TV rating system needs improvement: Aroon Purie

Media has to do a balancing act - one has to achieve financial viability and at the same time handle the pressure from the government and advertisers, said Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today Group, on Friday.

Purie was the esteemed speaker at the ‘Subhas Ghosal Memorial Lecture’ organized by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and the Subhas Ghosal Foundation (SGF) in Mumbai.

Addressing a gathering of India’s top advertising leaders, Purie said, “Journalism is a noble profession. The currency of the news media is credibility. Many media houses are still serving society, holding truth to power and are known for their credibility. However, media in India is very cheap compared to other countries. The subscription model for digital platforms is very successful abroad, but not in our country. The consumer is getting media cheap and the share to the broadcaster for the subscriptions is much less than the international standards."

“Cable connection also comes cheap and that’s why news channels are heavily dependent on advertisers and are chasing TRPs,” he said. Purie further said that he was also concerned about the BARC ratings and felt that the system needs improvement and that the work in this regard had started. "The governments think that there is a constitutional right for our citizens to get a cheap cable connection. This is just political populism."

Talking about the success story of the India Today Group, he spoke of the 1977 and 1980 elections being the two turning points for their first publication - India Today magazine.

“We had launched the magazine as a niche product in December 1975, which was the emergency period. After two years, during the 1977 general elections, a coalition government was formed defeating the Congress. Indian politics and society were witnessing a huge churn then but newspaper coverage in those days was quite dull, and the printing quality was not good. Our dynamic magazine with good content and quality printing got a kick. The magazine’s circulation jumped from 15,000 to 1,00,000, and then there was no looking back.”

Ahead of the 1980 elections, the magazine conducted India’s first poll survey with the suggestion and help of two professors from Delhi School of Economics - Prannoy Roy and Ashok Lahiri.

“While many had believed then the Janta Party government would come back, our poll survey correctly predicted that the Indira Gandhi-led Congress would return with a majority. The survey enhanced our credibility so much that top industrialist GD Birla invited me over lunch. I was just 36 years old then,” Purie said, with a smile and pride.

While talking about his personal and professional experiences, Purie shared many valuable insights. “I don’t know how I got success. It could be the series of incidents, coincidences, my education and many other things. I can figure out four things that helped me - Being a CA, I knew how to ask questions until I got clarity. Being a non-journalist helped me to figure out what would an average reader like. I had passion for work and no preconceived idea.”  

“I was born in Lahore and my family shifted to Mumbai after a traumatic Partition. My father started financing films. Starting with “Aag” and “Mother India”, which established Mehboob Studio, and then “Awara” that established Raj Kapoor’s production, and then BR Chopra’s “Naya Daur”, all the films he invested in those days were successful,” he told the advertising sector luminaries in Mumbai.

His family later shifted to Delhi due to a family tragedy. Purie was still a teenager and was not sure about his career. “My father then asked me to do Chartered Accountancy from LSE, a course which could be helpful for his own business.”

In 1970, when Purie was working in London as Auditor after completing his CA his father asked him to visit his printing press - Thomson Press - at Faridabad, which he had established in collaboration with British media baron Paul Reuter.

“After watching the press, I decided to stay back and handle the business as production controller. We gradually implemented better technology for quality printing but we were printing the content for others. Then, we thought why not have our own publication. We tried many things and failed.”

Then along with his father he established the India Today Group with an eponymous magazine in 1975 during the Emergency declared by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The idea of India Today magazine was conceived before the Emergency but it was rolled out in December 1975. “In 47 years, we have launched 56 publications and channels, some of them shut down too,” said Purie, adding, “You should not fall in love with your product.”

He also described how his group also forayed into video journalism in 1988 with one-hour video cassettes, then a 20-minute slot on Doordarshan in 1995 for the “Aaj Tak” show, and then a full-fledged 24/7 news channel.  

He also spoke about how he had a chance to set up a well-organised cable distribution system after the launch of satellite TV in the early 90s. "The government only woke up when there were over 100,000 cable operators illegally throwing cables in colonies," he added.

Concluding his speech, Purie said, “Free press is a force for good, it is essential for India’s survival and growth. Next time when you castigate the press, do think whether India would be better off without it.”