The system of generation of
Television Rating Points (TRPs) has come under the close scrutiny of the
Government following reports about several lacunae in the present rating system
in India. Since TRPs have a major impact on the programming content of
Television channels, issues of accountability, transparency and objectivity in
Television Rating system assume greater significance as false and misleading
rating can hurt not only broadcasters and the advertisers but more importantly
the viewing public. It has also been felt that at present there is a lot of
secrecy exercised by the rating agencies in disclosing the data and methodology
used through the process of the entire rating measurement.
Though TRPs are generated in
India in the domain of private sector, Government is aware of the importance of
TRPs on the programming content on TV Channels and the responsibility
therefore, to examine the issues concerning generation of TRPs. This Ministry
had requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to offer their
recommendations concerning TRPs. In its recommendations TRAI had suggested self
regulation of TRPs through an Industry led body i.e. Broadcast Audience
Research Council (BARC), with Government oversight. Since BARC was not
operationalised by the Industry within the time frame as suggested by TRAI, the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting constituted an Independent committee
on May 5, 2010 to examine several crucial issues concerning TRPs in India. The
Committee was headed by the then Secretary General of FICCI, Dr. Amit Mitra.
The Committee set up by the
Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to review the TRP measurement in
India submitted its report to the Minister for Information & Broadcasting,
Ms. Ambika Soni.
The Minister said the report
provided a roadmap to the I&B Ministry to review the TRP system in the
country. Complimenting the work of the Committee, she said the Committee had
reviewed the entire TRP mechanism exhaustively, looking into different
parameters associated with the issue. The Ministry would review the
recommendations in the light of the mandate given to the committee. Chairperson
of the Committee, Dr. Amit Mitra said that the mandate of the Committee was
such that it provided an opportunity to view the road forward ensuring that
appropriate measurement mechanisms were put in place.
Among other issues concerning
TRPs, the committee was mainly requested to examine the present system of
generation of TRPs and its adverse and negative impact on the content of
television programmes due to competition for higher TRPs. The committee was
also requested to examine whether Government should set up an institutional
mechanism through legislation which may either generate TRP ratings directly or
work as an accreditation/standardization body while leaving the work of
generation of TRPs to private players.
The Committee members had several
round of meetings and discussions with stakeholders and the Rating agencies to
get an in-depth understanding of the issues plaguing the current TRP system,
before arriving at the recommendations. The committee members also studied the
International best practices and regulation to understand the efficacy of
various models.
The committee in its final
recommendations has suggested the following:
The Committee has taken note of
the fact that an industry-led initiative of broadcasters, advertisers and
advertising agencies called Broadcast Audience Research Council ( BARC) has
been formed and duly registered in July 2010 as a Not for Profit Body under
Section 25 of the Companies Act. The committee feels that the self regulation
of TRPs by the Industry is the best way to move forward.
The Committee has suggested to
broaden the constitution of the Board of BARC to make it more inclusive. The company structure of BARC should have
representation from broadcasters, advertisers, and advertising agencies
including Public Service Broadcasters. The Committee has recommended that there
should be a 12 member Board in BARC constituting 7 members from broadcasters
including the Public Service Broadcaster, 3 members from advertisers and 2
members from advertising agencies including Directorate of Advertising and
Visual Publicity (DAVP).
The Committee has recommended
constitution of a High Powered Committee within BARC to guide BARC in the area
of research, design and analysis. The representatives of the committee would be
eminent members from different fields. The composition of the High Powered
Committee would include a statistician of national repute, measurement
technology expert, a renowned individual from Civil Society or Judiciary, a
demographer, a sociologist, an economist, a business management expert from one
of the IIMs, nominee of an eminent institution, a leading woman of national
stature and three special invitees from BARC.
The recommendations of the High
Powered Committee would be binding on BARC. The committee further recommends
that BARC should consider suitable provisions in their articles of Association
and Memorandum of Articles in this regard.
The Committee has taken a serious
view of the small sample size used by the two existing Rating Agencies in
India. The Committee has also observed
that the rural areas have been left out from the current system of TRP measurement.
The Committee has recommended an increase in the sample size from 8000 (Eight
Thousand) people meter homes to 15,000 urban & rural households, over a
period of two years, and then to 30,000 (Thirty Thousand) over the next three
years covering urban areas, rural areas and small towns, J&K, North
east thereby providing a complete
geographical coverage of the country.
The committee has suggested that
broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies should pay a certain
percentage of their relevant turnovers to BARC on an annual basis to fund the
expansion of sample size for TRP measurement. The total cost of expansion of
TRP measurement system over 5 years would be around 660 Crores which is
approximately 0.32 per cent per year of the total TV industry size in India.
The committee feels that this level of expenditure should not be very difficult
for the industry to meet.
In order to provide a wider
coverage of people meters, the Committee has suggested that efforts should be
taken by BARC to reduce the manufacturing cost of People meters by exploring
innovation and local manufacturing with indigenization to overcome financial
limitations which are hampering the increase in sample size. The committee
further recommends that BARC should work in close association with the Industry
and aid the development of an indigenous market for the manufacturers by
ensuring that rating agencies define the specifications of people meters and
guarantee a certain demand. The committee has recommended that as a long term measure,
rating agencies should consider manufacturing/assembling people meters in India
itself to bring down the cost.
The committee also took note of
the fact that people meters attract 50 per cent import duty which makes them
expensive. The committee suggests that as an immediate short term measure
reduction in the import duty should be considered.
The Committee has also expressed
concern about the lack of transparency in the methodology of conducting the TRP
measurement. The Committee has recommended that the selection process of rating
agency as well as the TRP measurement process should be carried out in a
credible, transparent and statistically robust manner, which should be
subjected to Financial and Process Audit.
The details of these should be disclosed on the website of BARC by
making it available in public domain.
The Committee has recommended
that the rating system should be made compatible with emerging technologies to
capture data over different platforms corresponding to penetration levels of
respective platforms in TV viewing population, to ensure a holistic picture of
the viewers’ preference.
The Committee has recommended
that there should not be any cross-holding between the rating agencies and the
broadcasters, advertisers and the advertising agencies to avoid conflict of
interest.
The Committee has recommended
that the TRP measurement process should consist of four stages in which the
first stage should be designing of survey and quality control research,
followed by commissioning and establishment survey. The third stage should be
data analysis and report generation followed by Audit. Each one of these stages
should be separately commissioned to distinct agencies to achieve unbiased and
reliable results.
The Committee has also felt that at
present there is a lot of secrecy exercised by the rating agencies in
disclosing the data and methodology used through the process of the entire
rating measurement. The Committee has recommended that the guidelines set out
in the TRAI Report of 2008 on the key eligibility conditions of rating
agencies, general operational, ethical and disclosure norms and standards
should be followed.
The Committee has taken
cognizance of the fact that TRP announcements at very short intervals may lead
to distortion in broadcasting behavior. The Committee has, therefore,
recommended that the TRP generation and announcement by the rating agencies
particularly for the news channels should be done once a week with the
possibility to increase the periodicity to a fortnight.
The Committee has also recommended that BARC
should set up a Complaint Redressal Mechanism on the lines of the model being
followed by Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
