The Mumbai Police on Thursday claimed that they have busted a racket that tampered with the TRP. The owners of 2 small channels have also been arrested in this case. The Mumbai Police Commissioner specifically mentioned in the press conference that there is a suspicion of manipulating the TRP by Republic TV and it is under investigation. Republic TV, however, has dismissed these allegations levelled against it and has filed a criminal defamation case against Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. In this context, we will see what is TRP, how it is measured and what is its importance?
What is TRP?
TRP stands for Television Rating Point. It tells how long people watched a particular TV channel or a show. This shows which channel or which show is so popular, how much people like it and so on.
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TRP determines the popularity of a channel. Higher the TRP, the higher will be its popularity. Currently, Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) measures TRP.
How TRP is measured?
First of all, it is important to make it clear that TRP is not an actual but estimated figure. It is not practical to measure what is being watched in crores of homes in crores of households in the country at any particular time. Hence, TRP measuring agencies resorts to sampling and select samples representing different parts of the country, age groups, urban and rural areas. In a few thousand houses a special device called a People’s Meter is fitted. Through the People’s Meter, it is known which channel, program or show is being watched on that TV set and for how long. The agency analyses the information received from the People’s Meter and decides the TRP. Through these samples, the choice of all the viewers is estimated.
Importance of TRP
After knowing what TRP is and how it is measured, it is important to know what is its importance? Actually, TRP is the measure of the popularity of a channel, program or show. The main source of revenue for TV channels is money from advertisements. Advertisers pay the highest bets on the channel which has more popularity, i.e, TRP. If Channel has more TRP, then the channel will charge more for showing advertisements. If there is a low TRP, then either advertiser will not show interest in it or they will advertise at a lower price.