A week after allowing the unrolling of the viewership data for the news and niche genres, the MIB has put the approval on hold.
Highly placed sources have told e4m that MIB sent a letter to BARC on Monday, asking the ratings agency to put the move on hold till further discussion. The sources said that the ministry, however, has not yet given any date to BARC for further discussion on the matter. Sources also claimed that the MIB has asked BARC to make a presentation to it in this regard.
The government allowed unrolling of the viewership data last week after BARC sought its approval. The ratings agency approached MIB for its permission after a group of broadcasters reportedly sought unrolled data from it.
MIB’s approval to allow the unrolling of data came months after it allowed BARC to share the respondent-level data with the broadcasters. If the MIB would have allowed BARC to go ahead with the unrolling of the data, news broadcasters would have got weekly access to raw level data. The four-week rolling average was introduced when the ratings for the news genre returned after a 17-month pause due to the TRP scam.