No Way To Know Peoples’ Favourite TV Channels: BARC To Stop Publishing Viewership Data For Public Following TRAI Orders

The Broadcasters Audience Research Council (BARC) India would not be sharing the TV viewership data with the public from now on considering the implementation of the new regulatory Framework by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Television Post reports.

“In the light of the implementation of TRAI’s new tariff order and on ground changes, BARC India’s viewership will be released only to its subscribers until further notice,” BARC India said.

However, BARC will continue to share data with their subscribers. The TV audience measurement body in India shares information on top programmes and channels in various genres and languages every Thursday, and will discontinue to do so from the sixth week of 2019.

BARC’s decision comes after an Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) advisory board had asked their members not to use BARC data for media planning and buying during the interim time until the implementation is successful.

The ISA report also stated that it needed six weeks to assess the stability of the viewership data post rollout of the new framework. The ISA and the BARC would work closely until the data is stable and members use it for planning and buying.