MAM
NRS 2005 takes firm stand on C&S numbers
MUMBAI: The second edition of NRS 2005 was released yesterday and though the much talked about discrepancies in the cable and satellite (C&S) home numbers by NRS and IRS were a topic of debate, NRS brushed aside criticism saying its methodology was more scientific.
“The aim of the NRS methodology is to give better representation to each pocket of the country,” NRS counter-punched critics, saying it had conceived an all-district sampling strategy for NRS 2005.
NRS has estimated the number of TV owning households in India to be 108 million and the number of C&S connected households to be 61 million (or about 56 per cent of TV homes) as of March 2005.
IRS, on the other hand, conducted by MRUC, estimated the number of TV homes in June 2004 to be 83 million and the number of C&S homes to be 43 million (or about 52 per cent of TV homes).
IRS has also said that they expect to estimate between 90 to 94 million TV homes and between 46 to 50 million C&S homes (or between 51 to 53 per cent of TV homes) by the end of 2005.
For NRS 2005, the overall sample of 2,60,000 households was divided into three segments: urban random sample; rural random sample and nupscale boosters.
The random sample aims to mirror the profile of urban and rural segments of a state’s population. The Nupscale booster aims to give a minimum representation to upscale consumers as they are of interest to marketers.
The random sample was distributed across each town class and each village class of every district. This sample was weighed according to the population of each population stratum of each district.
The estimates at district level were then added to arrive at socio-cultural regions (SCR) level and thence to state and all India. Nupscale boosters in the top 35 cities were weighted separately to the Nupscale universe in each city.
Advantage for high-growth categories: The debate on TV household estimation brings into focus the clear advantage of this methodology over that followed in the other readership survey, namely that market movements in any pocket of the country will get detected.
The TV industry is in a growth phase: Expansion of the number of TV homes is taking place in semi-urban and rural areas of India – in large urban centres and consumers are upgrading from black and white to colour TV sets; from entry-level sets to feature-rich ones.
Validation: The Census department had, between April and June 2000, collected data on household assets, including TV sets owned. The figure put out was 60 million homes. Nearly five years have elapsed since then to 1 March, 2005, which is the estimation date for NRS 2005.
Various sources are available giving data on the sales of TV sets: Notably the ORG-GFK retail audit (which covers more than 90 per cent of the country’s organised TV dealer network) and the Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers’ Association of India (CETMA).
Accounting for replacement demand, unorganised sector sales, imports and a second-hand market that re-conditions TV sets sold in exchange schemes, nearly 10 million sets have been sold in India every year for the last five years, totaling about 50 million sets since mid-2000. Close to 45 million homes would have been added in five years.
Therefore, the expected number of TV homes in India as of March 2005 would be well over 100 million by any reckoning, said NRS in a statement.
The Two Surveys: The NRS estimates 108 million homes in March ’05. IRS does not cover all districts, but employs a “stratification” technique to select districts for coverage.
The latest IRS estimate (of 83 million TV homes) is for June 2004, but since it has indicated that even by end-2005 they expect to project between 90 and 93 million sets, the figures grossly underestimate the growth in TV homes in the past few years, NRS has contended.
The Lacuna: Why would incomplete coverage result in an underestimate? The districts for the other survey (done by IRS) have been selected after “stratifying” them according to the per-capita intensity of circulation of newspapers and magazines using an undisclosed procedure.
Since newspaper reading habits are assumed to change slowly, circulation patterns across districts are also expected to change slowly. The “stratification” will therefore deploy the sample cost-effectively for a readership study, but, NRS has pointed out, only if the assumption that readership habits change slowly holds true.
The Impact: In any product category where expansion is taking place in semi-urban and rural markets, incomplete district representation will miss out on new market movements.
In the case of TV sets, the impact of this expansion is on TV viewing and, hence, media habits in general can easily be imagined.
So, while incomplete district coverage may underestimate publications that are experiencing growth in readership in semi-urban and rural areas, it will also underestimate the impact of growing competition to the press media from TV channels.
The NRS 2005 strategy is the best available method of representing reality as it exists in India today because it provides for representation of every pocket of the country, the organization affirmed.
Also read:
MRUC disputes NRS 2005 TV homes figures
C&S penetration grows 53% to 61 million homes in 3 years: NRS 2005
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
