It’s a question that needed to be asked, though we do know that the pandemic has impacted readership research. Let’s heat it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 13 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. The Indian Society of Advertisers is reported to have has said if a channel doesn’t subscribe to BARC ratings, its members won’t advertise on it. Fair, unfair? And what about print ratings. They’ve not been around for a while. The ISA hasn’t commented on that.
A. Your question is very legit and in the age of data as new oil with a corresponding thrust on AI/ML-based ROI measurements, this might appear odd. But I am sure ISA must have used rational wisdom to defend the decision. There is no denying the fact that I have some subject innocence on the matter, but I guess empirical evidence of print editions’ ability to deliver (due to habit-led and primary pick-up-led immersion in a brand of newspaper), albeit-post facto, are now established. This is unlike TV, where ratings are critical to evaluate a plethora of parity brands , by genre and by context. Both quantitative and qualitative parameters are taken into account before including a channel in the consideration set. Empirical evidence certainly plays a role here also but a national appeal for building brand provenance is very different from the hyperlocal connect and appeal of newspapers, both in metros and non- metros. The hyper-localisation and contextual placement of ads offer additional dimensions to a newspaper (besides the credibility of the written and researched words). Besides, due to Covid, data collection at a ground level for IRS continues to be a challenge. In case of BARC, the technological sophistication, the ratings are directionally representative of the sample and indicative, and hence are perhaps given more importance.