TAM ratings controversy: Deadlock continues

According to informed industry sources involved in the backroom parleys, no decision has been reached yet to break the deadlock but talks are on to find a viable solution. IBF is meeting tomorrow to discuss the issue

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | July 18, 2013

It is more than a month since the row over TAM ratings blew up. And there is still no end to the impasse, making it a fertile period for speculation almost on a daily basis. On June 10, 2013, many leading television channels opted to end their TAM subscription or wrote to TAM Media Research expressing their intent to withdraw their subscription.

On July 11 came the news that TAM data will be reported on monthly basis, starting that day, for certain major networks “on their request”. Also, their data will be reported in '000s instead of shares, which means CPT buying. The networks include Star India (with Asianet, ESPN Star Sports), Multi Screen Media, Viacom18, TV18, Zee Network, Times Television Network and NDTV.

In the course of the week since then, Discovery Networks joined the monthly ratings bandwagon, only to withdraw and go back to weekly ratings. And yesterday, it became known that Fox International Channels, including NGC, had chosen to go with monthly ratings.

It has been a ding-dong battle of wits all this while. Yesterday, TVTN came out strongly in favour of weekly ratings.

What seems to have let the cat among the pigeons again this morning is a routine mail to some broadcasters by TAM – and also a mention on the TAM website – that weekly ratings would be uploaded at 4 PM today owing to technical reasons. According to informed industry sources, this communication is only to inform subscribers who are still following weekly ratings, that this delay is owing to certain software modifications required at TAM to ensure that there is a proper bifurcation of data so that those who want monthly data would get them only from August 1.

According to senior broadcast industry sources, “no decision has been reached yet to break the deadlock but talks are on to find a solution”. Another industry source involved in the backroom parleys informed that IBF is meeting tomorrow, July 19, to discuss the issue.

It is also reliably learnt that the networks that had sent letters to TAM opting for monthly ratings, have not sent any further communication retracting their position.

Also read: 

Fox opts for monthly TAM ratings; TVTN stays weekly
Discovery goes back to weekly TAM ratings
Advertisers left with no option but to cancel activity on 8 broadcast networks, says AAAI
TAM moves to monthly ratings and CPT reporting for 9 networks
Interview: KVL Narayan Rao, Executive Vice-Chairman, NDTV Group, on the raging TAM controversy
Broadcasters-TAM deadlock over with consensus on key issues

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