Doordarshan India signs to audience measuring body

Doordarshan India has signed up with the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) to officially measure its viewership.

The Indian state broadcasting channel is available through the Sky Digital platform free-to-air.

Mainstream terrestrial and digital multi-channel services subscribe to BARB, however Asian TV channels have until recently stayed away from such mechanics of audience measuring.

Last October, Prime TV became the first Asian channel to have its viewing figures measured through BARB.

A Possible reason why Asian broadcasters have opted not to subscribe to BARB could be because of the hefty subscription costs. BARB subscribers pay an annual registration fee of over �5,000 and a quarterly subscription fee. UK Asian subscription TV broadcasters instead depend on subscriber figures to observe the popularity of its channel(s). Free-to-air channels determine the success of their programmes and the channel on the whole by its income revenue.

In other news from Doordarshan, it has been confirmed today that Doordarshan News will not be returning to the Sky Digital platform. The news channel was removed from the Sky line-up in January citing “technical glitches” as the problem. However, it has now been confirmed that the EPG slot has been sold to another broadcaster which is expected to launch its own service next month.