OTT and TV audiences: One measurement system, one currency or multiple currencies?

In its latest recommendations for the National Broadcast Policy (NBP) 2024, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mentioned establishing transparent and credible audience measurement and rating system for television, radio and OTT broadcasting services. The authority suggested a revamp of the existing audience measurement system while introducing multiple agencies and an expansion of the sample size.

In the recommendations dated June 20, 2024, the authority is of the view that a transparent, credible and technologically equipped audience measurement system holds immense importance for all stakeholders. For that, the entry of multiple agencies for television not only introduces competition but also has the potential to enhance the quality of service and reduce costs. Meanwhile, creating a framework for the disclosure of viewership data by OTT broadcasting service providers in a transparent manner for the purpose of audience measurements is also suggested.

Sanjay Trehan, Digital and New Media Advisor, noted that the creation of a framework for disclosure of viewership data by OTTs would bring in much-needed transparency and limit the scope for manipulation. The more granular the framework the better it is.

On TRAI’s recommendations on creating a framework for disclosure of viewership data by OTT broadcasting service providers, Partho Dasgupta, Managing Partner – Thoth advisors and ex-CEO of BARC India, shared that BARC was ready with the technology and had piloted it successfully in the past. However, this requires a buy-in for all OTT players and this should have happened by now.

Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) Chairman Shashi Sinha, in an earlier interview, told Storyboard18 that BARC is planning to roll out a new premium home data measurement plan in the next few months, with 5000-6000 meters in pilot stage. Back in 2019, BARC launched PrimaVU to measure premium homes viewership patterns. Through PrimaVU, BARC India also introduced the industry first concept of ‘viewing minutes’ which was basically the sum of all individuals watching an event based on the time spent by them. PrimaVU was a separate product and not part of the currency panel measurement. However, the new measurement system of premium households is a totally new initiative with a different methodology.

“Cross-platform measurement is long pending and it’s important now that advertising sands are shifting strongly. But what is long pending is the regulations and the judiciary framework to prevent gaming of the system,” noted Dasgupta.

Meanwhile, increasing sample size is good but is not the panacea for the system and who will bear the cost, he suggested. Even the suggestion to have a couple of rating companies, according to him, is economically not feasible. “Better the existing system – with the suggestions like RPD and cross-platform and you will have better days ahead,” he said.

Back in 2020, TRAI recommended that the rating agency should be mandated to increase the sample size from the existing 44,000 to 60,000 by the end of 2020, and 1,00,000 by the end of 2022 using the existing technology.

However, the current scenario reveals that BARC India is operating with a panel size of only 55,000 households. A smaller panel size inherently limits the scope of data available for analysis. Conversely, a larger panel size not only improves the robustness of the system but also adds substantial weight and value to measurement ratings.

Karan Taurani, Senior Vice President – Research Analyst at Elara Capital, highlighted that the bigger sampling size could be a savior for the linear TV industry. “Need to have a more efficient and a better mechanism to measure the consumption trends across genres, which will kind of be a respite for advertising dollars on linear TV,” he said.

While the increase in sample size and disclosing of OTT viewership is welcomed by the stakeholders, they raised concerns about TRAI’s suggestion of multiple rating agencies, which is likely to weaken the current framework.

Advertisers’ concern
RS Sodhi, President of Indian Dairy Association (IDA) and former Amul MD, noted that the measurement system creates the currency that advertisers use to measure the efficiency of their spends. Every effort to strengthen it must be supported. However, he added that one must ensure that there is one measurement system and one currency. Multiple currencies will create disruption.

“Rather than having multiple measurement agencies, we need to get multiple media covered by one agency because one of the fundamental problems that I see in the measurement currency today is that the marketeers, the broadcasters, and the agencies are only able to view the consumer in silos”, said Ashish Bhasin, Founder, The Bhasin Consulting Group.

The consumer is not living life in silos. Consumer may be watching TV one moment almost parallelly could be on laptop or on mobile. But the marketers are seeing it through the lens of silos. The biggest problem the industry needs to address is that the measurement system needs to be holistic, say experts.

“There has to be one agreed common currency, particularly between digital and television because the lines are blurring today. Because of the sheer size and diversity of our country, getting a representative sample is always a challenge. It needs to be large enough, it needs to be representative enough,” Bhasin said.

Ashish Golwalkar, Sr. Media Consultant and ex-Content Head at Sony Pictures Networks India, noted that the industry is currently receiving an incorrect representation of the total viewership happening on a particular medium. Ideally, an advertiser or content maker should know exactly where the consumption is happening, who is watching, and how long or how much the pool is.

Although, he added that it doesn’t mean the industry can’t have two agencies, competition in any form is always good. Especially, if the new agency has better technology, and ways of analysing and capturing data.

“In the case of OTTs, especially SVOD, which doesn’t attract external advertisers, why would a platform want to disclose their viewership data? However, any step towards broadening the net of capturing data, to capture the heterogeneity that’s happening that’s part of the viewership and the reportage of that data is good enough for it to help both makers and marketers, it’s a welcome step,” he said. Storyboard18