TV, digital media measurements need an upgrade
Action in India’s television viewership monitoring space seems to be heating up with reports of TAM Media Research applying for a license to function again as a television ratings agency in the country. Possibly unnerved by the news of impending competition, the sole TV measurement body Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, quickly announced it was expanding its panel to include premium homes. BARC India chairman Shashi Sinha said since TV data has stabilized after Covid, it is now conducting a pilot with premium homes to monitor what they watch. “We expect to capture the connected TV (CTV) viewership of linear channels as well,” he said.
These developments together with projections of India’s advertising revenue growing at 10.2% to touch Rs 1,55,386 crore this year, may be a good time to take stock of the gaps and challenges facing the country’s television and digital media measurement.
To be sure, TV monitoring agency TAM ceased as a ratings agency eight years ago when it was hit by the TRP scam and allegations of compromised panel homes. It was replaced by BARC, a joint industry body of broadcasters, advertising agencies and advertisers. A joint venture between Nielsen and Kantar, TAM continued to operate in India offering services to monitor ad volumes on TV and digital.
While the media industry discusses the viability of having two viewership agencies, a sector expert finds the debate futile. “The real problem is the absence of raw data as the last census was in 2011. The country has shifted since then but we’re still using that as the base. Unless we have findings from the new census, any measurement system is pointless and the extrapolation should be taken with a bagful of salt,” the person said. The Government Census collects information every 10 years through enumerators on every household, number of family members, jobs, incomes, migration status and much else. Census 2021 was postponed and is still awaited.
BARC’S Sinha agreed that adding multipliers to 2011 data for projections on households, urbanization etc. is not the perfect way of measurement and leaves gaps. Course correction is critical as Groupm has forecast TV revenue in 2024 to touch Rs 45,226 crore. Digital media spending will be higher at Rs 88,502 crore, it said.
Shamsuddin Jasani, strategic advisor to ad tech firm Frodoh World and former CEO of Wunderman Thompson (South Asia), said while TV data needs more integrity given the past controversies, digital media requires standardization in terms of metrics.
Digital is tricky as each platform uses its own metrics. For instance, if for cricket Disney+ Hotstar offers concurrent viewers, that is, the total number of people watching it at the same time, Jiocinema gives views. “If I log in five times to watch a match, it will be counted as five views,” Jasani said.
Also, digital platforms lack consensus on what duration constitutes a view – is it 2 seconds, 7 seconds or 30 seconds, he said.
Ambika Sharma founder of digital agency Pulp Strategy said the digital ecosystem is fragmented with no single source for measurement. “We rely on and accept what the platforms claim on consumer data, potential reach, engagement and impact on the audience,” she said adding that she foresees bigger issues with mapping digital once the cookies are fully phased out. “Tracking user journeys will become very difficult and your campaign overlap will be much higher,” she said. Besides, balancing measurement with user privacy is problematic, she added.
“There isn’t a standard framework and we are unlikely to see any in the future because of the kind of duopoly that exists in this space,” she said referring to Meta and Google which make 60% of the digital ad revenue globally and will remain walled gardens.
Jasani said the need of the hour is to update data frequently in view of the rapid changes in media and consumption habits. “For example, connected TV was not even an option 5-6 years ago but today it is the bright spark”, he said.
Others said a unified measurement system would benefit advertisers. “If BCCI has to auction IPL media rights soon again, what one needs is a metric which lets me compare the value of linear TV versus digital streaming ,” J asa ni said. Canada, for instance, has moved to a fused panel for TV and digital.
THE DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM IS FRAGMENTED WITH NO SINGLE SOURCE FOR MEASUREMENT