BARC's Landing Page Algorithm Gets Thumps Up By ISA

The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), one of the Broadcast Audience Research Council's (BARC) stakeholders, has supported the landing page algorithm used by the audience measurement organisation.

BARC has started a 'Data Validation Quality Initiative', according to a statement from the ISA, with the goal of advancing measurement science and reducing the effect of unrelated factors on viewership.

Additionally, it is stated that BARC India had removed the impact of the landing page on forced viewership figures across channels by incorporating an algorithm into its data validation technique.

The ISA claimed that this approach directly applies inferential statistics to produce superior outcomes in all genres. The technical committee of BARC has inspected and approved this.

ISA Chairman Sunil Kataria adds, “BARC algorithm detects landing pages with a very high success rate and once detected, the algorithm seeks to remove any forced viewership and voluntary viewership gets counted as real viewership for that channel. This is a fair method and that the advertisers are aligned on the solution executed by BARC on the issue of landing page viewership."

The statement follows demands from some industry stakeholders that landing page data be separated from real TV viewership. The stakeholders think that the landing page presents an inaccurate picture of TV channel popularity.

The landing page controversy has caused a rift in the TV news sector, with some participants arguing that it benefits media companies with greater pockets while its supporters assert that the practice is entirely legal even as the case is still before the Supreme Court.