Indian television ratings monitoring agencies BARC India and TAM India have joined hands to form a new meter management company.
The new company will run meter operations and supply raw data to BARC India. Meters will be deployed based on BARC’s sample design and the ratings will be computed and disseminated through BARC India’s software. This ratings data will be the sole trading currency for the country, giving advertisers, broadcasters and agencies accurate and quality measurement.
The meter company will have the meter assets and panel management operations of the present BARC India and TAM India panels, which will be jointly owned by BARC India, Nielsen and Kantar with management control resting with BARC India.
To start with, the company will have 34,000 meters covering all of India, and will supply raw data to BARC, which will use its own statistical processes and sampling design. The details of the formation and roll out of this new company will be shared in the coming weeks.
TAM India will continue to provide its non-TV ratings services to the market, notably AdEx – Advertising Expenditure for TV, Print, Radio, RAM – Radio Audience Measurement, Eikona – PR Audit, TAM Sports Measurement and S-Group Consulting.
BARC India chairman Punit Goenka said, “This partnership is a big step forward and in this era of cooperation, we welcome this move forward as a joint industry body. The technology and methodological prowess of BARC, combined with the extra meters and the field force will definitely help the industry progress.”
“This new venture represents our organization’s commitment to providing precise and stable data around the world, and draws strengths from both BARC India and TAM India. We look forward to the great coverage and representation this new partnership will deliver,” added Nielsen global president Steve Hasker.
Kantar CEO Eric Salama said, “We are happy to cooperate with BARC India to be able to provide clarity and a large single sample for the industry and to keep India as a key market for us.”