The big question before BARC – Will the broadcasters have to pay in addition to their existing fee structure for the raw-level data?
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has ordered BARC India to share raw-level data with broadcasters. With this, a broadcaster will have the access to the RLD pertaining to all other channels.
This was first recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in 2018 and then in 2021 by the TRP Committee following the TRP scam.
The demand for raw-level data gathered steam after the alleged manipulation of ratings by Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in connivance with former BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta.
Following an analysis of the Mumbai police chargesheet, BestMediaInfo.com reported how the viewership data of Times Now was reduced drastically from raw to final data to keep Republic No. 1.
Not only this, Republic’s numbers were not touched in the weeks between July to October 2017. It was the same period when Goswami had chats with Dasgupta from which it could be concluded that his channel was present on the landing page of Kolkata’s largest MSO ICNCL.
When will BARC begin sharing raw-level data?
Following the ministry’s order, BARC is expected to discuss the modalities of sharing the raw-level data and its pricing in its next Board meeting soon.
So far, RLD was available to media agencies and brands against a certain fee. The data was not available to broadcasters at all.
BestMediaInfo.com had earlier reported that broadcasters were pressing for access to raw-level data at their existing fee structure.
Now, the BARC Board will decide whether the data has to be shared free of any charge or against certain fees.
In case, it is made free of cost for broadcasters, it will have to be made free of charge for agencies also. If the board decides to charge for RLD, it will also have to look into the payment structure.
