Figure 3: No Copyright Infringement Intended

 

Context:

• Evaluation of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) on the news channel has been resumed after the organization has revised procedures and protocols.

About Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC):

• A joint industry association founded by stakeholders representing broadcasters, advertisers, advertising and media institutions.
• Purpose: BARC India owns and manages a transparent, accurate and comprehensive television viewer measurement system.

Problem

• In response to the allegations of rating operations that surfaced in 2020, It will suspend TRP for over a year and then return.

Changes made and what they mean

• The reorganization of the Board and Technical Committee to allow the inclusion of independent members has also been initiated by BARC.
• A permanent board of corporate auditors has also been established.
• The data access protocol has been revised and enhanced.
• Shashi Shekhar Vempati, a working group chaired by Prasar Bharati, was also established to consider leveraging the Return Path Data (RPD) feature to use the TRP services identified by TRAI, and the TRP Committee report is recommended.
• RPD feature: Means that the set-top box that receives the signal can send data about how the subscriber is using the box. The idea is that set-top boxes automatically capture subscriber behavior and provide an accurate estimate of viewership.

Significance of Ratings:

• Resuming viewership data is important because TV ratings are a measure of advertising revenue.
• Indian TV commercials are worth over 32,000 crore.
• Both advertisers and broadcasters pay high fees to subscribe to weekly viewer statistics.
• The operation loses the profits of the parties involved.
• TRP helps determine the market in which to invest in advertising, especially for small businesses.

For advertisers:

• TRP allows advertisers to decide which channels and shows they watch most and what people want to watch on TV.
• This helps advertisers decide which TV shows to advertise on which channels.
• They can also measure the reach of your ads.

For content creators:

• TRP helps content authors to see if their content is highly valued.
• They can also change the content as needed based on the TRP number.
• The higher the content TRP, the higher the revenue of the content provider.

For transmitter:

• TRP ratings allow broadcasters to charge advertisers accordingly.
• The TRP rating is a measure of viewership that helps broadcasters see the minimum viewership required for their content and move in the right direction.