Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India)

Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India)

Subject – Governance

Context – BARC told to release news TRP ratings immediately

Concept –

• BARC was established as an autonomous ‘not for profit’ body duly registered under the Companies Act, 2013.
• Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India is a Joint Industry Company founded by stakeholder bodies that represent Broadcasters, Advertisers, and Advertising and Media Agencies.
• It is built upon a robust and future-ready technology backbone, BARC India owns and manages a transparent, accurate, and inclusive TV audience measurement system.
• Apart from the currency products to the TV industry, BARC India also provides a suite of Insight products designed for Broadcasters, Advertisers and Agencies. The Big Data and Insights generated by BARC India powers efficient media spends and content decisions in a highly dynamic and growing television sector.
• It is a company created in 2010 and jointly owned by advertisers, ad agencies, and broadcasting companies, represented by the Indian Society of Advertisers, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Advertising Agencies Association of India.
  • Whereas Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has 60% stake holding, Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) both have 20%-20% stake holding.
• The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting notified the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India on January 10, 2014, and registered BARC in July 2015 under these guidelines, to carry out television ratings in India.
• It is the world’s largest television measurement science industry body.

Television Rating Point (TRP)

• The Television Rating Point (TRP) is the metric used by the marketing and advertising agencies to evaluate viewership.
• These influence programmes produced for the viewers. Better ratings would promote a programme while poor ratings will discourage a programme.
• TRPs are the main currency for advertisers to decide which channel to advertise on by calculating the cost-per-rating-point (CPRP).