To deal with the possibility of ‘doctored feedback’ while measuring TV viewership preferences, broadcast regulator TRAI has suggested that rating agencies should have a larger number of sample homes than are actually needed to compute data.

“The Authority is of the view that by employing expanded panel homes (panel size plus additional homes) and then sampling the panel homes required for actual computation (panel size) from this expanded panel will reduce the problem of ‘doctored’ feedback to a certain extent,” TRAI has said in its latest recommendations.

TRAI has said that the actual panel homes required for computation shall be randomly sampled from the total panel homes deployed. It has also suggested that 25 percent of the panel homes shall be rotated every year.

The rotation shall be in such a manner that older panel homes are removed first while maintaining the representativeness of the panel, the regulator has said.

It also has suggested another way, through which chances of viewership being doctored could be minimised is by deploying algorithms to detect unusual viewing behaviour of certain respondents and discarding the data of such panel homes from analysis.

TRAI which submitted its recommendations for TV audience measurement agencies earlier this week said that in its opinion that both these approaches could be employed.

Keeping costs in mind, there could be at least 10 percent more panel homes deployed than required for computation purpose, TRAI had said.

Currently TV viewership measurements are commercially carried only by one agency TAM.

The subject of TV ratings has been a contentious one as broadcasters have in the past often questioned the accuracy of data generated by it.

The Information and Broadcasting ministry had earlier written to TRAI seeking its recommendations on creating guidelines that would be followed by rating agencies.

In its recommendations, TRAI has also said that it is very important that privacy of panel households is maintained.

Personally identifiable information of panel homes should not be used by rating agencies to advertise, promote or market third-party goods or services, it has recommended.

The regulator has also suggested that personal data like names, addresses or phone numbers of panel members should not be revealed to any third party for promotion of their business and the results of audience measurement should not be disclosed on an individual basis.

The rating agency should release measurement results only on an aggregate basis, for example, the results could be released on a demographic basis, TRAI said.

In most countries, individual households and viewers are kept anonymous in the rating data and only demographic profile data is released, it added.

It also said that a voluntary code of conduct should include this privacy dimension.