BARC stakeholders to meet soon to appoint new Chairman
According to sources, it is possible that IBDF, ISA and AAAI could pick an independent board member as BARC India Chairman
With ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka's three-year term as BARC India Chairman coming to an in December, the stage is set for the audience measurement body to elect a new name for the position.
According to sources close to the development, BARC India's three stakeholders - Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) - will soon meet to decide on the new Chairman.
As per BARC India's rotation policy, the ISA will have to nominate its representatives to the post of Chairmanship. Last time around, the ISA had decided to skip its turn to nominate its Chairman.
exchange4media has learnt that the ISA is not keen to take up the Chairman's post and is most likely to give it a miss this time as well. Therefore, the next Chairman will come from either the AAAI or IBDF. It is also possible that an independent board member might become the Chairman. BARC is also in the process of appointing independent members to its board. The BARC India Board currently comprises members from three industry bodies besides the lone representative from public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.
"Representatives from IBDF, AAAI, and ISA will meet soon to decide on the new Chairman of BARC India as Punit Goenka's term got over in December. It is not clear if he is keen to continue for another year since ISA is likely to stay out of the Chairmanship fray. As per rules, it's ISA’s turn to have its representative as the Chairman, but they are hesitant to take up the position. So, the new Chairman will be from IBDF or AAAI. An independent board member might also become the Chairman," a source close to the development has told exchange4media.com.
The committee formed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to review the 'Guidelines on TV Rating Agencies in India' had recommended that the Chairperson and members of "BARC Board as nominees of the stakeholder bodies should not only be persons of eminence with impeccable credentials in corporate governance but should also be someone without conflicts of interest. Further the nominee for Chairperson, BARC should have no other full-time responsibilities. Articles of Association may be suitably amended to ensure the same".
It is pertinent to note that Goenka as IBDF representative had been the Chairman for three straight years. He had taken over from Nakul Chopra who had completed his one-year tenure as Chairman of the Joint Industry Body.
As reported earlier, Madison Media & OOH Group CEO Vikram Sakhuja has taken over as the Chairman of the Broadcasters Audience Research Council India's Technical Committee. He replaces IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha who served as BARC TechComm Chairman for close to a decade since taking charge in 2012.
