Interesting Article: A reprieve from ratings

Meanwhile, the TV industry (broadcasters and advertisers), have taken another landmark decision. They have agreed to withhold television ratings (commonly called TRPs) for nine weeks, to avoid any misinterpretation of data resulting from the flux surrounding this digitisation. This is a radical development — in the last 20 years, Indian TV has never had a ratings-free moment. The TRP metric is not just an industry obsession — even the consumer thinks she knows all about it. This situation would have been unimaginable in the TV business until last week, but here it is.

How do TRPs work? How does it change anyone's life to know that a programme scored a TRP of 2.2, meaning that 2.2 per cent of the measured TV viewing population has watched it? It matters for advertisers. Roughly Rs 16,000 crore is spent every year on TV advertising in India. Media agencies buy advertising with the objective of optimising their CPRP (cost per rating point). So, if I paid Rs 1 lakh for a 10-second spot on a 1 TRP programme, I should not be paying anything more than Rs 50,000 on a 0.5 TRP programme. If television advertising didn't exist, TRPs would have limited value. But in India, where more than 60 per cent of broadcasting revenue comes from advertising, ratings become a virtual lifeline. So why suspend them at all?

There are only two reasons why the industry would decide on such a move. Either they believe that the ratings system (managed by an independent research company) is not geared to handle the changing reality of digitisation. Or they believe that their own communities (broadcasters and advertisers) don't have the maturity to read ratings with caution, in this state of flux.

Either way, the ratings blackout opens up possibilities for both broadcasters and advertisers. Several niche channels operate on a low viewership base, and hence, low TRPs. This is understandable, because they were set up to be "niche". However, because of the tendency to evaluate everything by ratings, these channels have to curb their creativity. For instance, a food channel is supposed to create an engaging experience around food, in different ways. However, only one or two programmes may score high TRPs. These are likely to be "safer" shows, say an Indian recipe show, or one hosted by a top chef. Other programmes may address a niche within the niche and score low TRPs even if they have better content. And so the channel, its hands tied by the TRP-CPRP rope, will tend to focus on the popular programmes, forcing the niche shows to languish in less desirable slots and die a natural death. This also applies to entertainment channels where the top programmes get all the promotional and scheduling focus and the rest are also-rans, though what they need is a strong push so that new viewers can discover them.

For television programmers, this is an incredible chance to showcase what they believe in. Secretly, many of them are hoping that the ratings blackout is extended, knowing they will never have the luxury of these nine weeks again. For advertisers, it's a different freedom. There has been so much focus on optimising CPRP, that the focus on innovation has reduced, barring a few enterprising brands that still believe that TRPs don't tell the entire story. You may get your ad watched by a large audience segment in a high-TRP programme. But that doesn't mean that it was the best way to convey the brand message. Thoughtful product integration in a much lower-rated reality show, say, may have been more effective, if all attention was not focused on CPRP.

While our focus on ratings has helped create scientific metrics, it has also taken away some of the spunk from the business, curbing creativity and innovation, the cornerstones of any entertainment industry. This temporary break is the time to unleash the best ideas.

The writer is CEO of Ormax Media, a research and consulting firm specialising in the entertainment business

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