The Broadcasting Audience Research Council (BARC) has been entrusted with the task of bringing a new rating mechanism for broadcasting industry.

The current TV Audience Measurement  (TAM) system is flawed. To correct the matters, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting set up Amit Mitra Commitee. Its key suggestion was to set up BARC. Anually, about RS 16000 crore of advertising money rides on broadcasting industry. It is, therefore, necessary to know the rating of a particular TV programme to help media planners to decide about brand advertising on it. Even channel allocations depend upon the viewership of the channel.

In BARC, the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) and Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) have come together with a shareholding of 60:20:20.

BARC will not conduct research but will sponsor independent vendors. The four legs of this exercise are : survey, meters, technology and analysis.

TAM has just 7500 meters. BARC proposes 25000 meters in 25000 households. It is a three-time jump.

The Surveys will be manged by Media Research Users Council. The technology tie up will be with international players. The panels have been identified. They will have the right people for data analytics.

For the time being, TAM continues to conduct the ratings but its survival is doubtful.