BARC releases first set of TV ratings

Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC, says, "I am thrilled to share the first set of data and highlights. Solving this puzzle has been an exciting experience and team BARC India is proud to be creating history as the world's largest, future-ready television audience measurement service. Thanks to IBF, AAAI, ISA and all our partners for coming together and making this happen."

Punit Goenka, chairman, BARC India and MD and CEO, ZEEL, adds, "BARC India is committed to build a world class television audience measurement system. With an aim to bring in utmost transparency within the ecosystem, BARC India will certainly be the best solution to report what the nation is actually watching."

We take a quick look at the data.

But first, a few basics.

Facts about BARC India

• Phase I: 1L+ C&S HHs - Empanelled - 12,000, Reporting - 10,760 households (1L+ C&S)

• Phase II: Including Less than 1 Lac - Urban + Rural - Empanelled - 22,000 HH, Reporting - 20,000 HH

• 6 control variables - Population Class, NCCS, Gender, Education of Individuals, Mother Tongue, Household Size

Reporting Parameters are as follows:

- Minute by Minute Data

- Weekly Reporting

- Week Definition

- Saturday to Friday

- Release Day

- Wednesday

- Reporting at Household Level (in Phase I)

• The minimum sample below which a market will not be reported is 200. This is irrespective of individuals or households.

Highlights - Week 16: April 18 to April 24

• Star Plus is the leading Hindi GEC channel of the country (HSM that is, Hindi speaking markets)

• Zee emerges strong among regional channels like Telugu and Marathi

• Aaj Tak is the leader in the Hindi news space (HSM)

• Times Now leads in the English news category (All India)

• IPL 8 put Sony Max in a strong position

• Sun TV is a dominant leader in the Tamil Nadu market

• ETV Kannada is the market leader in the Kannada market

• Nick is the market leader in the kids category (All India)

• Zee TV HD has the highest 'time spent' in the current week, followed by Sony Six HD and Colors HD, across HSM.

• Discovery is the leader in the infotainment category (All India)

Genre-wise Data - Week 16: April 18 to April 24

• Star Plus leads the Hindi GEC genre just like it did in TAM's universe. Colors, Life OK and Zee TV follow (in that order).

• Zee emerges strong among regional channels (like Telugu and Marathi). Zee Telugu is the most watched channel in the Telugu GEC genre, followed by Maa TV and ETV Telugu. In the Tamil market, Zee Tamizh is the third most watched channel after Sun TV and Star Vijay.

• In the Bangla GEC market, Star Jalsha topped, with Zee Bangla and ETV Bangla occupying the second and third spot, respectively. Zee Marathi leads the Marathi GEC genre; Star Pravah and Colors Marathi follow.

• ETV Kannada is the market leader in the Kannada market

• Zee Cinema, Star Gold and Movies OK are the top three Hindi movie channels

• In the sports genre, Sony Max topped (All India; 1 lac+HHs); this has a lot to do with IPL 8. Sony Six and Ten Sports follow.

• As for Hindi news, Aaj Tak is the leader in the Hindi speaking markets. ABP News and Zee News follow.

• Times Now leads the English news category (All India) as CNN-IBN and NDTV 24X7 follow

• In the kids genre, Viacom18's Nick is the market leader (All India). Pogo and Cartoon Network settled at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

• Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and Animal Planet are the top three channels in the infotainment genre.

• Zee TV HD recorded the highest 'time spent' in the current week, followed by Sony Six HD and Colors HD, across HSM.

Initially, BARC India will release data for 1 lac+ C&S markets; the sample size is 10,760 households. For this, BARC India will monitor 12,000 sample households, using the stratified random sampling technique, a statistically proven one. This will go upto 20,000 reporting homes, with an addition of the 'less than 1 lac' urban markets and rural areas. Doing so will represent "What India Watches", in line with a notification issued by the Government of India (January 2014).

Over 300 channels have been watermarked for measurement with BARC's technology. The user software being used is BARC India Media Workstation (BMW). BARC has in place over 3,000 trained customer engagement and servicing professionals.

Recall that BARC has also launched SpotTrek, a third party certification service, to track commercial spots and movie trailers telecast a day after they have been launched on TV. This is done by monitoring of over 360 channels. Launched around a month back, the service has already fetched many subscriptions.

NCCS, which captures the 'affluence parameters' of a household, is now the new yardstick to classify consumers based on their SEC.

Security and vigilance is a priority for BARC India. For this, the body has 28 partners across key processes within the larger framework of meter management, panel management, DQA, IT security, playout monitoring, etc.