Mumbai: The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) has issued an advisory to its members in support of Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India TV ratings. 

In the letter, it said, “It has been brought to our notice that some publishers would be opting out of the Barc rating system."

The advisory draws the attention of advertisers to the practice of broadcasters that do not subscribe to the established system of advertisement measurement, which has been jointly agreed upon by all stakeholders – advertisers, agencies and broadcasters.

The advisory reads, “advertisers may independently assess the situation and make an informed decision concerning such platforms while dealing with advertisements.”

“In India, TV ratings are being measured by Barc, print by IRS (Indian Readership Survey) etc.” said the letter. “The primary objective of TV ratings is to know the returns on heavy media investments made by the advertisers.”

Barc is a joint industry body set up to design, commission, supervise and own an accurate, reliable and timely television audience measurement system for India. It currently measures the TV viewing habits of 210 million TV households in the country, using 44,000 sample panel homes.

“By using audience data, one (the advertisers) can ensure that very little advertising spend is wasted,” said the letter. “As the 19th-century famous quote by John Wanamaker says ‘half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

The letter further iterates, “The above quote isn’t true when media is measured! Wanamaker’s quote works only when the media audience is not measured.”