A technical committee to oversee the design of an audience measurement system for television will be formed within a week, under the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) — the three stakeholders of BARC — are learnt to have told the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that the technical committee will be formed within a week, sources said. The committee has already missed the July deadline.
In a meeting chaired by I&B Secretary Uday Kumar Varma, with the three bodies, the Government took stock of the progress on BARC. It was also decided that the technical committee will have representation of the Directorate of Advertising and Publicity (DAVP), besides a statistician and other key members.
The Amit Mitra Committee, which had reviewed the Television Rating Points (TRP) measurement, had recommended constitution of a high-powered committee to guide BARC’s operations. The high-powered committee will have representation from Prasar Bharati, besides other experts.
Varma said, “We had a useful meeting and hope BARC takes off which is important for a transparent and broad-based ratings measurement system.” The three BARC stakeholders had earlier said that they expected to commence TRP reports by July 2013. The Government is learnt to have asked them to try and commence their operations earlier in the light of growing concerns around the transparency of television rating measurement.
With NDTV dragging TAM to court and growing criticism around TAM’s functioning, the Ministry has already asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to look into the shareholding pattern of the rating agencies, come up with guidelines for the agencies and for an accreditation system.
While the board members of the AAAI and ISA have already approved the agreements for the operation of BARC, the IBF board is yet to give its approval, sources said.