According to the Business Standard, India’s top advertisers and broadcasters have resolved the differences that emerged regarding the frequency of TV ratings. Seven broadcasters – STAR India, ZEE, NDTV, Times Television, BAG, Viacom 18 and Network 18, and Multi Screen Media – and advertisers such as Hindustan Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were in conflict after the decision by the seven networks to shift to monthly ratings two weeks ago.

Providing weekly ratings to advertisers and weekly reach figures to external stakeholders such as journalists, analysts and investors will not change. However, the broadcasters’ requests to keep out news and niche genres such as infotainment from the weekly reporting structure has been addressed by making available television viewership figures known as TVT in thousands, said Business Standard. TVT implies the number of people who viewed a television show for at least a minute. 

Service provider TAM will also give TVT numbers as a four-week rolling average. This will also be a weekly exercise, added the report.

Additionally, the two parties have also attempted to arrive at a consensus over the involvement of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) in the working of TAM, according to the report. BARC was set up three years ago following issues over TAM’s methodology of arriving at ratings. TAM will now have to make future changes to viewership measurement based on inputs from BARC’s technical committee, headed by media agency veteran and Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha, added Business Standard.