By Our Staff
TV Ad volumes have grown 23% in Weeks 1-4 of 2021 vis-à-vis the corresponding pre-Covid period of 2020. The growth is 19% over 2019. This is as per data released by BARC.
The increment is seen across genres and the kids genre has seen the highest growth rate followed by music and movies.
Ad Volumes in Mn Seconds
By Pradyuman Maheshwari
Over the last few weeks, a lot of people from within the industry and outside of it have been calling me to enquire on what’s being called the ‘TRP Scam’ or the ‘Ratings Scam’. There are a few who are calling it ‘ArnabGate’. According to me, it’s basically an ‘Ego Gate’. Or an ‘I Am Bigger Than You’ War.
We do know that Partho Dasgupta’s bail has been rejected. His family and friends suggest that he has been thrashed in jail and is still fighting to survive. I have learnt his condition has improved slightly. He is still on oxygen support.
As I wrote earlier, we want him to come out of this soonest. I read a report based on his wife’s complaint to the human rights commission. I am not sure how much it will help things. The bank accounts accounts of both Dasgupta and his have reportedly been frozen.
Some friends and family are trying to organise monies for the family to sail through. Lawyers don’t come cheap. And he needs to fight his battle alone. From the hospital bed.
So, for the benefit of those wish to be in the know, here are my 10 takeaways on the story so far:
Endgame for Partho in Media:
It is said that Dasgupta isn’t the first person in the country to face something like this. My view is that he is perhaps the first: for, he’s caught in the crossfire like few others have in the past – never ever in the Indian media.
Can he come out of it? My belief is he will. Can he be getting back to work in the Indian media again? I doubt he would want to do that. I don’t think he should. He’s an engineer and an IIM Cal graduate, am sure there are several avenues ahead for him.
But, from the conversations I’ve read in the transcripts and the unverified forensic report, he’s going to have to do a lot of explaining.
All Eyes on Arnab:
The government has retreated on the Farm Laws. China and India’s foreign offices are in touch. North Korea and the South are talking. Trump is out of office. So, will Arnab do a climbdown and change his stand? The moment he does, life for Dasgupta will ease. The question is: will he? From what I know of the man, and more importantly what he says on TV, he is not going to buckle under and apologise. Which is sad. He should. Get a via media. Partho Dasgupta and his family could be smiling again. His wife, his daughter will be happy to have him back.
Arnab, when you go to bed tonight, spare a thought for a father’s not-so-little-any-longer girl. You are a dad yourself. Imagine what his daughter is going through. Ego chhodo, ek family ki life ban jayegi.
I know this sounded very filmy, but it’s a fact.
Uddhav & the Maha government:
The Maharashtra Chief Minister, his son and the rest of the government have shown us who calls the shots in the state.
Someone must step in. Draw up reasonable terms of endearment between Arnab, the industry and the MVA government. Perhaps request Sharad Pawar to broker a deal (How we miss folks like Amar Singh and Pramod Mahajan now!). Perhaps ask an industry biggie who Arnab would listen to. Uday Shankar, Prannoy Roy or even Dr Annurag Batra.
Ab bas, Times of India:
There is good reason for the group to be aggrieved. Republic – minus all the media muscle of the Media Empire – got to be #1 in Week 1 of its ops. And caused much damage TOI’s profits and clout in TV newsdom. Right from the time Republic launched and erred in its eyes (and that of a few/many others in the news space), The Times of India group – as owners of Times Now – has played more than a ringside spectator.
Arnab Goswami of course tried to rub things in. The amount of coverage on the current controversy and its placement would make one feel that it’s the most important news developement in the country after the farmers’ stir and that lady of part-Tamil origin assuming the secondmost important job in the US.
Someone needs to get TOI to take it easy. Also, TOI’s role could also be a weapon for naysayers on media crossownership.
I’m sure the Times folks know it: if Republic has to fail, it will be its journalism that will pull it down. Or a change in the government in New Delhi. Orchestrating public perception against Goswami is pointless.
Question Marks on Ratings:
I have seen parts of the Forensic Report and WhatsApp transcrips. The conversation seems to be authentic and hasn’t been disputed. The transcripts are a lot of loose chatter, but the report points to various excesses in its executive summary.
Clearly the eye of the needle points to others as well – in the Telugu space as well as amongst other channels. For instance, what about a certain channel being promised and prepped for #2? Why?
I think there ought to be a thorough enquiry on what has happened. Ideally it should’ve been done by the industry, but since it’s a divided house, the Courts will have to be called in. A retired judge of the Courts perhaps.
Industry Needs to Rethink Strategy:
Ratings are primarily generated for advertisers to advertise, media agencies to advise advertisers and broadcasters to sell advertising space and craft their content.
What we have now is a complete breakdown of the system, as I see it.
BARC and the industry bodies that co-own it must re-look at a refresh. If 44,000 is too small a number of panel homes, work out the ideal number and then don’t diss it. Be willing to pay for it. If the government and lawmakers (MPs) finds the sample size too low, they must do whatever needs to be done to make the ratings more affordable. Perhaps trim the tax on the meter boxes.
BARC ownership needs to be revisited:
The broadcasters’ ownership of 60 per cent of BARC is a problem. It needs to be equal, but then advertisers and agencies won’t pay any more for the set-up.
Perhaps the financial structure needs to change. How about a certain percentage of all advertising generated by a channel going to the measurement agency. So: GST + MS (Measurement Service). If a channel wants measurement, it must allow for this to happen.
I am aware that this was being considered eight-odd years back when BARC was in the works, but there needs to be a revisit of the best way forward.
Checks & Balances Please
The agency entrusted with the forensic audit has advised a regular forensic check-up and audit of BARC’s workings.
I am told a lot of it is being/has been implemented. BARC needs to work on earning back the faith of the industry and the masses asap.
Monthly ratings for News & Niche Channels:
Even the gods will tell you this, but some key players want it as a weekly.
It’s time BARC and the industry doesn’t budge on doing what’s good for measurement and the greater good of the industry.
Let’s All Be Good People:
WhatsApp messages and emails can never be top secret. Phone calls can be recorded. As also face-to-face meetings.
So, let’s just be good, sincere, honest people.
By Pradyuman Maheshwari
On the morning of Saturday, January 16, I had mixed emotions. My eyes were hurting having gone through 250-odd pages of the Whatsapp transcripts that were part of the police chargesheet on what is loosely being called the TRP scam.
Someone had told me that there a few references to me by name, so couldn’t not check. And then when a friend posted a NewsLaundry story on a group, I responded: “But you need to read the entire conversation to get the context. There’s some stuff that’s not right, but I wasn’t really surprised with the conversation. Partho and Arnab were very good friends much before he started Republic.”
Another friend said: “After going through the entire media report, I feel, he was strategising with the relevant ministry or important external stakeholders like BARC to get ahead with his competition. These kind of lobbying strategies with key opinion leaders are done by almost by all companies to increase their market share. Not sure what’s illegal in this? May be someone can throw some light from legal angle.”
A leading journalist and news television anchor-producer working with a news channel, who is also on the group, was upset. She said: “I am amazed at your willingness to accept such blatant unethical and illegal behaviour.”
To my response to the second friend’s response (“Yeah, except that Partho Dasgupta was CEO of BARC which is the measurement body. So thanks to his proximity with Partho, Arnab had amazing advice in the early days of Republic.”), the journalist-producer said: “It’s not just advice , come on, time to call a spade a spade… We finally have proof and we don’t want to accept it. The question is now that the can of worms is open can the industry go back to saying yeah it’s ok everyone does it.”
Another industry biggie, summing up the argument on the issue added: “Unfortunate reality is ethics are guillotined by expediency…….and the intellegensia prevaricates… if we cant stand up for something, we will fall for everything. Amen”
Indeed.
Upset that my name also featured in the alleged conversation – nothing majorly negative about it, but I wasn’t too pleased with the references to me. Or to MxM. There were clear attempts to humour me, and use the website for the benefit of Republic.
But at around noon, I read this post by Dasgupta’s daughter, a student of law, perhaps not even in her 20s. The age is irrelevant, it was a pleas by a daughter in distress. Making a fervent plea to the powers that be.
I recommended speaking to a few media gods. I also spoke with someone at India Today and with a former employer who has deep connects with the ruling dispensation in Maharashtra.
Thankfully, the newspapers report that Dasgupta is stable. I sincerely hope he is fighting fit, again. For himself, his family, and for the sake of the industry.
Should your heart bleed for Partho? Yes, it should. We want him to get better, go through the legal process and tell us exactly what happened. He owes it to us and to the rest of the industry. And for the future of television audience measurement.
And if he is indeed the kingpin of the ongoing TRP scam, he should be punished. If he is being implicated falsely, the person or persons deserve to be punished. If it’s somewhere in between, then too, the law must allow to take its logical and speedy course.
What’s my view: I don’t think Partho was the mastermind of the ‘TRP scam’. But, yes, the conversation – if true – does indicate that he’s indulged in a lot of loose conversation. It also gives insights into the chatter that existed amongst the top execs in the economy.
What people need to remember is that the output of BARC has huge impact on the health of the industry and its people. Loss of ratings has led to a loss of business, jobs and rise of blood pressure and sugar levels for thousands of people in the past.
We can’t afford to have anyone game the system. Whosoever It May Be.
[an earlier version of this had Heard in the headline instead of Heart 🙁 ]
By A Correspondent
Advertising volumes dipped by 3 per cent in Calendar Year 2020, with the volumes dipping as 18% in the H1 period January-June over the corresponding period the previous year. In H2 – that’s July to December – the growth over the previous H2 was 12%, and over H1 of 2020 the growth was in fact 34%.
Hindustan Unilever was the biggest advertiser in 2020 with a 30% growth in ad volumes over 2019, followed by the RB Group, with their ad volumes growing by 37% in 2020 over 2019.
Said Aaditya Pathak, Head – Client Partnership & Revenue Function, BARC India: “Television continues to be the screen of the household and the most important medium for all the major advertisers to reach their audience pre-pandemic and post lockdown too. Return of originals along with the festive season and live sporting events boosted the ad volumes, taking the overall growth in ad volumes to 34% as compared to H1, 2020 and eventually minimising the reduction in volumes to a marginal -3% for the overall year, as compared to 2019”.
The movies genre saw significant growth in ad volumes in 2020 as compared to 2019. Hindi GEC witnessed the highest growth in ad volumes with 10% as compared to 2019. Other Regional GECs saw a growth of 8% as over 2019. News genre in 2020 too had the highest volume, while ad volumes dropped by 1%
A heightened consciousness of safeguarding our health, understandably gave a boost to the antiseptics and personal care categories. Ad volumes for Dettol Toilet Soaps and Dettol Antiseptic Liquid, went up by 118% and 136% respectively. Horlicks ad volumes also surged by 60% in 2020 as compared to 2019.
During the peak lockdown in April and May, the ad volumes for digital brands was the highest with 16% and 13% respectively as compared to the month of January 2020. The highest ad volumes share for digital brands in 2019 was at 9% in the months of March, September and December.
For PDF of the Advertising-Related Data, please click here: BARC India Ad Volumes Report – An Insight
By Pradyuman Maheshwari
The question we ask Dr Bhaskar Das in today’s Das ka Dum is genuine. Ever since we got the news of the arrest of Partho Dasgupta, former BARC CEO, an industry biggie and President of the Advertising Club, we have been very disillusioned with the way things have unfolded over the last few months, in fact last few years.
For, not only is Dasgupta a friend of the industry and ours, but his arrest and the charges made thereafter have shattered our faith in the A&M&E industry. Shattered our faith in the various systems, processes and provisions… in the checks and balances that exist.
Over the last few days, we’ve spoken with many biggies in the business as also people who do the nuts-and-bolts work in the large agencies and television channels.
There is surprise, shock and dismay. Almost everyone shared the sentiment with us.
There are many questions:
1. BARC is a joint industry body set up by broadcasters (60%), advertisers and advertising agencies (20% each). Did these stakeholders not see any chinks in the system all these years?
2. The concern over Republic’s rise and rise was raised by news broadcasters soon after the channel was launched in May 2017. They even pulled out their watermarks in anger, a move that was poohpoohed by many in the business, MxMIndia included. What were the measures taken by the powers that be? Why wasn’t a detailed enquiry instituted earlier? Why did the BARC Board not do anything then? And if they did, why didn’t they act on stuff? Or if they think what’s emerging is untrue, then why don’t they speak up now?
3. What is the view of the IBF, the ISA and the AAAI on this? After all they are stakeholders/co-owners of BARC. They are joint signatories on the BARC P&L and all legal documents. The broadcasters – the most aggrieved if there’s any hera-pheri in the system – have done precious little. The advertisers – who have the most to lose – appear to have been mute witness, and do not care much about what has happened.
4. Arnab Goswami’s counter-argument – which was readied in superquick time – has some valid points. And his primary argument – that the meteoric rise of Republic Bharat happened when the “new dispensation” at BARC was in office – is not incorrect.
5. The Times of India went to town with the news on Saturday – and its interpretation of the Friday press conference and statement by the Mumbai Joint CP wasn’t incorrect. But the question is if the logic was corrected after the investigations, how were Republic TV and Republic Bharat still the #1 in English and Hindi until the ratings were blocked for individual channels post October 8?
The media ecosystem needs answers. The Nation Indeed Wants to Know.
And if they don’t get them, it will lead to the collective loss and fall of the entire industry. Broadcasters first, advertisers second and media agencies third.
Willy-nilly, each of the constituents is partly responsible for the way things are today.
But, first, the collective wisdom of all these folks must prevail upon Arnab Goswami to take it easy. Without compromising on its editorial freedom, stop getting so belligerent with the Maharashtra government and Mumbai police and stop spewing invectives in the way he has been.
The casualty right now is not just the industry, also the families of the individuals impacted and arrested.
By the time you read this, Partho Dasgupta would’ve seen his stay in jail extended or could be out on bail. We’re hoping it’s the latter, so that he can come out and clarify his stand. And give us his side of the story.
Knowing Partho, we know he will speak. Name names.
We had a busy Christmas Eve and Christmas. Why do we get this feeling that our New Year’s Eve is also going to be as busy?! Sob.
By A Correspondent
Republic Media Network Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami may be in the comfortable climes of Noida or wherever he is currently, but his colleagues and friends are facing the heat. Collateral damage is perhaps how it could be best described.
The TRP scam, as it’s called, surfaced in October 2020 when the Mumbai police commissioner virtually announced an attack on Goswami and pulled his channel’s name and reputation.
Since then 14 people have been arrested, and on Christmas Eve an arrest warrant was produced for former BARC India CEO and management consultant Partho Dasgupta. Dasgupta, who is said to have been in Goa on a holiday to celebrate the Christmas-New Year break, was reportedly held on the outskirts of Pune. Last week, former BARC COO Romil Ramgarhia was also arrested but was released on Thursday.
Details of what were the reasons cited for the arrest are still awaited, but what we do know is that he will be produced before a Mumbai court on Friday (Dec 25).
Dasgupta, an MBA from IIM Calcutta and an engineer from Jadavpur University, has worked with several leading organisations including The Times of India group, Crisil, Future Group and BARC India where he was the measurement body’s first CEO. He spent six-and-a-half years at BARC India and exited BARC India in November 2019. He is currently President of the Advertising Club. Veteran mediaperson Sunil Lulla is currently at the helm at BARC India.
By A Correspondent
The TRP Scam controversy has taken a new turn with the arrest of former BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia. Ramgarhia had quit BARC as recently as July 2020 and was with the joint industry body from 2014, a year before the services went live.
On Sunday, the Mumbai police had arrested Republic TV Group CEO Vikas Khanchandani. He was released on bail on Wednesday.
BARC is a joint industry body owned by the broadcasters, advertisers and advertising agencies.
By A Correspondent
Keeping in line with global television measurement standards, BARC India, will transition from using the term ‘Impressions’ to ‘Average Minute Audience’, abbreviated as ‘AMA’, in cognisance with the Technical Committee.
Average Minute Audience (AMA) is defined as the number of individuals of a target audience who viewed an “Event”, averaged across minutes. The methodology for the calculation of AMA will continue to remain the same as that of Impressions.
Data releases via the BARC India website for Week 47 onwards will reflect AMA. The change in terminology started reflecting on YUMI Analytics for BARC India subscribers December 1, 2020 onwards.
Speaking on the development, Dr Derrick Gray, Chief of Measurement Science and Business Analytics at BARC India said: “At BARC India, it is our constant endeavour to ensure that our subscribers are provided with a currency which is true representation of What India Watches. At the same time, we are determined to provide our stakeholders with technology that is at par with global standards as well as clear metrics that match up to global metrics. We recently completed our transition to YUMI Analytics and as a step forward will move on to using AMA across data releases. We will continue to introduce world class practices and standards for our clients while evolving as a robust measurement body.”
By A Correspondent
Audience measurement professional Amit Nevrekar has moved on to set up CouPals, a networking site for couples. The rationale: While there are apps available in the social networking world, there is none that caters to couples and provides them a platform to connect with other like-minded couples.
Said Amit Nevrekar: “Only love isn’t enough! It is equally important to keep the Fun, Adventure, Mystery and Spark alive in the relationship. And there was really a need for such app as the market didn’t have any that focused only on couples, Apart from serving the relevant profiles, it would also recommend the options for dining, weekend getaways, tailor-made travel itinerary and more based on interests selection as well as couple tips & therapy through partnerships.”
CouPals will be launched in phased manner starting with Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi in January 2021. Nevrekar is co-author of the book ‘The Advertising Mess’ in 2012 and worked with industry bodies BARC, TAM and MRUC. He has also worked with Kantar, GroupM and Zapr Media.
By Shailesh Kapoor
The last few weeks have seen eruption of a fresh debate around television ratings. Before the formation of BARC India, ratings-related controversies in the TAM era were frequent, and different broadcasters, at different times, expressed their discontentment privately and publically, with some like NDTV even taking the legal route. When the currency shifted to BARC India in 2015, these debates expectedly became less frequent. The key difference, of course, was that BARC India is an industry body, and not a private organisation like TAM.
For the last five years, despite stray voices and uncalled-for government interference, there has been an overall sense of calm around TV ratings in India. But trust 2020 to challenge the status quo. One concern after the other, the ratings system has come under the scanner again in recent weeks.
It started with BARC India’s decision to use an algorithm to remove the impact of landing pages on viewership. This evidently-controversial decision has not gone down well with several news broadcasters. Even as we await the unfolding of this contentious piece, the Peoplemeter-tampering controversy came to the fore, wherein the Mumbai police charged certain news channels, most noticeably the Republic TV network, of breach.
In a large, pan-India panel that’s being managed manually at the last mile, some Peoplemeter homes being compromised is not such a surprising development. It’s bound to happen once in a while, and a swift and decisive response it all that such incidents needs, on behalf of BARC India.
But such incidents bring the topic up in the media, and we know that questioning voices don’t worry much about facts and details anymore. By suspending channel-level ratings for the news genre, BARC India has, in effect, admitted there’s a need to get things in order. And that can, arguably, be called a constructive decision.
t the events of the last two months have worked as a perfect trigger for the ever-eager I&B ministry and TRAI to step in. Last week, the ministry constituted a four-member committee to review the existing guidelines on television ratings agencies in India.
The government’s interference in the television industry can be exasperating for any sane mind that has the industry’s best interest at heart. Under the excuse of protecting consumer interest, TRAI has interfered repeatedly by setting the price points and guidelines regarding pay TV subscription. Why TV industry even comes under TRAI is a larger question in the first place. But even if one ignores that by seeing TRAI and the I&B ministry or any other such body as a generic entity called the Government of India, the interference is a blatant violation of the principles on which a free market operates. Why are cinema and live event ticket prices not regulated? I hope I’m not giving them more ideas to widen their interference net, but the Government could have done well to stay away from areas it has no business of being a part of. But that ain’t happening anytime soon. In fact, the latest development, that online news portals and the OTT category will come under the I&B ministry, is a new cause of concern.
The ratings committee has two months to put up its recommendations. Irrespective of how good a job they do of it, the direction in which this discourse is going is deeply problematic. It’s been a tough year for all industries, and television broadcasting is no exception. Hope some common sense prevails, and trigger-happy authorities stay away from shooting at will. Else, 2021 could spell some more trouble for the business. Trouble that, unlike the pandemic, is eminently avoidable.
By Shripad Kulkarni
Before I get to the theme of this piece, just as a matter of clarification on my views on the crisis: BARC by and large has done justice from all counts. A shot at gaming the system (if indeed there is one) by a media cannot be held against BARC. News and niche genres are indeed not adequately covered by BARC but that’s also a matter of priority, given the budget available.
I believe as an industry we are now in a good ‘TV ratings scam-led’ crisis. Why let a good crisis go waste? Why not set a path to create a TV measurement system of the future ? As they say: Never waste a good crisis! Else, it is headed for Nullity* as I have already expanded in an earlier article. (link).
This is a new look at the crisis as an opportunity. Of how we can move on to a path of the future. With this vision, let’s not go for incremental changes but go for an overhaul. We can’t be in the legacy media mindset any more. We must act with a speed befitting the new media landscape. With a learning mindset of the new digital led media ecosysyem. In my view, there are four things we need to do:
First and foremost, we must address the inadequate representation of the top-end audiences.
Today NCCS A accounts for about 38% of Mega Metros (5 mn plus pop). Topmost Socio economic classes A1 and A2 are each around 10% of audience in Mega Metros as per IRS. This leads to an underestimate and/ or inadequate audience profiling for the news genre, English and niche long tail genres. Thus channels, programmes aimed at the Top 20% of mega metro audience in terms of buying power can’t be ranked on their viewership. Naturally, luxury or premium lifestyle products have a limited or constrained use of this data. This needs to be addressed, at the very least for Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru which will give a good enough idea of All-India viewership trends.
We need a route map to measure Video viewership instead of Cable TV viewership
It’s a no-brainer that a significant number of customers are ‘screenagers’. These are not just teenagers but even broader segments moving to Video on Demand via OTT platforms, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms, with mobile as their primary ‘screen’. Zoomers (Age 8-23 years) are the core segment among screenagers and will soon be entering the wider consumer market. We do not have a clear unified picture of their video habits. The challenge is that this is a fresh new evolving ecosystem. It’s nowhere near the current Cable TV ecosystem. So there will not be clear answers. The media stakeholders obviously are different. The user stakeholders are wider than the classical advertising gencies. It will need a big effort to get all stakeholders together, else it will never take off. But without this, we will in any case fail in the long run.
We need an Experimentation Mindset for Hi Tech Audience Measurement
There have been many initiatives undertaken by BARC in the space of hi-tech solutions for measurement. We possiby need to have an experimentation mindset and explore the area with small scale experiments instead of going in for the elusive all encompassing solution set. After a transparent review by an Industry panel, we should chalk out a series of experiments we will do. These can range from compilation of all data in the space of Video viewership from various primary and secondary sources by a special committee to OTT data, short experiments in collaboration with DTH Operators on return path data and mobile led new measurement technologies. Nothing new in the areas to be explored. It’s a change to a learning and experimentation mindset, actioning smaller experiments.
Last but not the least, bring back the Full Transparency and Inclusivity of Yesteryears
The first issue here is BARC ownership and control. Majority holding by IBF will have its own avoidable influence, but we must move on with times. The first point of inclusivity here is to drag advertisers into the ecosystem. Far too long they are putting the onus on agencies and media. It will mean also monetory investments by advertisers, as fees paid to agencies is not adequate to support this and TV Channels are already putting enough money on the table. If we want a holistic video viewing, without advertisers’ active participation, its not going to happen. We have to get this done under any circumstances.
Yes, the yesteryears were in a different league of full transparency and inclusivity. Somewhere, we seem to have lost this all important piece of the media measurement puzzle.
The Research of yesteryears had three principles we can adapt. First, the estimation tree from Census to the estimates relesaed to users was very transparent to all industry segment representatives. The estimation tree today is far more complex and needs a refresh at least every couple of years. Second, there was always a solid cross validation by a special team of users from across Agencies. Today, we have far more data points from distribution reach, DTH operators, OTT ranking data and various Internet and Social Media measurement studies. We need to get a new gen validation process periodically. Thirdly and perhaps more importantly, we need to be far more inclusive towards all media genres. All media, all users, long tail media vehicles also must get a hearing AND a solution of say purposive sampling, booster sample, special panel or a hi tech solution or whatever.
In sum, there are three things all of us in the marcom industry must focus on. Firstly, we must try and fix all shortcomings of the current measurement system. Second, we must start experimentation in tune with the unfolding media future with a definitive vision. Lastly, and more importantly, we need to get advertisrs into the ecosystem and get back to the ‘old fashioned’ Industry model of full transparency of the print hay days..
The current TV ratings crises, thus, presents all of us in marcom with an opportunity to choose our future in Video Measurement. Something we need to do fast. With the simple key principles of Agility in the New-Media ecosystem.
Speed. Learn as you go.
Or be left behind.
We can make a choice.
The India Today group has said it feels vindicated with the Bombay High Court order on the BARC disciplinary committee order.
It has released a statement that says:
“Accepting the plea of the India Today Group, the Bombay High Court has set aside the order of the Disciplinary Committee of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) against India Today TV. The Bombay High Court has asked for the Rs 5 lakh deposited with the court registrar to be returned to the India Today Group in full.
Over 45 years, we have painstakingly built on the principle of credible journalism. Story by story. Edition by edition. Platform by platform. We have created a deep legacy of credibility, excellence, trust, and bipartisanship. We are widely recognised as the Gold Standard of Journalism in the country. In a landscape marked by shrill polarities, we have only one political alignment: the Indian Constitution. And we follow it without fear or favour.”