BARC India measures out-of-home TV viewership; Star India first subscriber

The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) has expanded its TV viewership measurement service by entering a new segment beyond traditional viewing at home. Leveraging its audio watermarking technology and measurement capabilities, BARC India has launched Out-Of-Home (OOH) TV viewership measurement. With this, the agency will now be able to report TV viewership in hotspots like restaurants, pubs and bars in select cities.

BARC India’s OOH measurement, which captures the growing trend of TV viewing outside homes, is a pre-subscribed service. It uncovers a significant share of TV viewership that was not being measured until now, especially for events in sports and entertainment. The current OOH measurement service tracks viewing across over 900  establishments in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, using over 1,500 meters.

Star India has been the first network to subscribe to this service for the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). 

According to data, OOH viewing generated a total of 19.4 million impressions — the number of people watching the tournament at any point in time during its live telecast — for the first eight IPL matches in the three cities. This, when compared to BARC India’s panel in these markets, is an additional 10 per cent viewership. The OOH data is sample study across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. If a study was done for other similar cities one could expect to see a comparable lift in viewership.

“With our commitment to measure what India watches, it was a natural step for us to measure OOH viewing. This is also aligned with our goal of measuring content wherever it plays, irrespective of screen or pipe. We will continue to offer more such path-breaking services that deliver sharper insights into industry,” said Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India.