This is possibly not the last of our questions on the issue, but here’s Dr Bhaskar Das again on news channels and ratings in the October 12 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. India Today chairman Aroon Purie has raised concerns over the TV ratings. NDTV and Zee are already out and there are rumours that others may exit as well. Do you think that News TVwallahs should think of life outside of BARC. Perhaps a new metric?
A. I have dealt with this subject in one of the questions of last week. Ratings for news channels play an important role for media consideration but need not be a necessary condition. There are other qualitative issues like context, toxicity etc that influence the placement of advertisement. NDTV and Zee Media have decided to bite the bullet. We shall know how the impact of this decision of the two news channels defying industry gravity/ culture can set a new agenda for the news genre and experiments with unique and differentiated journalism can take place without an obsession with ratings.
But the jury is still out on the subject. I won’t be surprised if all news channels can join hands together to develop a market/advertiser-friendly metric. At this juncture, it may appear to be a distant possibility.