NEW DELHI: Even as national broadcaster Doordarshan continues to take market research agency TAM Media's data on television ratings, it has decided to lay greater emphasis on conducting qualitative audience research for programme evaluation and positioning.

The matter was discussed threadbare in the research advisory committee meeting held at Doordarshan headquarters in New Delhi today.

The general consensus at the meeting was that TAM data, obtained through peoplemeters placed in 27 cities, does not give a true and correct picture of Doordarshan's reach, which has a far stronger following in the semi-urban and rural areas. Further, the sentiment was that the sample of TAM was too small to be representative in a multi-cultural society like India.

One of the models that will be experimented with will be the setting up of Doordarshan viewer's clubs, which would give feedback and suggestions for improvement of DD programmes.

It has also been decided to capitalise on the success of the Meri Baat interactive talk show programme on DD Bharati, which has brought hundreds of schools in close contact with Doordarshan. DD will launch more and more interactive programmes, and will use the School Forum to create awareness about the programmes. DD expects that word of mouth publicity will lead to chain reaction i.e. from the participating children, on through his/her classroom, through the school, to parents of students and other family members, on to their friends, and so on. It is envisaged that the school forum will also be used to get feedback on the quality of DD's shows.