BARC data not in public domain as industry migrates to new tariff regime

The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) will not release data on public platforms as the industry migrates to the new tariff order in accordance with the mandate of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

The data will be available only to the BARC’s subscribers.

The BARC gives weekly TV ratings on its website, and provides data to non-subscribers when requested.

The agency’s website has a message on its weekly data page: “In (the) light of the implementation of TRAI’s new tariff order and on-ground changes BARC India’s viewership data will be released only to its subscribers until further notice.” 

In December last year, it was reported that broadcasters wanted a ratings dark period (blacking out of ratings) during the transition from the old to the new tariff regime. The matter was to be discussed at the BARC’s board meeting, which was to take place in December but took place on January 29.

While the decision to hold back viewership data on public platforms was taken late on Wednesday night, the demand for blacking out ratings had been made a couple of months ago.

In an amendment to its data usage policy guidelines, the agency said: “In this transition period, leadership of channels is likely to be impacted by on-ground instability. Data during the period is likely to be volatile and hence any public communication and/or leadership claims would not be as per fair usage of BARC India data and may even lead to confusion in the market. BARC India is therefore putting a temporary restriction on public usage of viewership data for publicity/communication/leadership claims with effect from data of Week 6, 2019” (week 6, 2019 commences February 2, 2019).

Data will also not be given to non-subscribers on request during this time. 

The BARC’s decision also comes about a week after the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) released an advisory asking its members to not refer to viewership data for media evaluation, planning or buying for the next six weeks. “Considering the fact that the Trai NTO (new tariff order) is across India, its impact will be significantly different in each region given the varied distribution and broadcast landscape of each region. NTO, if implemented in true spirit, is likely to have shift in channel availability and hence, possibly consumption landscape also,” the advisory said.

As a result, the members of the advertiser body have been advised that viewership data during the transition period, which it estimates at six weeks, should not be used for media planning, evaluation, or buying. It added that the ISA would work closely with the BARC to ascertain when the data will become usable again. 

The BARC, however, has not specified for how long it will hold back ratings on public platforms. 

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) owns a 60 per cent interest in the BARC, which is a joint industry body. The Advertising Agencies Association of India and the ISA own 20 per cent each in the BARC.

IBF clarifies on billing issues for February
 

The IBF released a statement on Thursday, clarifying billing matters for February and the monthly subscriber report submission the distribution platform operators (DPOs). “IBF would like to clarify that its member broad­casters have executed the Reference Interconnect Agreements (RIOs) under the New MRP Regime with the DPOs and have implemented the New MRP Regime effective 1st February, 2019 as mandated by TRAI. Thus all DPOs are statutorily bound to adhere to the provisions of the New MRP Regime,” the statement said.