TV viewership measurement body, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has called Request for Proposals (RFPs) from professional agencies for providing consultancy service to its subscribers.
In a statement released here, BARC said that I&B ministry guidelines prohibit BARC from involving itself in any activity like consultancy or any such advisory role, which would lead to a potential conflict of interest with its main objective of TV ratings.
However, many subscribers have been expressing their need for this service and hence reputed Data Insight consultants may provide this, BARC said.
With this, BARC India is seeking to build a small pool of approved consultancy companies, which will allow subscribers to choose their supplier and also help mitigate against potential conflicts of interest when dealing with potentially competing clients, it added.
"BARC India being a joint industry company of broadcasters, media agencies and advertisers needs to remain independent and objective and hence cannot provide consultancy service to subscribers.
"However, after building a strong television audience measurement system in the country, we have now decided to grant licenses to select consultancy companies to provide analysis to our subscribers who are in need of professional consultancy service to effectively utilize and strategise with BARC India data," said Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India.
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