MUMBAI: Continuing the evolution television ratings measurement body Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India has launched its latest innovation - #BARCTweet. In partnership with Twitter, this will provide TV viewers and industry insiders with weekly ratings data on-the-go and delivered to their Twitter timeline.

The new offering #BARCTweet in association with Frrole – a social data intelligence setup manning the backend software, will now make reaching out to consumers possible bringing to life one of BARC India’s key goals.

To acquire the topline television audience ratings data, one simply needs to tweet with the hashtag #BARCTweet followed by the data request e.g. #BARCTweet Top 5 Telugu Programs. The industry body’s Twitter handle @BARCIndia will then reply to users with the requested information.

While BARC India’s subscribers have access to all the data on a weekly basis, this unique service is available free of cost to non-subscribers, which also underlines the transparency that is at the very core of the BARC India philosophy.

As a joint industry body, BARC India has always believed and followed the brand philosophy of communicating and engaging with stakeholders across all broadcasters, media agencies and advertisers in India.

This latest step towards an open TV rating service is another in a series of advances like BARC India Media Workstation (BMW) and SpotTrek (Next day of telecast - spot monitoring and certification service).

BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta says, “In keeping with our focus on technology, BARC India is geared for new possibilities and opportunities to connect with all who are keen on knowing more about the television audience measurement service in India and are therefore proud to present a World First with the launch of hashtag #BARCTweet with the Twitter India team.”

Twitter market director, South & Southeast Asia Rishi Jaitly adds, “BARC India’s ambition to innovate and create a unique value proposition for users is something we admire. Twitter believes in the power of information and this empowers all users equally, which is very exciting from a Twitter point of view.”