The CEO of the audience measurement body said they are in regular touch with the MIB about the news rating roll-out, and that the ministry is fully aligned with their plans
Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India CEO Nakul Chopra has said that the audience measurement body is in regular touch with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) about the news rating roll-out. He also said that the MIB is fully aligned with the audience viewership body's plans.
"We are in regular touch with MIB. They are fully apprised of our plans, and they are aligned with it," Chopra told news channels during a webinar on Thursday. Reliable sources from the media industry, who attended the webinar, have told exchange4media.
On the issue of providing opt-in and opt-out options for availing the preceding three months' data, Chopra said that the decision to provide an option has been taken following representations from subscribers.
"We have been asked about the need to provide an option for opt-in and opt-out. A substantial number of subscribers represented to us that there has been a channel level black out for so long for reasons that we are not going to discuss here. Frankly, these are your reasons and not ours. You prefer that your data would not be released, so the board has decided that there will be an opt-in, opt-out option," he added.
The BARC India CEO also said that the council is not releasing the news viewership data for the entire blackout period since it is constrained by the MIB directive to issue data only for the preceding three months before the resumption of news ratings from 17th March.
"We have the data for the entire period and, in principle, the BARC Board had no issue in releasing data for the entire period for those channels who want it and not for those who don't want it. We are constrained by the MIB directive which requires us to release data for only three months," Chopra said.
Chopra also said BARC India is asking subscribers to pay for data that is not being released since it is a not-for-profit organisation that is dependent on revenue from subscribers. "BARC has collected the data, and we have been reporting the data at a genre level. You are aware that we are a joint industry body which is a not-for-profit company, therefore, we require subscribers to pay for that," he noted.
In his opening remarks, Chopra said that the webinar has been held to help the stakeholders understand the Augmented Data Reporting Standards (ADRS) for the News and Special Interest genres. "It is important that the entire ecosystem is properly briefed and there is a proper understanding of what these standards are so that when these ratings are released, they can be put to use in a meaningful way," he said.