NEWS6 September 2011
INDIA— A merger of the National Readership Survey (NRS) and the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) – in the planning since 2009 – is set to become a reality in the next two weeks, according to a local media report.
Exchange4media.com says that the deal is set to be completed within a fortnight, two years after the two surveys first agreed to merge in a move that one commentator said at the time would create “one robust survey” instead of “two half-baked” ones.
IRS owner the Media Research Users’ Council and NRS owner the National Readership Studies Council are set to form a 50/50 partnership called the Readership Studies Council of India to carry out a single survey, which is due to operate under the IRS banner for continuity purposes.
ABC chairman Vijay Darda told Exchange4media: “This move is in the larger interests of the print industry. By combining the resources that would be independently invested in these two surveys, the industry will get a robust, credible and authentic data source that will become the single currency for the industry.”
- The website also reports that the News Broadcasters Association in India has written to TAM Media Research and requested that news viewing figures are reported on a monthly rather than weekly basis. Weekly reporting of numbers “creates frenzy and pressure in editorial teams”, according to one source.