The recent lawsuit by NDTV against TAM Media Research and its parent companies has put a spotlight on Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the industry-led alternative for audience measurement to TAM.
In an announcement in March, Indian Broadcasting Foundation, Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers had announced the formation of BARC which was expected to be operational by July.
A senior official from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said, “We are going to ask them to speed up the processes of getting BARC functioning. Why have they not formed the high powered committee yet as recommended by the TRP committee last year.”
A broadcasting industry official said that BARC has conducted some preliminary research in the southern region to determine the sample size. But, he pointed out that the advertisers and broadcasters need to work in tandem for its smoother functioning.
Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India and CEO South Asia, Aegis Media, and a member of AAAI said, “It is very important for all the industry stakeholders to help improve the audience measurement system and increase the sample size through BARC.”
Paritosh Joshi, a member of the technical committee on Indian Readership Survey, said, “ The stakeholders have to act assertively now since we already have a template for the solution in BARC.” Though he added that issues like who will foot the bill to increase the sample size and increase the number of people meters is a key question that stakeholders have to keep in mind.