basic audience cuts done by BARC in India. In comparison, the basic audience cuts offered in the US is 3,360 while in the UK, it is only 56. Says Dasgupta, “We have over-segmented the data beyond a point which has its own challenges. Traditionally, India has been used to so many cuts.” Adds Paritosh Joshi, CEO, India TV, “We slice the data too much and if you slice it so much, then what you are left with in the end is garbage. Responsible usage of data means that you cut it, but cut it up sensibly. Don’t chop it to a point where it stops making any sense.”
Globally and traditionally, advertisers never subscribe to any audience measurement system as it was primarily done through agencies. However, Dasgupta says that because of “the data and software”, some of the largest advertisers have actually directly subscribed to BARC.
The BARC-TAM JV
The talking point of the year, however, was BARC and TAM coming together to form a meter management company, the Meterology Data Ltd (MDL) even as TAM exited the television measurement space. While the JV was probably because BARC needed TAM as much as TAM needed BARC, currently TAM Peoplemeters are being uninstalled and will soon be ploughed back into BARC India panel sample homes, as per BARC’s panel design. Post re-deployment, data from about 30,000 panel homes will flow to BARC India servers, where it will be fused and published through the BMW software. On the operations front, the integration process is on with people from TAM already moving into BARC offices. “They have obviously huge expertise in running their own meters, which we will use,” says Dasgupta.
The Next Move
Looking ahead, the big focus for BARC India is digital – cross-platform ratings and evaluation of the Request for Proposal (RFP) is currently on. While Dasgupta doesn’t confirm a time-frame for the launch of digital audience measurement, it is widely anticipated that the move towards a cross-platform system to measure audio-visual content across platforms such as mobile phones, iPads, laptops, over-the-top platforms will commence from next year. Dias believes that once the cross-platform data becomes available, it will be a boon. “The day we start getting data from different devices, it will be a boon. It will benefit the digital cover, the mobile advertisers and you will start realizing what is the interactive play between the devices,” she says.
BARC is also looking at providing value add products for advertisers. Elaborates Dasgupta, “We want to make advertisers’ life better. We are looking at a lot of fusion products that could be done for advertisers. For example, if you fuse consumption data with viewership data, you have a wealth of data to work with which can provide you a lot of insights of what people watch and how people consume.” Also in the works is VAL-ID, a service that uniformly labels advertising spots across the ecosystem. VAL-ID will also help in measuring exposure to advertising across digital platforms and linear TV, thus enabling measurement of unified reach across TV and Digital. Measuring ad-insertion in split beams will also be in force in the next few months. But, what will be out in the public domain very soon is the Broadcast India Survey, which will clearly define what the broadcast topography of India looks like. This is expected to be presented to the Board soon before being put out.
Meanwhile, a year into its operation, BARC has reached its target earnings of Rs 150 crore. Looking ahead, it expects to see growth as the number of BARometers increases. It has been an action-packed year for BARC, still it seems that things have just started, and a lot more action in Year Two is in store.
Our medium term goal would be digital measurement: Partho Dasgupta
There is a sense of urgency in the air at the BARC India office, with so much happening just now. With BARC expanding its staff strength and operations, the office now has an additional new wing, housed in a quaint Portuguese-style bungalow. Partho Dasgupta, CEO of BARC India, talks to us about one year of the industry’s new broadcast audience measurement system, the challenge of integrating TAM meters into the BARC structure, why broadcasters can’t rely on past trends and more...
What were the challenges you encountered once the BARC ratings rolled out? What were the corrective measures undertaken?
One big challenge for which we have not been able to take any corrective measure is over-segmentation of the country. The other would be the word used for data that ‘it is volatile’. We figured that the data is not volatile, but it is high fidelity. When we saw the data for the first time with the new technology, we realized that there was a basis to it. The big challenge was to communicate to people that what you are seeing is right. The first two to three months were spent making people understand, and after they started anticipating those changes. Any intervention in terms of content or distribution was showing up on the numbers very clearly.
When the Rural data was released for the first time, what caught some by surprise was the viewership for English entertainment was higher than expected...
We were not caught by surprise. At first glance, you would be shocked, but then when you look at the other environmental factors, you realize what is coming out is absolutely right. This is what happened in Rural. The first month, there were a lot of questions and after that, people understood the reasons.
What have been the key learnings over the last one year?
The one big learning is what we call ‘past can’t predict future’. Whether it’s some big news or a big cricket match or how a broadcaster plays the storyline, what you have done in the past can’t predict the future and hence you can’t really go by trend graphs. That is a very big learning, and we are telling everybody that what happened in the past need not necessarily happen in the future per se. Past trends are good for accountants, but not for our kind of business. The fidelity of data is obvious. If comedian Kapil Sharma is there in the show, whether Arnab Goswami is present on The Newshour or not, it clearly shows up on the data. When the earthquake happened in Nepal, the fidelity was reflected in the way how a few news channels broke the stories.
What are the challenges for you, looking ahead?
The big one is the successful integration of the TAM meters into our system and that is a fairly large task at hand; it’s absolutely not easy with people and the meters. The next big one would be to increase the sample size, the way it has been planned is to get more meaningful data of what India watches. The next medium term goal would be digital measurement.
Recently at FICCI-Frames 2016, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said he was not impressed by the new measurement system and that something should be done to make the television ratings more accurate. Your comment?
There are two parts to the comment. One is that we operate under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting’s notification dated January 2014 which clearly says, apart from other ownership issues, how many meters should be there, how it should be scaled up. We are following it to the T, no questions asked. The second part is that we are a joint industry body. We have the largest sample of meters in the world. Sampling is based on some amount of statistical issues, because of the fabric of the country and also based on affordability. Can the country or can the ecosystem afford bigger numbers? I don’t think so. We have a definite roadmap ahead, which we will follow as per the government guidelines.
How difficult is it or how easy is it to deal with the stakeholders, particularly broadcasters?
I read a quote - that when you are a referee in a match, you have to expect that the players will shout at you when the judgment doesn’t go for them, whatever may be the reason. So, it’s all part of life. It does become difficult sometimes when people do not know what is happening on the ground. When they don’t know that a satellite has changed its transponder and hence ratings have fallen or when they don’t know that some distributor or some cable operator has actually switched him off. These issues will remain, but we have to keep on educating them and helping them.
How satisfied are you with what BARC has achieved so far?
Personally, extremely satisfied. We were up against not just one wall, but quite a few walls.
How can you improve your offerings, especially to service broadcasters?
We have some limitations also. As per the government guidelines, we can’t do play any advisory or consulting role with our stakeholders, which basically means beyond a point, we can’t get into too much of why ratings have fallen or ratings have gone up. Hence, there is a certain amount of those expectations which we have to temper, saying that we should not be explaining. It is taking time, but it will all be in place.
‘We will make the TV measurement panel more robust’
Punit Goenka, Chairman, BARC India and MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) sums up one year of the new measurement system
In your assessment, how has BARC delivered over the last one year? Has it met expectations?
BARC is committed to measure and report ‘What India Watches’. In my view, we have delivered that by bringing Rural also into the measurement fold. Over the course of the year, the system has matured by leaps and bounds. I must thank the industry bodies - the AAAI, IBF and ISA, for partnering with BARC whole-heartedly to deliver a world-class system for the industry.
How can BARC be more valuable for broadcasters, media-planners and advertisers?
We have brought the whole of India under TV viewership measurement. The next frontier is the measurement of digital which BARC plans to release later this year. We will also make the TV measurement panel more robust with the ‘Broadcast India’ study for universe updates and subsequent panel expansion.
‘BARC’s rural data is untouched; no smoothening is allowed’
Ambi M G Parameswaran, Founder, Brand-Building.com and President, AAAI, says though no one gave BARC a chance a year ago, it has met its goals
‘Managing the environment, learning best tactics from around the world helped us’
Currencies all over the world take time to stabilize and compared to other parts of the world, we have done a far better job. The progress made by BARC is very satisfying. Of course, there were various issues like data fluctuation and it was tough to decide whether it was the new normal or there was variance happening. For example, there was a change in Maharashtra and West Bengal where the numbers dropped as compared to TAM and there was a big discussion whether we were on the wrong or right track. There were many such challenges even with English as a genre. Managing the environment and learning what are the best tactics from around the world have helped us.
Shashi Sinha,
Chairman, Technical Committee, BARC,
CEO, IPG Mediabrands India
MEDIAPLANNERSPEAK
It’s unrealistic to expect that you can make such a large change without any sort of pain points. That was expected, and that came up, but what was good and pleasing was the way BARC handled it.
‘BARC needs to encourage right use of the data that it puts out’
By Paritosh Joshi,
CEO, India TV &
Member, Technical Committee, BARC
On volatility of data
There have been the occasional comments about volatility of data. Volatility is what you should expect realistically in a statistical system, and we started getting people to understand the concept of what relative error means. Earlier, everybody used to speak about TRPs, now they talk about impressions which means we have gone from relative measure to absolute measure.
Learnings so far
BARC data has provided a fairly comprehensive solution, but people found it a little difficult to understand. BARC realized it very early that we need to commit resources to training, customer service, analysis, etc.
What BARC needs to do
Joint industry bodies need to be in a constant process of R&D. The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) in the UK, at any given point in time, has at least three or four projects where data is being gathered, but not commercially published. BARC needs to get into new exercises of measuring all kinds of related things, but not necessarily put the data out because it’s R&D. You should expect to see BARC constantly involved with innovation.
The challenges I see
The problem with what measurement does is that the comprehension of market research data is not intuitive; people don’t naturally understand what statistics mean. There is a tendency to over-analyze numbers, or analyze numbers wrongly. If you use the numbers right, the numbers can give you all kinds of interesting knowledge and insights. But if you use them wrong, then they will misguide you. People torture the data and then the data says whatever you want it to say, which is mostly wrong. One job that BARC needs to do is evangelize intelligent creative use of the data that it puts out. It needs to actively encourage people to sensibly use it right, use it in a statistically valid way and use it in new creative ways so that interesting outcomes and interesting marketing actions are possible. It’s not sterile data, it’s data that must be used for a business reason. Evangelizing, spreading best practices, sharing experiences, creating case studies that people can use are things that BARC should be doing.
A lot of users of the data actually don’t have any real, solid, statistical training. They don’t know what standard deviations and relative errors are. If you want to do a professional competent job using the data, this unfortunately is essential. You need to know statistics. There is some need in a sense to even go back and build these core skills. BARC might engage with media schools and business schools to build better awareness about the way media research data is used.
On BARC meeting expectations
The task of a JIB for measurement of any sort is really never done as the medium keeps evolving and the measurement system needs to stay ahead of the way that the medium is evolving. Television/audio-visual media in India is rapidly evolving and the manner in which people consume video is changing. With the younger generation consuming content differently than the older generation, the task of BARC is never done. It will keep changing. BARC has to change faster than the market changes, so that it can always do a good job of measurement.
