Ahead of resumption of TRPs, NDTV opts out of ratings for ‘blackout’ period

In a statement on Monday, the NDTV said that it is among the networks that have chosen to not be included in the ratings which are soon to be released for the last few months. “During this period, ratings were blacked out because of the grave corruption and mismanagement involved in the process.”

The statement comes weeks ahead of the resumption of television ratings – suspended since October 2020 following an alleged TRP scam that allegedly involved top executives from Republic TV.

“NDTV has been among the earliest and biggest proponents of an exercise to clean up a dirty (and shockingly open) secret: a ratings system that misleads advertisers, and their agencies, by grossly misrepresenting each channel's market share.”

Months after it suspended data for individual news channels, the Broadcast Audience Research Council had earlier said that it will resume issuing the data on March 17. The announcement came almost a month after the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had said that it had given a directive to resume the release of data for individual news channels with immediate effect.

“Over time, the manipulation and buying of TRPs has played a huge role in what some networks choose as their news content; consumers have been presented with fake news on the size and type of audience attracted by different channels; their money has been misallocated on the basis of this fake news,” the NDTV statement said. “BARC, the organisation which generates the ratings, is well-aware of what is needed and must serve its purpose by urgently cleaning up its act.”

BARC, an independent body, had earlier halted ratings for three months. The decision was preceded by a turbulent series of events: an alleged “TRP scam” that implicated Republic TV; and its chief Arnab Goswami’s arrest in an alleged abetment to suicide case. The body said it would “review and augment” its measurement system, and wanted to improve “statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes”.

NDTV is a member of the News Broadcasters and Digital Association. In a statement to Newslaundry in January this year, NBDA president Rajat Sharma had welcomed the resumption of ratings. He added that BARC had “committed to ameliorate the ratings structure by introducing rolling averages and has devised layered methods to remove outliers”.

Newslaundry reported that in November, the ministry put together a committee to “study and examine the deficiencies in the existing TRP system” – not just for news but other genres too. The report came in February, and the ministry asked BARC to hold the ratings until it had reviewed the committee’s report.