29 week TVT

Move over TRP, it will be TVT now. After a raging row over the system of giving out the television viewership data, the TV channels, advertisers and data gathering agency TAM on Thursday decided to adopt a new method in place of the TRP.

The broadcasters, advertisers and the rating agency have reached an agreement to make public the television ratings in absolute numbers instead of percentage points.

The new data on Television Viewership in Thousands (TVT) will replace the Television Rating Points (TRP) which was recently criticised by many channels like Doordarshan alleging that their viewership was not reflected in TRP system.

"TVT captures and reflects growth in TV audiences in the country in terms of absolute numbers. TVT will be the sole currency in the public domain," a statement issued by the Indian Broadcasting Federation said.

"In addition, four-week TVT rolling average will be provided every week. The rolling average is statistically more stable data on viewership, especially for smaller audiences in niche channels, regional languages, English language programs and news," the statement said. The new method of representing data would benefit channels which are niche, regional or have smaller audiences. These channels will be able to show the size of their audiences which, though formidable, did not reflect so when brought out in percentage terms in comparison with much bigger channels.

For internal evaluation including planning and buying, TVT will be available to advertisers and advertising agencies on a weekly basis.