‘No ratings laws', industry tells Indian government

INDIA-- Research, media and ad industry players have urged the government of India to stay out of regulating the country's TV ratings industry.

Media research suppliers TAM and TNS as well as the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) have all opposed government intervention in submissions to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

TRAI was tasked with running a consultation on the question of whether ratings laws were needed after concerns were raised by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting that TV viewers in smaller towns and rural areas where going unrepresented on existing audience measurement panels, which are confined to large urban centres of over 100,000 people.

Overwhelmingly the industry came out in favour of self-regulation through a body such as the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) – launched recently to replace the Joint Industry Body (JIB) that previously set minimum standards for TV audience measurement in the country.

BARC is a more formal setup than its predecessor and was established by the AAAI, IBF and the Indian Society of Advertisers late last year with a view to commissioning a new industry-agreed TV ratings system.

In its own submission the council said: “We believe that since BARC formally represents all stakeholders including the government broadcaster, it is technically the best equipped to set audience research guidelines.”

TAM also threw its support behind BARC, saying the council was “well capable of running a robust audience measurement system efficiently, effectively and preserv[ing] its integrity for the industry users”.

Addressing the broadcast ministry's concerns about unrepresented rural homes, TAM said it was “ever ready” to expand its panel if the industry felt it was necessary and had the resources to fund it.

Read all the consultation submissions online here.

Author: Brian Tarran