Sunday, August 30, 2009

Me, Darshit and TRP :)

'Pati, Patni aur Woh' trailer flashed on our TV in the evening with Rakhi Savant and Elesh also part of it. I grinned when instantly I heard a 'thup' sound. Darshit thumped his head! He was upset. Not because I watch such serials but because of people like me, the serials' TRPs increase! He used to crib on seeing me watch 'Rakhi ka swayamvar' show. But its not that I liked the show or Rakhi (no ways!!), I was just curious. But I guess many people were equally curious because 'Rakhi ka swayamvar' show earned the highest TRP of 3.5 in the history of NDTV Imagine!! And I knew.. I was to be blamed!!

But before I get the blame for the upcoming ' Pati, Patni aur Woh', I thought of finding out how I contributed to this TRP. And guess what.. I was shocked. Read on to find how TRP of a particular serial is calculated. I am sure even you will be surprised.

"Television Rating Points - TRP is the criterion that indicates the popularity of a channel or programme and this data is very useful for the advertisers
Presently, INTAM (Indian Television Audience Measurement) is the only electronic rating agency functioning in India. INTAM uses two methodologies for calculating TRP. First is frequency monitoring, in which 'people meters' are installed in sample homes and these electronic gadgets continuously record data about the channel watched by the family members. 'People meter' is a costly equipment, which is imported from abroad. It reads the frequencies of channels, which are later, decoded into the name of the channels and the agency prepares a national data on the basis of its sample homes readings. But there is a drawback in the technique, as cable operators frequently change the frequencies of the different channels before sending signals to the homes. It may be very misleading to read a channel according to a particular frequency even if the down linking frequency is same all over India.

Second technique is more reliable and relatively new to India. In picture matching technique people meter continuously records a small portion of the picture that is being watched on that particular television set. Along with this agency also records all the channels' data in the form of small picture portion. Data collected from the sample homes is later on matched with the main data bank to interpret the channel name. And this way national rating is produced"


Obtained info from How to calculate TRP

I was happy as well as shocked. Shocked because the so hyped TRP is trash! It is a vague approximation of a value which can be drastically different from reality and I strongly feel it is. Happy because I was exempted and was free to watch 'Pati, Patni aur Woh' :)

And so from now on I would like to give my TRPs to my fav serials:

1) Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (old one.. not aired currently)
2) Man vs Wild on Nat Geo
3) Young Turks on CNBC
4) Now Showing on CNN IBN
5) Lounge on NDTV Imagine

Just for fun, I asked my friends in office about their fav serials and unanimously received one reply 'Making of kingfisher calendar' on NDTV Imagine!!! Hahaha! I guess I should top that one above my list too :P.

You are welcome to add your fav ones too.

20 comments:

Anny said...

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai is my fav too...
Freinds -is in my top list :)

Mohan said...

Ok... here is an excerpt from my own blog :)

"Our media runs on crime, cricket, cinema and political controversies. These four things form the four golden pillars of our media system. They want to sensationalize a rape by an actor or debate on whether the judges should disclose their assets or not. For that matter even wake up Jinnah from permanent rest, talk about the rift between ‘A’ brothers to spice up the content. Oh wait, how can they forget running non stop ads in between bits and pieces of such sensational news?"

So.. obviously all the channels who run these BS continuously will qualify for high TRP :)

Indy said...

Well, speaking of only the Indian channels, i only get the star tv ones here sadly! So, i have recently got hooked to yeh ristha kya kehlata hai, tere mere beach mein, mile jab hum tum...and stuff! Non indian channels i like the discovery home and health travel and living shows!

Unknown said...

I generally watch sports, news & movies occasionally I watch any shows ... so I am Sorry I have nothing to add to the list but I do like "Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai" & "Tarak Mehta ka ooltah chasma" sometimes when I run into them while channel surfing...

Yogesh Goel said...

Cool analysis u did...
we all somehow knew that these calculations were vague and without a solid base...
how can one calculate as to what channels we watch until we all put up set-top boxes in our houses....isn't it?

1 thing to be checked from ur end...
link given in "How to calculate TRP" in ur post is out i guess...do check it again...

as for my favo ones..
-Tarak Mehata ka ulta chasma.
-Extreme Engineering.
and of course my 24 hour favourite
Tom and Jerry...lol...

Brijesh Gajera said...

Good analysis...and thank you for relieving me from the feeling of being guilty for contributing to the TRP :) My favorite shows :
1) Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, of course
2) Khichdi
3) One Life To Love (On NDTV Good Times)
4) Highway On My Plate (Good Times)
5) No Big Deal (Good Times)

The pity is that all these shows are things of past now :(

Vineeta said...

@Nalini: Thanks for the comment and yeah reminding me of Friends Series :)

@Mohan: Perfect take on this. I will not be surprised if I find ppl being bribed for increasing the TRPs!!

@Indy: Hey thanks.. u reminded me Travel and Living channel. Thats something evergreen :)

@Dhiman: Oh haan.. Tarak Mehta ka oolta chashma is also one my fav. Thanks for the comment.

@Yogesh: The link works for me.. I dont knw wats wrong!

@Brijesh: Chalo koi to tha jisko bhi guilt feel hua tha :) See nw we are relieved :)

Vipul Grover said...

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai anyday :)
The most intellignt Indian sitcom ever!

Indian Pundit said...

Vineeta wrote:
"And so from now on I would like to give my TRPs to my fav serials:
2) Man vs Wild on Nat Geo"

Dear its your "fav serial" and u got the channel name wrong...lol

Man vs Wild is on Discovery Channel.......hahahahaha

Cheers and yeah TRPs are trash.

Vineeta said...

Oops!! The blame is on Tata Sky :P
I do not need to check the channel just the programme name :D :D

Nova said...

Whoa! After eons I log onto my indiblogger and find you there :D

Nice blog, must say :)

And yeah I can soooooooooo relate to it :) I used to watch it too... darn it!!! :D

Vineeta said...

Oh I was wondering when I saw Nova! But tracing back, found its Neha! Good to see u here :) Keep visiting and commenting :)

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Whats In A Name said...

SaraBhai VS Sarabhai is amongst my Topesshtt List!!!!

And I dont understand where did the creative team from NDTV get this idea from!!!!!
It really sounds weird... And I dont think it will work!!!!!
Good post btw.. Atleast we get to know the reality behind trps....

Unknown said...

Sarabhai al time. Offlate i have started watching Tarak MEhta. THis ones also gud!!!!!!

Unknown said...

hey check my new post!!!!!

Prashansa said...

I like sarabhi vs sarabhai as well. I never watch rakhi ka swayawar and didn't allowed my husband or daughter to watch it either. So I have done well!:-)
You have been tagged! Visit my blog for more info!

Unknown said...

Hi Vineeta,

Got both ur comments and both have been published on my blog. BTW wat prob did u face while commenting on my blog????

Shruti said...

Hey girlie! Hi:)
My first time here :)
I love your writing style alot! Something very unique!

Am a tamilian but that doesn't i watch soaps! I have seen tamil serial's breaking Ekta's record for running many days...errr...many years!!

My favorite shows!!
Tom-Jerry
Cricket
Watching some songs and occasionally some weird debate shows!

Bhushavali said...

Hey Vineeta,
Ha ha... I know that... Exactly coz of that same curiosity I watched Rakhi ka Swayamvar....
But I could never tolerate Megaserials and of late I am not even able to tolerate 3 hr long movies... Whattado...
My Travelogue