MUMBAI: The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) announced today that things are moving at its end. In an email sent out to industry a short while ago, it said that more than 25 companies, including global leaders in technology and research have expressed interest in taking part in the RFP (request for proposals) process for its planned audience measurement system. Additionally, its CEO Partho Dasgupta told indiantelevision.com that the baseline study is expected to be completed by November- December. The deadline for receiving the RFPs, has however been set at 31 July.

"The proposals will be in by 31 July. Currently we are having several interactions with the interested companies for clarity of issues," says BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta.

Once the proposals have been received, BARC will set up an evaluation panel that will scrutinise all proposals in order to select the best in class research methodology and technology.

Emails have been issued to all stakeholders to inform them of the latest BARC developments, says BARC CEO Partho Dasgupta

The panel will concentrate on three parameters before finalising the methodology for the audience measurement system. These are: technology of equipment across all broadcast mechanisms, capture and analysis of data and dissemination of data to users.

The evaluation panel will comprise senior experts from the industry representing all stakeholders - advertisers, agencies and broadcasters. Additionally, experts in the technology domain are also being co-opted to give insights on the best technology available.

The council is working towards ensuring that people with relevant skills are all on board from across all its stakeholders to assess the best methodologies available globally. The global competitive bidding process is a way to ensure that the country gets the best in class, cutting edge broadcast measurement system.

In order to make the research future ready, BARC has set up two different RFPs, which takes into account all demographic, social, linguistic, economic and geographic variables. The first is a ?Research RFP? which covers pure research, including sampling, weighting, household identification and data collection etc. The second is the ?Technology RFP? which covers the non-research aspect of this study, including the best hardware available, remote data collection, technology for analysis of data etc.

Currently, the council is collecting the data for the baseline survey, conducted by IRS. The sample size for this baseline survey is approximately 2.4 lakhs and covers both urban and rural India. "The results of this survey will be out by November-December which will form the basis for the BARC panel," informs Dasgupta.

BARC has in its earlier statement to indiantelevision.com had stated that the new measurement system will be completely robust, transparent and representative of the entire broadcast value chain. "We have issued emails to all our stakeholders, including advertisers, agencies to inform them of the latest developments. We are also inviting suggestions from people to make a strong audience measurement system. We are open to suggestions," says Dasgupta.

The email sent out to stakeholders is the first of a dialogue that BARC has initiated.

Earlier, this month, the TRAI had met up with industry professionals to get their views on whether ratings agencies need to be accredited/regulated, what those regulatory parameters should be and who should regulate the should be regulator. It had issued a consultation paper in April this year on the same, seeking industry opinion.