TAM's woes flow from the 12-minute rule

TAM Media Research, the country's sole TV viewership ratings provider, is under severe attack from its biggest clients-the television broadcasters. While TAM has always been at the receiving end of the wrath of one or two broadcasters, this time round the boycott has been en masse. All the major national broadcasters have sent letters to TAM asking it to cancel their subscriptions.

As of 18 June, STAR India, Zee Entertainment, TV18, Viacom18, Multi Screen Media (Sony Entertainment channels), Times Television Network, NDTV, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Bloomberg TV and India TV have already asked to discontinue the services .

To put things in perspective, TAM provides ratings, or the currency, which broadcasters use to make their plans and set their advertisement rates. Ratings are the lifeblood of the Rs 12,000-crore TV ad industry. With the ad duration being capped to 12 minutes an hour from October, broadcasters are under pressure to increase their ad rates.

However, the recent addition of LC1 towns (less that 100,000 population) in the TAM universe channels doesn't bode well for the broadcasters. They fear the inclusion of smaller towns will pull down their average ratings as many top broadcasters, which have higher ratings in the metros, don't enjoy the same viewership in smaller towns. This affects their overall numbers and, therefore, their ability to dictate ad rates to advertisers. At a time when they are heavily dependent on ad revenue (subscription revenue is still non-existent), this is a big concern.

"Broadcasters are desperate. Otherwise, why would anyone take this step?" says a top executive of a broadcasting firm.

However, despite the blanket boycott, TAM is unlikely to stop coming out with its weekly ratings. It is a question of survival for TAM too. Almost 80 per cent of TAM's income comes from subscription money that broadcasters pay and such a move will cripple its business model.

But is it just the "flawed ratings" that are behind the broadcasters' move? A senior media buyer says that the timing of the broadcasters pull-out is crucial. "According to TRAI (the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) mandate, broadcasters will have to limit their ad time to 12 minute per hour from October 1. Naturally, they would want to compensate the loss by increasing their ad rates. However, if they don't perform, how will they get the rates? With all the hoopla around credibility of TAM data, they will force agencies to increase price. It will be chaotic," he says.

Chintamani Rao, member of TAM Transparency Panel and an independent media advisor, says, ending subscription to TAM data won't solve any problem. "Broadcasters should put forth their specific grievances. If you stop buying the data but your customers evaluate your offering, what problem have you solved?" says he.

Rao, who has worked on both sides of the media business (as a buyer and a seller), says, "I don't know how any broadcaster expects to sell advertising without audience measurement."

TAM has found some support in the advertising bodies-the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). They have both held that the broadcasters' step of discontinuing ratings was detrimental for the sector.

ISA has said the measurement system was integral to the health of the sector and that it would continue using TAM till another credible measurement system was made available. AAAI, too, has maintained that it will hold broadcasters responsible for deliveries in line with signed agreements based on the TV ratings system.

However, there is no sign of let up from either side. Rao says, "If advertisers and agencies use a measurement data but broadcasters expect to sell without it, there will be chaos."

This is not the first time that broadcasters have questioned the credibility of TV ratings provided by TAM. In an interview to Business Standard earlier, Man Jit Singh, president the Indian Broadcasting Federation and chief executive of broadcasting firm MSM, had said that the current TV rating measurement system by TAM had many loopholes.

IBF is already looking at an alternative to TAM in BARC, or the Broadcast Research Council of India, a joint industry body with shareholding divided between IBF (60 per cent), AAAI (20 per cent) and ISA (20 per cent). BARC is in the process of forming an alternative TV ratings system with a sample size of 20,000 to 25,000 peoplemeters, as compared to close to 10,000 peoplemeters that TAM has.

In the last few years, several steps have been taken to develop an accreditation mechanism for the rating agency. Last month, TRAI issued a consultation paper in this regard. The paper seeks to get the views of stakeholders on sample size, secrecy of sample homes, cross-holding between rating agencies and their users, complaint redressal, sale and reporting requirement, among other things. Incorrect ratings, besides affecting broadcasters and advertisers also do a disservice to people as it results in production of content which may not be popular.

LV Krishnan, chief executive, TAM , has maintained that TAM has always been responsive. "We have constantly been expanding our TV audience panel home. Today, our TV audience measurement panel covers over 225 towns and cities covering all the key states of India," he says, adding that "we would like somebody to put down the issues and we will come up with the solutions".

Source – Business Standard

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