STAR, BCCL top Hansa Research Group’s media perception study

Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited (BCCL) and STAR India share the best 'corporate image' in the country among media organisations, according to a media perception study by Hansa Research Group (HRG).

Key constituents such as planners, buyers and advertisers from six metros felt that the two were the best in terms of customer service, quality of the sales team, favourability, integrity, personality, salience of the brand and familiarity.

The study, to be officially released in first week of March, also profiles media heavyweights like Sony Entertainment Television, ZEE Telefilms Limited, MTV, NDTV, Aaj Tak, Hindustan Times, Living Media and the Bhaskar Group apart from BCCL and STAR India. A total 21 companies in the print and broadcasting space were evaluated in the study.

The respondents were essentially middle-to-senior level executives from media agencies and marketing/media managers from corporates.

Apart from the overall image, companies were also ranked on the basis of “goodwill scores”, the net positive score after deducting negative figures, says Vineet Sodhani, head of marketing and client servicing, HRG.

The study also brought interesting issues out of the closet. “STAR, for instance, is considered to be modern and leading, but scores relatively less on the parameter of being sensitive to client needs,” says Sodhani.

Sony and ZEE fare better in terms of “transparency of dealings”, while Jagran does well in terms of “financial stability” and being a solid “reach provider”, he adds.

The study boosts the morale of sales/customer service executives at BBC and MTV by rating them as being “helpful”, while Aaj Tak is considered to be “knowledgeable” and NDTV scores well for “attracting and retaining talent”.

On the print side, The Indian Express group does well on “reliability and accurate billing”, taking a beating on “talent retention”, Aveek Sarkar’s ABP scores for being “sensitive to client needs” and Living Media offers bright future prospects, says the study.

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