BARC India to release rural data from Week 41

With this, BARC India, which currently reports about 55 million households, will expand its reach to 153.5 million TV households. Of this, 77.5 million are urban TV households and 76 million are rural TV households

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | October 14, 2015

After conducting its road show across various cities highlighting what rural India watches, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India is all set to launch the rural data from Week 41 (October 10-Otober 16). The Board members of BARC India have decided to release the much awaited rural data, starting next week.

With this, BARC India, which currently reports about 55 million households representing C&S universe of 1 Lac+, will expand its reach to 153.5 million TV households, representing All India and all modes of signal. Of this, 77.5 million are urban TV households and 76 million are rural TV households.

BARC India, which had recently announced a joint venture with TAM Media to form a meter management company, is working on the dynamics of it and will soon announce its integration plan.

“With the board giving us the go ahead to release the rural data, one will see ‘What India Watches’. We will be releasing the data starting Week 41,” said BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.

Meanwhile, TAM and IMRB on Tuesday launched Teleweb, a TV and web integrated data analytics service. Until the complete merger (transfer of systems) of TAM into BARC takes place, TAM will continue to use its own TV data for TeleWeb.

When asked how things would change for TeleWeb once the TAM system is integrated fully in BARC, LV Krishnan, CEO, TAM Media Research, said that this was a work-in-progress and the modalities needed to be worked out.

For now though, the focus would primarily be on what the numbers look like for each broadcaster once the ratings for Week 41 are out next week.

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