BARC appoints Nielsen as digital measurement partner
Details
Rebecca Hawkes
| 05 July 2017

Nielsen India is to become the primary digital measurement partner of India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) for its soon-to-be launched Ekam service.

Ekam (Sanskrit for ‘one’) aims to enable comprehensive measurement of all video – both adverts and content – played out on TV and digital platforms. The industry will then have common data to help it trade.

A suite of Ekam products will be launched in phases, beginning with Pulse, which will measure video ad campaigns to enable daily evaluation and optimisation opportunities on ROI metrics.

The measurement firm was selected following a proof of concept testing of three companies over a three to six month period, BARC India said.

“With large expected growth in digital as well as increased local and global industry demand for robust TV + Digital measurement, it becomes essential that the country moves to a cohesive third party measurement system,” said Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India.

“There is a need for uniformity where all sides of industry are in agreement on the right metrics, measures and definitions. Digital measurement methods are still evolving globally and BARC India is attempting a few things which are a global first,” he added.

Steve Hasker, global president and chief operating officer, Nielsen, said: “Most Indians, who are getting online today, are using a mobile device to do so and 92% of the smartphone users are using video streaming services. These consumers will drive digital ad spends of marketers in India, likely to get close to Rs30,000 crore by 2020. Measuring this explosion and building a currency around this to understand the reach and ROI of the marketer’s most important future spend is imperative. BARC India and Nielsen are on this journey together”.