Talk of TRP: Demand of BARC – Rating to be issued after the election results, the government has given instructions to issue it immediately

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) wants time till March to release TV ratings. BARC believes that ratings should be issued only after the results of the elections. In fact, on January 12, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instructed BARC to release the ratings of the channels immediately. It has also been asked to release data for the last three months in a monthly format.

BARC issues ratings based on TV viewership. BARC declares the rating of Transparent, Accurate and TV Audience Measurement System on its website. However, it was suspended following allegations of rating manipulation by some BARC employees. Broadcasters wanted serious issues like manipulation to be sorted out before resuming ratings.

BARC seeks 10 weeks’ time
The industry is awaiting BARC’s report on what went wrong with its operations and why the previous management tried to cover it up. BARC CEO Nakul Chopra had a meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on 16 December. In it, Nakul said that the agency should consider giving its stakeholders 10 weeks to get on board and restart the rating. Even after this, the ministry has hurried in this decision.

The ministry has also directed broadcasters to release data for the last three months in monthly format. Also, a working committee has been formed related to Television Rating Point (TRP) service. It will be headed by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati.

In all cases the ratings were suspended for one year. What has changed since then?

Broadly it has 5 stakeholders. It has news broadcasters, non-news broadcasters, advertisers, viewers and fifth is the government. However, there was no consensus among the broadcasters on resuming ratings so soon.

It may take some time for BARC to resume ratings, but broadcasters know they are being judged. Therefore, there is a possibility of a tough competition between them in front of their eyes. The content quality of news channels remained largely unchanged from last year and continued on an established programming formula. The sharpness of the content was reduced, as ratings were no longer the objective. Ad rates were secured based on past performance and brand strength.

Paid news can get a boost
Political parties have big budget for digital channels and news channels. In such a situation, these parties will also be helped in better bargaining with news channels. They can ensure their profit with the help of paid news. In such a situation, the decision to issue ratings of channels can work to damage democracy and the fabric of Indian media.

Competition between channels likely to start
Will the new development force news channels to compete with each other and create divisive content? Former Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministers of this government had advocated no rating for news channels for the same reason. More than 10 years ago, Baba Ramdev had described TRP as ‘Tatkal Rashtra Patan’. Now it seems that Baba was right.

Two other points also need attention.

What is TRP?
Television Rating Point (TRP) shows which news channel, program is being watched the most. The high TRP of the channel or program means that the maximum number of viewers watched it. TRP data is very important for advertisers. On the basis of this, the advertisement is given and its rates are decided.

People meters are installed in some places to find out the TRP. Through the special frequency on this meter, we find out which channel, program or show is being watched on that TV set, how many times and for how long. All audience preferences are estimated by sampling different people’s meters. Overall, the choice of crores of viewers of the country is judged by the estimated figure of a few thousand people.