BARC new algorithm: Reason to cheer or cause for worry?

On 3 September, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India introduced algorithms into its data validation method to mitigate the impact of landing pages on viewership data across all genres of channels. The new initiative has been reflected in the data for week 34, starting August 22. According to BARC, this is part of its ongoing ‘Data Validation Quality Initiative’ aimed at improving measurement science and mitigating impact of extraneous factors on viewership data.

While this move has been welcomed by most broadcasters, some have also expressed concerns over its implementation, transparency and effectiveness. As per industry experts, this will primarily impact news channels or whoever invests in landing pages. The experts believe that it may or may not impact the revenues for the channels in the beginning but will definitely offset revenues for the Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs) as it's counted as one of the major sources of revenue for them.

Avinash Pandey, CEO, ABP Network said, “ABP Network welcomes the new validation rule initiated by BARC, aimed at improving measurement science. In the age of media fragmentation, there has been a clear need for this system to ensure a level-playing field. The aim of audience measurement is not only to distinguish but empower original and unique content offered by select broadcasters. This move will lead to a fair and equitable practice.”

Stating similar thoughts was Abhinav Khare, CEO, Asianet News Network who called this a “great move” by BARC to ensure a level playing field for all TV channels. “Some channels with distribution play were misusing landing pages to boost their ratings. We have been insisting that BARC introduces a mechanism to mitigate the impact of landing pages for a long time.” 

“With this, channels can now focus on developing high quality content which should be the number one factor to decide ratings and viewers approval. We welcome this move by BARC India,” he added.

In a press note, BARC India said that over the last three years, the measurement body has received extensive feedback from its stakeholders on the potential ‘forced viewing’ created due to the practice of using landing pages. 

“With this new decision taken by BARC, there will be a level-playing field for all channels, including those in the news genre. For the single and small regional channels I believe this move will help to mitigate the money and the muscle power in television distribution packages. Most of the group channels were using money power to get the landing page. Now content will be more powerful than money,” said Nilesh Khare, Channel Head, Saam TV - Sakal Media Group’s first venture into the broadcast media business.  

The landing page is used as a marketing and promotional tool by the broadcasters specially for the launch of a new channel. “Landing page is done more as promotional exercise. Most broadcasters don’t follow it on a regular basis. With the help of landing pages, channels get a sharp improvement in viewership share, but it's not a correct understanding of actual viewership share. So reliability of content is much better than investing in a landing page. It's a good marketing tool but in the long run it's not viable,” shared Karan Taurani, VP – Research Analyst (Media), Elara Securities (India).  

There were also a few concerns raised by other broadcasters and industry experts. An industry observer said BARC should have explained the process and kept it transparent for the industry for a better understanding. “BARC uses watermarking technology, so how will they differentiate between the first channel in the genre and the landing page? Also, if they used a new algorithm over the existing one for the landing page it should show some impact on the numbers. They should show some examples.”

Another industry leader shared it doesn’t seem to be effective yet, at least for one of the genres that he inspected. “BARC said that this initiative has been implemented from today i.e week 34 but there is no change in the numbers. Some broadcasters are still getting the landing page reach.” 

As per industry sources, the deals between the broadcasters and DPOs for landing pages approximately cost somewhere between Rs 1 crore to Rs 15-20 crore, depending on channels and the distribution platforms. Since new algorithms will mitigate the impact of landing pages on ratings, this will also lead to spending on landing pages which will leave a negative impact for DPOs’ revenue. 

“If this initiative is effective and implemented on a 100% basis, it will be an obvious impact that you will see for channels using landing pages to prop up their reach as they will stop investing in these assets because they are not cheaper. If that does not result in a desired increase in reach and in the improvement of channels’ performance then people will stop investing,” said another media expert.