Arnab Goswami – known for his heated debates and far-right stance on various issues has been caught ‘red-handed’ in a fake paid TRP scandal that has jolted media news industry in India.
As per details, Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV – the far-right propaganda tool for India’s BJP and other Hindutva inspired nationalist parties, has been found guilty of being involved in a fake TRP scandal along with two other TV channels.
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According to Mumbai police Chief – Param Bir Singh, BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) has provided substantial evidence of rigged ratings based on data of households where barometers were installed.
The Republic TV has been accused of resorting to illegal means and measures to artificially boost its TRP ratings.
Arnab Goswami is the Managing Director (MD) and editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network which owns and operates Republic TV in English, and Republic Bharat in Hindi.
There was false TRP spreading. TRP ratings were being bought. The manipulation was mainly for advertising revenues and advertising revenue made by manipulating ratings is a crime, he said.
People were offered a monthly payment of ₹400-500 for their role in boosting the ratings, added the Police Chief.
Two TV channel owners have been arrested so far, whereas the directors and promoters of Republic TV are being investigated for ratings fraud.
What is TRP?
A target rating point (TRP) is a metric used in marketing and advertising to indicate the percentage of the target audience reached by a campaign or advertisement through a communication medium.
In the particular case of television, a device is attached to the TV set in a few thousand viewers’ houses to measure impressions. These numbers are treated as a sample from the overall TV owners in different geographical and demographic sectors.
Using a device, a special code is telecasted during the program, which records the time and the program that a viewer watches on a particular day. The average is taken for a 30-day period, which gives the viewership status for the particular channel.
