As Telugu360 investigation reveals BARC ratings have been abused by TV channels to the core — just pay Rs 1000 per month per household. BARC system was supposed to be a monumental shift and increase the transparency in the ratings system. However, BARC ratings agency methodology and standards have been mediocre at best. A number of Media heads and advertising executives are opining that Nielsen led TAM is way superior to the BARC ratings. Nielsen bought international expertise to the ratings system.

So what exactly ails BARC, which was supposed to help advertisers get value for their advertising dollars?

Telugu 360 after its teams’s field visits scans the reason for the failure of BARC system.

[pullquote position=”right”]“TAM was bad, but they had systems in place as they were an international collaboration. BARC is rotten as they are like and Indian Subzi – Mandi” so says an Indian News TV channels Editorial head. [/pullquote]BARC is using Hansa Research Group for collection of data at the ground level

• Hansa team is a survey agency sans training or sophistication. It’s employees are highly underpaid. A person who heads 2 state operations is paid Rs. 20000 per month.

• Hansa Team is busy doing surveys for business houses , political parties and politicians ( most of their election related predictions were wrong ). They have close proximity with media and business houses at local level. In fact, Hansa does all the surveys for a top political leader in Andhra Pradesh, who also happens to own a media house.

• Hansa Employees have access to local TV channels. They approached the Channels offering them good ratings for an attractive price.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkO_83U9Ru4

• Hansa team has threatened the channels who do not pay them on a monthly basis. On the flip side, TV channels that tie up with them are rewarded with good BARC ratings.

 

• Entire households data is with state headquarters in their dilapidated office computers without any security. This data is accessible to anyone who walks into the office for a survey assignment.

• BARC has recruited ex TAM employees who were notorious for their corruption while employed with TAM. There are also persons who have been sacked by TAM on corruption charges and have since been employed by BARC.

• Hansa employees ensure that some of the meters are fixed in their relative or friends homes. (In the below video, we can see that brother of this person is an employee of BARC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ABR2DULyp4

• BARC households are the poorest of the poor who are in dire need of money. When employees keep the meter and offer monthly payment to watch channels they grab it with both hands so that their meager earnings can be bolstered. When there is an enquiry they repeat whatever coaching they received from the local BARC person.

• Watch times are closely monitored by the local BARC employee as they know what duration is to be assigned so as to not getting flagged. If a channel is not paying them they also take revenge on that channel by asking their homes to watch that channel for a much more prolonged duration thereby ensuring the channel concerned is flagged. This creates a fear psychosis in the channels’ minds and the TV channels are forced to compromise with the BARC employee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkgm48U5hSE

• Apart from Cash for watch, another worrying thing is the quality of the homes BARC selected to monitor TV viewership. Its shocking to see the intelligence level of the persons who are deciding the BARC ratings and in turn the advertising revenue.

It is high time BARC cleans up the ratings system as tens of thousands of crores rides on these ratings. BARC Leadership has to tap in ratings expertise from international firms such as Nielsen and make the ratings system more scientific.

(For any information on this story, reach out to krishna@telugu360.com)