The Hindu Business Line : Ratings research

TAKING up cudgels for the media industry, Media Research Users Council (MRUC) has stepped in to pioneer new research in the TV ratings system. Initiating its first TV user body meet on a rainy afternoon in Mumbai recently, MRUC debated on how to better understand the television consumer. At the outset, Lynn de Souza, member, Board of Governors, MRUC, made it clear that the meet was not organised to "rate the ratings game." Instead, she stressed on the need to make certain changes in the research for TV ratings.

<15,3m>"For TV research, the measurement of viewing has always been more important than the measurement of viewers. It's time to change this," said de Souza. According to FICCI data, subscription income will increase in the next three years from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore while research done by Deloitte Touche and Tohmatsu reveals that digitalisation increases content life and, therefore, audience size.

"Digitalisation will change the way we consume media and the content will be offered on demand. While the network puts in about 1 per cent of its revenue, media agencies put in almost seven per cent of their revenue into research by TAM," said de Souza.

From the traditional business model of producing programmes viewed by mass audiences in order to sell this audience to advertisers, a new business model is emerging. This comprises a situation where television content is being subscribed to. It is being recorded on DVDs and syndicated worldwide and even downloaded to mobile devices. Content is being broken into fragments and piped on demand over the Net.

In this fragmented and interactive future, peoplemeter ratings are still good for large homogeneous audience ratings and assessment of TV schedules, pre- and post-delivery. But they are not just adequate for specialist channels, non-domestic viewing (in hotels, offices, clubs), accompanied viewing and the time delayed viewing on extended content, felt the MRUC panel.

Specialist channels need a different kind of research. "The research needs of niche satellite channels are quite different from those of the general and terrestrial channels. They have no chance of attracting advertising aimed at large homogeneous audiences. To prove their value, they must demonstrate the attractions of their viewers in some other way. Maybe through detailed targeting descriptions, involvement with the channel and compatibility with the agency's requirements. In other words, something remarkably similar to the research needs of a magazine publisher," said de Souza.

In fact, in the US, the Nielsen ratings are under active debate. There has already been a proposed legislation aimed at the Nielsen peoplemeter system.

Globally, India has the least number of TV homes per peoplemeter. Giving examples that suggested the need for more work on the ratings system, de Souza referred to a survey carried out by Intellect, the research arm of the Lintas Media Group. According to the survey, the highest office viewing for a recently held one-day international cricket match happened in the 1.30-3.30 p.m. slot, when it was the lowest for home viewing.

International learnings reveal certain trends about accompanied viewing, differences in the viewing patterns of the different users and out-of-home viewing. For instance, the Brazilian learning about accompanied viewing reveals that 45 per cent of housewives have the TV set on while going about their work and that the average time spent on TV is about 4.5 hours while for Internet users it is about 5 hours. Internet users watch TV early morning and late night in Brazil.

Pointing out the inadequacies of the present system, Roda Mehta, Chairperson, Technical Committee, MRUC, said, "The mandate for MRUC is to see what users want. Today, ratings from both TAM and aMAP are not good enough nor do they cover the entire country. This meet is to find newer ways to address these issues."

In fact, according to MRUC, only 38 per cent of India is covered by the existing measurement system, while the rest is not even measured. With a limited number of peoplemeters being installed, there is a need to expand the base of households. Also, cheaper methods of getting accurate ratings need to be considered, felt the panel.

The user body deliberated and debated on various points — the issues of non-representative sample size, non-coverage of two TV households, appropriate data for niche channels and coverage of rural India. The body also discussed whether a cheaper route could be taken to source data, as also about the confusion created by the presence of multiple currencies, the kind of technology used to capture the data and dialogues with mobile companies and TV manufacturers to seek alternative methods of data collection.

Also to be discussed were questions regarding the need for meters in Bihar; whether a monthly report on viewing behaviour in 500 towns and villages is better than waiting indefinitely for data in another 50; whether a quarterly or even a half-yearly subscription audit in 100 centres is viable; or whether a 50-centre study on out-of-home viewing would be fruitful.

At the end of the meet, Lynn de Souza assured that the MRUC would form a technical committee and a business committee to act on the suggestions made by the industry, so as to bring about adequacy and accuracy in the television measurement systems in the country.

What TAM says ...

TAM, while welcoming MRUC's initiative, has pointed out the following in a press release:

That it has already announced its expansion plans (after the NRS 2005 findings reflected this need), and the blueprint for the same is being worked out. It says, "We are increasing the sample size to 7,000 by phase I and (would) complete the figure of 10,300 in phase II."

That TAM is ready to meet any requirement today or in the future.

That the "TAM India panel is the largest in the world in terms of the number of individual respondents in the panel."

That TAM India should be able to fully operationalise the world's first-ever elite panel. "The initiative was a demand from the industry."

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