Indian Statistical Institute Endorses BARC India

The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has certified TV audience rating body BARC India's sampling methodology and panel design, including both its original research among 22,000 homes and the expanded 33,000 panel.

BARC (The Broadcast Audience Research Council of India) was launched in 2015, and later that year partnered with Nielsen/Kantar joint venture TAM India to form a new meter management company providing ratings data as the 'sole trading currency' for the country. The organisation has installed its proprietary BAR-O-Meters in a scientifically selected set of metered homes to collect TV viewing data. ISI's study, which was spread over six months, certifies the panel home design and identifies any modifications required for further panel expansion to 44,000 homes.

BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta (pictured) says the endorsement is 'yet another validation of our ability to measure what India watches', and continues: 'It is indeed a challenging task to accurately map TV viewing habits of 780 million individuals in a highly diverse and dynamic market like ours. I am proud of Team BARC India, which has lived up to industry's expectation to deliver accurate, credible and robust viewership data, day-on-day, week after week. It is also a testament to the systems and technology backbone that we have set up, which is of global standards'.

Web site: www.barcindia.co.in .