Advertisers withdraw ads irked by TAM reporting of data

Big-ticket advertisers such as HUL, P&G, Airtel, Dabur and Marico have pulled out advertisements from eight television broadcasters such as Star, Zee, Multi Screen Media and Times Broadcasting over differences in the reporting of data by TAM, reports CNBC-TV18's Pavni Mittal.

Also Read: TAM issues norms for effective interpretation of data
The withdrawal follows advertisers' opposition to the decision of the eight major broadcasters to move from weekly to monthly reporting of TAM’s viewership data. Broadcasters were unhappy with the impact of weekly reporting of TAM data and even threatened to stop subscription.
Last week, broadcasters amended their contract with the agency to shift to monthly reporting of viewership data and to absolute numbers of viewers from a channel's viewership share because after digitisation there was too much fluctuation in the data.
The CPRP or cost per rating point model which was followed earlier only calculated percentage share of viewership of the channel and did not account for growth of channel and viewers, in absolute terms. But the CPT or cost per thousand model provides absolute figures which will help in increasing yields.
Advertisers say the monthly reporting lowers the ability to monitor advertisements.  In a statement, Dabur said, "In the absence of clarity from TAM on reverting to the weekly reporting of ratings, we are suspending all ads for the time being and are studying the situation to chart the future course of action."
AAAI or the Advertising Agencies Association Of India said that if individual broadcasters tried to force unilateral changes in the current system, as some have tried, it would result in a measurement system that is disorderly and hybrid. The system will make it impossible for advertising agencies and advertisers to plan and therefore, buy television advertising spots.
In this scenario, it is natural for advertisers to begin to question the value of advertising in this medium at all.  This resulted in cancellation of TV releases by many advertisers.