MUMBAI: The French audience measurement company Médiamétrie will be the ratings partner for the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC). Though multiple vendors, both Indian and international had thrown in their bids to be the one who would power BARC's ratings, sources reveal that the council has opted for the French research agency. Apparently, the final decision was taken over the weekend wherein the --- members of BARC met along with Mediametrie reps to sign on the dotted line.
Mediametrie will be using audio watermarking tech to monitor TV consumption by its 20,000 strong panel. It involves inserting an identifying mark inaudible to the human ear into the channel's feed which is delivered to TV homes.. The technology enables different reception modes to be used to measure a TV programme's audience.
Médiamétrie features in the world's top 25 market research firms' list.
The formal announcement is expected to be made later this month. Sources have confirmed that deadline set by BARC such as launching the ratings service by mid-2014 will be met.
The meeting which went on for two hours in the BARC office also discussed the financial aspects of the ratings, but another meeting is slated to be held for the same.
BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta did not confirm the finalisation of the appointment of Mediametrie. Responding in an email he said: “The board of BARC met today to decide on technology and the path ahead. There was unanimity in deciding on a leap in technology to be used in television measurement. The board approved the management and the technical and commercial committees to go ahead and finalise with a couple of international companies for this. The team will be completing the pilots and will start deployments soon. The board also decided on the funding mechanism and is encouraged by the response received from banks for funding the project.”
But sources indicate that it is indeed Mediametrie which will get the go ahead.
According to sources, BARC will start the field trial of meters from January 2014. While the seeding of meters will start from June, the commercial data will be available in the market from October. While initially 20,000 meters will be seeded, BARC will seed 25,000 boxes by 2014 end.
