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It's been 18 years TAM Media Research was reporting TV viewership ratings. TAM is a joint venture between Kantar Media Research and Nielsen, will put full stop to give TV ratings effective February 29, 2016.

BARC India, a joint industry body of the broadcasters, advertising agencies and the advertisers, has officially formed a 51:49 joint venture company with TAM, called Meterology Data Pvt Ltd (MDL). This JV will manage the panel meters of both the agencies and provide the raw viewership data to BARC India.

As part of the new system, all TAM India meters will be re-deployed in panel homes selected by BARC India's sample design, and the JV will help BARC India in growing its sample size.

In MDL, BARC India will have full management control with a 51 per cent stake, while TAM India, which includes Nielsen and Kantar, will have a 49 per cent stake.

BARC India and TAM India have both been generating and reporting TV Viewership data individually to the industry until now. But, with the completion of this JV, BARC India will be the single provider of TV viewership data.
MDL's role will be to run and manage the meter operations and supply raw data to BARC India. Television viewership data will be computed and disseminated through the BMW (BARC India Media Workstation) software. MDL will manage the panel households, and will also be responsible for future TV panel expansions.

"The Industry was eagerly waiting for this merger to be completed from the time we announced it in August last year. We are happy to state that the Joint Venture Company is complete and all set to kick-off operations," said BARC India CEO Partho Dasgupta.

"We will work closely with BARC to ensure a good outcome for the industry and our joint clients. We have worked productively with BARC to get here and under the circumstances, have agreed a good way forward for everyone concerned" added Kantar CEO Eric Salama.

"We are happy to collaborate with BARC India. The coming together of BARC India and TAM India has only strengthened the Indian broadcast industry, as they will now be getting viewership trends from a larger panel size," informed Nielsen MD Prashant Singh.