by Audit Bureau of Circulation
Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is an independent nonprofit auditing organization formed in 1914 whose membership is composed of advertisers, advertising agencies, and publishers of newspapers, magazines, and web sites that sell advertising space. Its purpose is to audit and validate print media circulation claims and Internet traffic figures for the benefit of its members. Relied upon as a principal information source by media planners, the bureau publishes annual Audit Reports that detail the findings of its auditors as well as semiannual Publisher’s Statements.
The Bureau issues ABC certificates every six months to those publisher members whose circulation figures confirm to the rules and regulations as set out by it. Circulation figures that are checked and certified by an independent body are an important tool and critical to the advertising business community.
Press Audits
A media audit is a research tool used to determine where and how your organization has been covered before, as well as where and how your competitors and topics of expertise are being discussed by the media. When done well, a media audit will uncover specific areas where you have an opportunity to “own the conversation” and be seen as a thought leader from a media perspective.
A comprehensive media audit is the foundation for a focused media relations strategy. Armed with information about how your organization, your competitors and your field are being covered, you can determine a set of highly focused topics about which your organization can become known as an expert.
From there, you’ll be able to define specific media pitches that set your organization up for thought leadership in those key topical areas of focus. You’ll also be well-positioned to build a targeted list of media contacts for each individual pitch.
Knowledge of a journalists’ prior work and interests helps foster connections and makes it easier to tailor pitches to individual reporters and producers, so use what you learn in the media audit about the focus of a reporter’s work to your advantage. Members of the media, whether broadcast producers, magazine journalists, bloggers or anyone else, are more likely to take interest in your story when it is clear you’ve made an effort to read, view or listen to their past work, and approached them with something that’s a good fit. It can be a win-win situation when you pitch the right reporters you get coverage that reaches your ideal audience, and they get a story that their audience will find interesting. The piece is more likely to be shared by engaged readers, viewers or listeners. If your outreach is not a good match, however, neither your business nor the reporter will gain anything from the opportunity.
National Readership Survey/IRS
The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) is the largest continuous readership research study in the world with an annual sample size exceeding 2.56 lakh (256,000) respondents. IRS collects a comprehensive range of demographic information and provides extensive coverage of consumer and product categories, including cars, household appliances, household durables, household care and personal care products, food and beverages, finance and holidays. IRS is not restricted to survey of readership alone but is synonymous with both readership & consumption across various FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) products throughout India. IRS covers information on over 100 product categories. IRS is conducted by MRUC (Media Research Users Council) and RSCI (Readership Studies Council of India).
IRS was launched in the year 1995 with an objective of setting an industry standard for readership & other media measurement, & to provide insights on media & product consumption as well as consumer behavior patterns. In the year 1995-96, 23 Metro Reports were released followed by the All India Report consisting of urban and rural data. Simultaneously a software programme was developed to not just enable the optimum use of raw data but to also carry out multi media planning which provided a common basis of media evaluation. Over the years IRS has evolved to be very progressive, covering a broad spectrum of categories from Media data, Indian Demographics, Indian Market, Product Profiles, to the recently developed Telecom Report, TV Report, and IRS Countryside. Apart from a range of products offered new changes have been introduced in the method of classification of sub-regions from SCR’s to ISD’s, which is a more microscopic view of the consumer profile based on the socio−cultural ethnicity. From a user’s perspective, a few introductions in the form of participative sampling, customized queries have been introduced. Sub Metro level reporting for a better understanding of the consumer behavior patterns across different zones in the Metros & Edition wise reporting is the other recent introduction.
Sampling
- The annual sample spread exceeds 2.56 lakh (256,000) respondents with continuous fieldwork spread across 10 months of the year.
- Sample allocated proportionate to 12 years+ Universe of a geographic unit.
- More than 1 Lakh towns are sampled.
- All publication towns and districts are sampled in the four rounds.
- Remaining towns and non-publication districts are randomly sampled.
- Rural Sampling: Once a district is selected, 2 Talukas from the district are randomly sampled.
Businessmen’s Readership Survey
TRP
A target rating point (TRP) (or television rating point for televisions) is a metric used in marketing and advertising to compare target audience impressions of a campaign or advertisement through a communication medium relative to the target audience population size. In the particular case of television, a device is attached to the TV set in a few thousand viewers’ houses to measure impressions. These numbers are treated as a sample from the overall TV owners in different geographical and demographic sectors. Using a device, a special code is telecasted during the programme, which records the time and the programme that a viewer watches on a particular day. The average is taken for a 30-day period, which gives the viewership status for the particular channel. This has an average limit between 0-3.0.
Calculating TRP
In India, two electronic methods are there for calculating TRP:
- People meters device is installed in some places or set in selected homes to calculate the TRP. In this way some thousand viewers are surveyed in the form of justice and sampling. These gadgets record data about the channel or programme watched by the family members or selected people. Through this meter the information of TV channel or programme for one minute is carried out by the INTAM a monitoring team i.e. Indian Television Audience measurement. After analysing the information, the team decides what is the TRP of the channel or programme. Or we can say that this data is later analysed by the agency to create a national TRP data of various TV channels and TV programmes.
- Second method is known as picture matching where the people meter records a small portion of the picture that is being watched on the TV. This data is collected from a set of homes in the form of pictures and later on is analysed to calculate the TRPs.
