News channels celebrate MIB move, hope for growth in revenues

After a prolonged suspension of TRP data for news channels by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) issued a directive on Wednesday asking the broadcaster’s body to release ratings for the category on an immediate basis. The move comes after the council’s announcement that it has taken initiatives to revise its protocols and mechanisms.

The directive also requires BARC to release the last three months’ data for the genre in a monthly format for a fair and equitable representation of true trends. As per the revised system, the reporting of news and niche genres shall be on a ‘four-week rolling average concept’.

The blackout of TRP data for the news genre had come at a time when the advertisers were already dealing with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and slashing their ad budgets. In the absence of relevant rating points, it was a blind game for the channels and advertisers on the genre alike. News channels are now celebrating MIB’s decision to get BARC to release data, hoping an incremental growth in their steady ad revenues will follow.

exchange4media spoke to heads of the news broadcasting world for their reactions on the move. Read on.

Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami said it’s a big win for the News Broadcasters Federation.

 “This is a big win for the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF). I am happy that NBF members stood together like a rock to make it happen. I am very, very proud of the NBF which I have the greatest privilege to lead and serve.”

Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani says, “Republic Network is extremely pleased that the ratings are commencing again. The NBF team and its members have been representing all the stakeholders for the same for a while. It’s important to provide transparency to advertisers and agency partners and the absence of data has been a huge concern. The ratings will help the genre to bring incremental business from brands that have been under indexing advertising investments.”

News Nation Network President - Sales & Marketing Abhay Ojha calls it a welcome step by MIB, especially because it comes during the election season. “News Nation Network has always advocated resumption of viewership for the news genre which had been unduly withheld for the last one and half years. January-March '22 is a critical period both from an editorial as well as financial perspective due to the upcoming assembly elections. Annual deal planning and ratings will help us gauge true ROI be it editorial or sales.”

 The states of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are scheduled to go for the assembly elections in February.

 TV9 Network CEO Barun Das had this to say: “I welcome the government’s decision to finally resume ratings for the news genre. I have for long been advocating the need to restore ratings while questioning the suspension decision in the first place. NBF’s efforts in this direction have been exemplary. The decision to have ratings now onwards on a four-week rolling average concept is the need of the hour.”

 While the big and legacy media houses were not as impacted by the data blackout because of the advertiser trust and relationships developed over years, smaller channels were facing a major financial brunt because of the data blackout. The industry is now heaving a sigh of relief hoping the data gets released soon.

 H R Ranganath, Chairman & Managing Director of Writemen Media Private Ltd (which runs the Kannada news channel Public TV) notes, “The resumption of news rating is positive for the entire industry under the present circumstances.  It was not acceptable for a news rating blackout for such a long period and it was becoming impossible for this to continue. I look forward to the new system enhancing the standard of the industry with data reliability and transparency being the key. I believe the coming period will be both curious and challenging for the ecosystem and hope the ratings match the expectations of broadcasters.”

 Newsfirst Kannada Business Head Divaakar S thanks the MIB and the NBF for standing up for smaller channels. “Newsfirst is glad that the BARC ratings will finally be out. We’ve been eagerly looking forward to them for a year now. We are confident to be in a significant position once ratings are out.  This is also going to help us communicate to advertisers with much more confidence and eliminate ambiguity regarding our channel's position in the market.”

 Incidentally, the rating blackout started just two weeks after the launch of Newsfirst.

 However, Divaakar S is not quite happy with the change in frequency of data from weekly to monthly. “We would have liked the ratings to be on a weekly basis, like before.

Weekly ratings would have helped us be on our feet, strategise regularly and make weekly manoeuvres. But monthly ratings are definitely better than no ratings. We hope that ratings will be given henceforth without breaks, in an impartial manner.”

 Anil Ayroor, 24 news and Flowers TV Group COO, shares, “This is good news that the ratings for news channels will be released. It is a positive move for small and medium channels, especially for a regional channel like us as this is the only criteria that will increase the volume of the network. As a member of the NBF, we fought for the release of data and are relieved that the data is now finally being released.”

 Albeit, he is in the favour of a monthly cycle of TRP data. “Even though the ratings will be released monthly, as against weekly earlier, it will create a healthy competition in the industry and we can all focus on creating good content. The rating was stopped for a reason and I hope that reason is now solved logically. In terms of revenue, the monthly data is a good move as all revenue comes in terms of RODP and the sales team can now focus on monthly rating. This should also be replicated for the GEC sector also.”

Rani Reddy, Director, Sakshi Media Group, said: "It’s a relief to finally be getting back to normal! The news about revisions in process and protocols, is also a welcome addition as it will surely if implemented as per plan help in overcoming the chronic issue of ‘rogue ‘ elements who have not allowed the measurement without manipulation for a long long time. The four week cycle for releasing ratings from media planning perspective will need planners and broadcasters to adapt to the rolling data evaluation and I think that should not be difficult if BARC provides some guidelines and basic support. Monthly rolling data might mitigate the severe fluctuations in data that occur and allow for a more effective decision making for all the stakeholders. From a revenue perspective when we start anew I would urge media buyers to support the News Broadcasters as the industry has really suffered and in the interest of the symbiotic relationship that exists I believe we need to thrive together to deliver augmented and curated offerings and solutions to the client which needs a basic minimum comfort in effective rates."

Rabindra Narayan, MD PTC Network, says, "News channels have been suffering for long due to unavailability of TRPs. The business has been stagnant as news channels cannot demand any hikes in the absence of comparative ratings. It is good that ratings are being restored. Merit now shall prevail."

According to Rohini Swamy, ex CEO, Kasturi TV, "Any form of rating is not good for journalism. It leads to competitive and manipulative techniques to be adopted to remain on the top. It overshadows the basic principles of journalism of being fair and balanced. It gives space for manipulation and corruption, two labels that journalism today needs to shake off its back. However, every channel needs to monetise and that is where the integrity and genuineness of the data is to be questioned. That needs to be addressed first. It needs to be seen if BARC is being able to increase the sample base amongst subscribers and reflect it fairly and accurately."

 With the news broadcasting industry waiting anxiously for the ratings now, it is to be seen what positive changes and developments come along.