The Hindu Business Line : aMap to offer real time TV rating data

AUDIENCE Measurement and Analytics (P) Ltd. or aMap, is looking at offering data which will measure audience viewing in real time as part of its online TV audience rating services.

Mr Tapan Pal, Chief Executive Officer, told Business Line, "At the moment we are offering overnight data but there are plans of providing real time data as well. This would mean giving data as and when the programme is happening."

aMap uses meters designed by Telecontrol GFK, which have been used in Europe over the last two decades.

These are future-ready meters, which can measure DTH, CAS, broadband and even the viewing of a DVD. Each meter has a GSM card in it, which is called by the central server at night.

The data is then transferred to the central server and analysed through the night and then released for all users. Having installed 2,000 meters in the Hindi belt now, the company expects to set up 5,000 meters across the country.

Giving yesterday's ratings today and using it as its USP, the Ahmedabad-based company does not believe in going only by demographics and also includes data going by ownership in various categories.

So instead of demographics such as SEC, age, gender and C&S penetration, data are made available on consumer durables ownership, type of TV, size of household, occupation of individuals, monthly household income, children at home and chief wage earner.

"We shall soon come out with psychographic data as well which would help the industry. All this would be on an overnight basis, which would help us empower our users to take fast remedial action," says Mr Pal.

Competing with the Ad Ex India's TAM ratings for measurement, aMap expects to provide an alternative method for measuring audience.

The differences between the ratings of the two systems are already showing up.

For instance, according to aMap, there is not much of a gap in the overall channel ratings between Star and Sony but TAM claims that Star is still way ahead of the others in the overall ratings list.

With investments made in the company by the US-based entity - Media services and Holding Group — aMap's biggest challenge is to build a pan Indian presence to enable more clients to avail themselves of its online TV audience rating service in the country.

Blast impact

Overnight ratings of aMap indicate that housewives don't seem to have an appetite to watch news.

Studying the impact on viewership due to the recent London blasts, the television audience measuring body has deciphered that it was wage earners who watched the news related to the blasts for the maximum time on their TV sets while housewives continued to watch their quota of Hindi films throughout the day.

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