TAM expands Indian TV audience coverage

INDIA-- Ratings provider TAM Media Research is expanding its sample sizes and updating its population estimates to keep up with growing TV audiences.

The expansion sees the number of towns covered rise from 145 to 160 and the number of households in the panel increase from 6,900 to 8,000.

As of 2009 the firm has added coverage for cities of over a million people in the state of Bihar, and cities of over half a million people in Assam.

For the first time TAM will report on towns with less than 100,000 people, beginning in the state of Maharashtra and with plans to extend coverage to more regions in the coming months.

It has also divided up some of its reporting units to give more precise data for heavily populated areas. The list of major cities for which data is reported separately has gone from six to eight with the addition of Pune and Ahmedabad, reflecting economic development and increases in advertising spending.

TAM said: “These new data streams have been introduced to provide the industry with more and better information leading to more informed business decisions.”

The firm is a joint venture between Nielsen and IMRB, and uses people meters to compile its ratings.

Its new population estimates show an increase of around 9% in the TV-owning population in the past two years.

Author: Robert Bain

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