HOW MRUC IS AIDING ADVERTISERS THROUGH QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Q] What changes do you plan to make at MRUC in your new role? What agenda do you have in mind?
MRUC was in trouble, but Ashish Bhasin and his team has worked very hard to bring things back on board. The task now is to improve further and grow. While doing this, we would like to rope in the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), and other similar institutions. So instead of us working in isolation, we would like to work as a team and give benefits to the advertisers, users and the society at large. We would also like to upgrade the quality of our research and find the gaps that advertisers face and improve upon them. But everything involves cost. A cumulative effort will release the pressure of funds and help us upgrade the quality of service.

So, this process will start now. A solid foundation has been laid by Ashish Bhasin and the team. We appreciate and congratulate him and the team for the work they have done to bring the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) to this stage.

Q] There were plans to put out Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) numbers alongside IRS numbers, which would require going to the basics and putting everything together. Do you plan to take this particular action ahead?
Yes, we have already decided on that. It may take time to develop the entire thing. One will need to resolve issues, requirements, cost factors, suitability of the software, ownership and other commercial and technical issues. But we have taken the decision to go ahead with it and started working on it.

Q] After IRS 2017, field work for the next round started only after three quarters once the body had enough funds to go ahead with the research. What is the scenario now?
Funds are coming in at MRUC, and field work is on. The question now is, how do we improve further and become more useful to our beneficiaries.

Q] What are the other industry concerns that you plan to address?
We will talk with the industry and the advertisers about their concerns and expectations. We will refine our current survey questionnaire with requirements of all stake-holders. Our effort will be to make the system more accountable and transparent.