News Broadcasting
VIEWPOINT: A STORM IN A TEACUP
The Laffaire TRPs for sale has raised a few questions. Even indiantelevision.com was at the receiving end of an anonymous docket yesterday evening containing the same scandalous details about the two TRP systems INTAM and TAM – as was received probably by CNBC India and scores of other newspapers and magazines. It was addressed to me with Mumbai as the address; no further details were provided. It was delivered by a well-dressed man who obviously was not a courier but an employee of an agency which was commissioned to deliver the dockets. He disappeared as quickly as he came.
Apparently, an effort was on to disparage the two people meter systems. For reasons known best to the industry. Apparently, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation has been in conversation with the ad agencies and the two research bodies to clean up both INTAM and TAMs acts and the two had been reticient.
Even as little as two months ago when I met up with the CEO of a channel I was told that the ratings game sucked and the two agencies had lots of holes in their ratings modus operandi. And if indiantelevision.com was really interested in television, we would investigate into the matter and blow the cover off TV ratings in India.
We simply chose not to pursue the issue. Other publications and magazines were also approached; all of them were wary. Because indeed, everyone in industry knows that TV ratings are not perfect; they are simply meant to be an indicator of viewing trends. Today, it is Star Plus which is leading the ratings game and has been doing so for the past year. Two years back it was Zee TV with Sony neck and neck with it. Zee TV was perched atop the ratings pecking order for four years. Before that DD was Lord of all it aired to, if one went by the diary entry method employed by both IMRB and ORG-Marg. Tomorrow, it could well be SABe TV which shoots up there. Or for all you know Sahara TV.
Hence, there was no cause for panic and attempting a tehelka, which may well prove to be a wrong turn. One checked with neighbours; one checked with children, one checked with relatives in smaller towns what they were watching and everywhere one got the response – KBC and KSBKBT or Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki during prime time. All were on Star Plus.
Like was the case with Zee TV, a couple of years ago. And the ratings reflected that. While we did not know whether the numbers were totally accurate; they at least appeared to reflect what individuals told us.
To us laffaire TRPs for sale appeared to be a motivated campaign with a single-point agenda: discredit the ratings and hence create doubts about Star Plus pole position in the viewership ratings sweepstakes.
The documents sent to our office have one attachment which purportedly explains how Star and Balaji Telefilms manipulate the ratings.
Who stands to benefit if the two are discredited? The other big two: Sony and Zee TV. While the rival channels may roast us for stating this so blatantly, they cannot run away from the fact that they have to focus on the basics: improve their programming; give shows that viewers want and not what advertisers or CEOs friends want to supply. Focus on the basics; focus on the viewer.
There is a lot of talk doing the rounds in the television industry as to the possible movers behind all this and they need to be mentioned.
One possibility is that the two rivals got together on the discredit TRPs campaign. After all my enemy is your enemy; so we are friends. Zee TV supplied the list; Sony Entertainment used CNBC to stoke the controversy. After all CNBC is part of the Sony bouquet and has the right SEC audience; blowing the issue on Zee News made little sense; on CNBC it made eminent sense.
Another is that VNU – the parent of both the systems – could have been behind the campaign. Create a controversy and then go ahead and merge the two systems, with least opposition from reluctant professionals of the two research agencies who want to keep both of them existant.
The third possibility is that the reporter from CNBC stumbled on the story on her own; got clearance from her boss and the others just rode it happily giving vent to their spleen; and capitalised on the controversy.
Whatever, be the origins of LAffaire TRPs for Sale, it will result in a new sample; better security of the peoplemeters and the list (you mean no one will be able to get a copy of the list of the viewership sample in future??? ) The purging of Intam and Tam. Who knows a merger, possibly. A more streamlined system.
The fact is: not one person from the Mumbai sample interviewed on CNBC agreed that there was any interference or coercion from any of the channels to influence them as they went about watching television daily. So whats the storm all about?
And if at the end of all the cleaning up and expense – which will finally be borne by the cable and satellite television industry, ad agencies and marketers – would it not be funny if the meters start spewing out similar viewership numbers as are available today? Has anyone given a thought to that.
News Broadcasting
Times Network to air JVC Exit Poll across 5 regions on April 29
Four-hour broadcast spans states and Puducherry with data-led analysis
MUMBAI: Times Network is set to roll out what it calls one of its most expansive election programming efforts yet, culminating in the JVC Exit Poll on 29 April, with a multi-hour broadcast spanning key poll-bound regions.
The exit poll will air across Times Now and Times Now Navbharat, beginning at 5pm and 4pm respectively. Co-powered by Vedanta and Jindal Stainless, the programming aims to combine on-ground reportage with data-driven projections across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
The network has deployed over 50 journalists across these regions, gathering voter sentiment and local insights in the run-up to polling. The effort builds on its ongoing election formats such as Election Yatra and Election Premier League, which have tracked campaign narratives and community-level issues.
In parallel, Times Now Navbharat has focused on constituency-level reporting in West Bengal through its Jan Gan ka Mann series, capturing voter opinions across diverse segments.
The coverage has also featured interviews with prominent political leaders. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leaders Ramesh Chennithala and V D Satheesan have appeared on the network’s election specials. From Tamil Nadu, voices including deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, BJP leader K Annamalai and NTK’s Seeman have also featured in discussions.
On the day of the exit poll, the network’s primetime anchors, including Navika Kumar, Zakka Jacob and Sumit Awasthi, will lead the coverage. They will be joined by a panel of political analysts, psephologists and senior journalists offering real-time insights and interpretation of trends.
The programming will integrate grassroots reportage with analytics from the JVC Exit Poll, aiming to give viewers an early sense of electoral outcomes ahead of the official results on 4 May.
With its combined English and Hindi broadcast reach, Times Network is positioning this effort as a comprehensive look at voter sentiment, blending field reporting, data and debate to decode what could lie ahead when the final mandate is revealed.
