TAM System Outdated! TRP Ka Sach!!!

TAM system outdated, unrepresentative

Small Sample Size Makes It Susceptible To Corruption And Manipulation

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: NDTV's lawsuit has brought under increasing scrutiny the methods and practices used by Television Audience Measurement (TAM) in India to measure viewership. Industry sources say that the system is outdated and unrepresentative but has continued as an industry norm unfettered.
This despite the fact that individual TV channels, broadcast bodies, government and parliamentary panels have slammed the agency for its small sample size and limited geographical spread. It is well known that about 8160 boxes are used to extrapolate viewership of 625 24-hour channels for a population of over a billion.
The TAM system consists of boxes which are installed in a few homes, which then give data on channels watched, their periodicity, etc —all of which are key inputs for advertisers, which is the lifeblood of TV news channels, especially since they get only one fifth of the subscription revenue they are entitled to from cable operators.
Industry sources cite numerous instances to point out the gross misrepresentation of the TAM system. The latest instance is this year's Week 25 TAM viewership data of Mumbai showing "zero viewership" among young males who come from an affluent background.
In technical jargon, this segment would be called "male 25 years plus age group (analog) for target group AB" for June 21, the day the Maharashtra Mantralaya caught fire. " It is impossible that this could happen, given the huge audience interest in the story which was followed through the day as lead. Yet the TAM data showed that no one from the city in the Males 25+ AB audience among the analogue homes had tuned into any of the English news channels. This is clearly an indicator of the kind of homes where TAM meters are installed and gross misrepresentation of English news channel viewers in the TAM panel," a broadcaster said. Industry heads also say that there is no third party audit in the measurement system.
Sources explained that in any news channel, even after thousands of interviews in a small city for an exit poll, the final results are different and that too for a considered decision where the future of a nation is being decided. "For a decision of which channel to watch we can well imagine how just 50-60 boxes per target group per city are telling you what your consumers are watching," a media head said. The NDTV plaint too makes the point that the small sample size meant that "bribing and manipulating only a select number of homes" could cause significant change in data.
The industry has pointed out that quality of such data is suspect since it was well known that upmarket homes would be the toughest ones to allow an intrusive device like a people meter in their homes, especially since the data is collected manually.
The NDTV lawsuit elaborated on evidence given by a "consultant" hired by TAM who had turned whistleblower after witnessing the "widespread corruption" in the system. The plaint document quotes him saying that he had bribed TAM personnel and people meter homes to manipulate TV ratings and was even successful in bribing TAM personnel to select him as a sample people meter home.
Industry experts say another anomaly is that TV ratings, which were essentially meant as an advertisers tool to plan their media spends, continues to be funded substantially by broadcasters.
India as a market has no transparency of subscription money and most channels depend solely on advertising income. This has forced the ratings system to become a proxy for programming decisions.

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Broadcasters against TAM, want its monopoly broken

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: The media industry has come out against Television Audience Measurement (TAM) for its inadequacy in sample size and representation, pointing out that the measurement system was being used more for lack of a better alternative rather than the credibility of data.
Media agency Havas media CEO Anita Nayyar cautioned that TAM data was only to provide trends and to suggest that it be used to extrapolate for a country as large and diverse as India was not correct. "Such a small number of people meters cannot be representative. It should be nuanced for in such a vast, diverse country but research is expensive," she said.
India TV's Rajat Sharmasaid: "The ills of TAM are primarily due to its monopoly status. We need to expedite plans to create a vibrant and transparent alternative to TAM. Broadcasters, advertisers and media planners owe it to the industry."
Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla said that the "consistency of aberrations in TAM's data was alarming." He added that there was no defined way of recognizing English channel viewership or viewership in affluent homes. Lulla said, "There is an urgent need for alignment of the measurement system."
Broadcast industry sources said that the system of a single rating was flawed in itself. "Imagine buying something worth lakhs…won't you cross-check the price with the competition? Why should media buying agencies be different? But monopolistic practices have forced the second agency (aMap) to fold up," said a broadcaster who did not wish to be named.
Another broadcaster underlined the need for an independent audit regarding the people meters. The broadcaster said the government should intervene since it affects not only media buying and advertising but also the equity market.
The government on its part has taken serious note of the allegations that have been made against TAM by NDTV and other broadcasters in the past few days and are watching developments closely. Sources said that the ministry had set up the Amit Mitra committee in 2010 with a view to make the television measurement system more transparent, realistic and broadbased. However there has been little headway in creating an industry-led body.
The Prasar Bharati board on Monday's lent its support to its CEO Jawhar Sircar asking him to explore legal options against TAM. Prasar Bharati, which has 37 Doordarshan channels and four allied ones, feels it has been deprived of authentic data that would reflect its status as the only channel with nearly 92% coverage of the country.

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Low TRPs means no airtime for TV shows

Many TV shows that have not garnered high TRPs in the first 3-6 months have been pulled off air

Saloni Bhatia

While on the one hand, we have shows like Balika Vadhu, Yeh Rishtaa Kya Kehlaata Hai and Uttaran which are still going strong after more than 800 episodes, there are some shows which don't even manage to reach the 100-episode mark. Bhai, Bhaiya Aur Brother which started with much hype only two months back is going off air on August 10. The show will be replaced by Golmaal Hai Bhai Sab Golmaal Hai.
This trend has been visible on Indian television in the last one year. Earlier, the shows were given a longer run if they were not garnering high TRPs or were shifted to an evening or afternoon slot, but now they are shown the exit door if they fail to gain enough viewers' attention. Industry insiders say that small-budget shows are usually given a time of six months to establish themselves, but big-budget ones are only given a window of three months to gain viewer interest. If they are unable to do so,they are pulled off air.But, doesn't this indicate that the makers have to incur huge losses? "We are informed well in advance when the show has to be taken off air. The channel had informed us two weeks back that Bhai, Bhaiya Aur Brother will be going off air," said Deven Bhojani, co-producer of the show.
We bring you a list of some shows which came, but couldn't conquer.
Bhai, Bhaiya Aur Brother (51 episodes)
June 4-August 10, 2012: This story of three brothers who unite after a gap of 15 years, featured known actors like Sooraj Thapar and Vrajesh Hirjee. It was also touted to be the comeback of filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah to telly after a long gap. But, the show failed to live up to its billing and could only garner a TRP of 0.8. Sooraj, one of the lead actors of the show says, "Maybe the presentation style was not good. The situations are almost similar in every comedy show; it's the characterisation which makes a difference. Somewhere, the characters didn't work and the humour was not very good. Also, the competition from Balika Vadhu and Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon in the 8pm time slot affected the show."
Shubh Vivah (89 episodes)
February 27-June 29, 2012: Shubh Vivah was the remake of a popular Tamil show Metti Oli, but could hardly last the distance. Poor TRPs, a hackneyed plot and stiff competition from Sasural Simar Ka sounded the death knell for this show.
Sajda Tere Pyaar Mein (91
episodes)
February 14-June 16, 2012: While experts say that Indian telly is coming of age and accepting progressive themes, a number of critics say that the Indian audiences still want these storylines to be confined within a family setup. Thus, this love story of an ordinary girl and a RAW agent didn't go down too well with the viewers. Despite a novel concept, the show was clean bowled even before it could cross a century.
Aasman Se Aage (63
episodes)
April 23-July 13, 2012: Promising the viewers to give a sneak peek into the dirty world of reality television, the show featured Apoorva Agnihotri in a negative role for the first time on small screen. But the show couldn't last the mile and was taken off air within four months of its launch. Kushal Punjabi, one of the actors on the show had told us some time back, "The show should have been given a longer run. It was a novel concept and would have become popular slowly."
Ammaji Ki Galli (70 episodes)
June 20 to August 22, 2011: After the success of comedy series Shararat, this was considered to be Farida Jalal's comeback to the genre.However,critics raised questions on her being the protagonist in a comedy, a genre that is considered to be male-centric. Less TRPs ensured that the show was pulled off air within two months.