Some people’s misdoings cannot put BARC under spotlight: Shashi Sinha to Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now

India, November 2020: Speaking in defense of BARC (broadcast audience research council) media veteran and chairperson of technical committee of BARC, Shashi Sinha has said it is one of the best systems in the world.

Sinha said that such an industry body where  the board is governed by stakeholders including agencies, clients and broadcasters coming together to run it exists only in France and some other countries worldwide. “Very basic things are right about it. The marking technology in place is more advanced than many other markets and thirdly the panel of 45,000 is largest and more than double of China, a country more advanced than India. The funders i.e. the big networks and broadcasters are credible people.”

Sinha who is also the CEO of IPG Media Brands India, was in a live webcast with Kailashnath Adhikari ,MD, Governance Now during the Visionary Talk series organized by the public policy and governance analysis platform.

Sinha said that the problem is its getting into controversy with news genres. “News is a niche genre and not brought on ratings. At any given time 1% people watch English prime time news. So 1% of 44000 homes is 440 homes that watch the 16 news channels and the average is 20-25 homes. The ratings are rounded off to .2, .3 or .01 etc.” he explained as he added that the level of rating error is very high and a channel with high ratings may not get best rates.

“Rating is all about egos and keeping their masters happy … What they don’t play is that  they are no. 1 of .1% or 1% ratings. Some people’s misdoings cannot put BARC under spotlight. They have done undue damage…. I have said it to all the broadcasters  which they are realizing..I think BARC is a strong currency and God forbid  if  anything were to happen during this dynamic time it will hurt industry… in the heart of hearts they realize it. It is solid currency” he further said.

The media veteran said that due to lack of self regulation there is much blaming on regulatory system which is not correct.

“BARC will do course correction. We are working to ensure sample sizes do not misrepresent ..In the next few weeks we will find a solution.. We have plugged loopholes I think all big newscasters are realizing we should not hurt the body.”