Media planners react to round one of BARC data

After the joint industry body for TV audience measurement Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) released its first set of findings, several broadcasters whose numbers have been good have gone about announcing their ratings to the world. How has it impacted media buyers? The first reactions are, that it's too early to change plans drastically.

 

Planners Campaign India spoke with said that BARC ratings hardly throw up much surprises, and that business continues as usual. 

 

So how long would it take for ratings to impact media buying decisions? 

 

"It is too premature to say how and by when BARC will impact media buying decisions. The data, as we know, is not even in its complete form – it measures 1 lakh+ C&S markets, which corresponds to a sample size of 10,760 households only," opined Anita Nayyar, CEO India & South Asia, Havas Media. She goes on to say that the BARC data might face its own set of challenges, just like IRS which measures a bigger universe.

 

Concurring with her, Samir Khanna, EVP, DDB MudraMax -- Media, said, "It will be prudent to wait for a trend to emerge, and for that one needs several data points. And then obviously, it will be useful in making judicious media buying decisions." 

 

Khanna, however, points out that with the new consumer classification system (NCCS), the data will become a lot more 'in tune with the times'. 

 

Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, agrees that it might take several weeks before a trend in BARC data emerges to make an impact on media buying decisions.

 

Premjeet Sodhi, COO, Initiative, explained, "The world is still the same as what it was a few weeks ago. What has changed is the measurement system. The changes that one will see in the plans depends on how much science beyond reach and cost was going into the plans being made. I believe the weight of strategy or logic should be the major contributors to the structure of the plan."

 

He notes that therefore, there may not be much impact on genre structures within plans. "Channel selection within genres anyways keeps changing over weeks as their performance varies. However, as we all get more immersed in the BARC data, I am sure it will give us the confidence to plan our TV investments without worries," surmised Sodhi.