PRESS RELEASE BY MRUC ON 4TH FEB 2014

• IRS 2013 was released on January 28, 2014.

• In the week since then, there has been considerable comment and discussion in the media about the quality of the study. Yesterday, the Indian Newspaper Society sought a meeting with the MRUC to discuss the situation and the way forward. Following on from this meeting, the MRUC Chairman convened an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors to crystallise the Council’s point of view. This meeting held earlier today has taken the following decisions:

• The Council asserts that the design, methodology and in-field execution of the study was benchmarked to and conducted at the very highest standards. The massive integration of technology, from DS-CAPI, through automated collation and tabulation, to a brand new UI (user interface) with a comprehensive suite of on-board analytics played a crucial role in this exercise. The Council intended to deliver a study that could legitimately carry the ‘Gold Standard’ appellation. It is satisfied that the study has moved many steps forward in that direction.

• The Council is conscious that it is now only one of the two constituents of the Readership Studies Council of India. With the RSCI now being in charge of governance of the study, the MRUC is no longer at liberty to make a unilateral determination of the way forward, particularly in a situation as contentious as it appears today.

• The Council looks forward keenly to the RSCI meeting called by the RSCI Chairman on February 19, 2014. All aspects of the study will be placed before the RSCI for helping the broader community of stakeholders convince themselves about the study’s robustness and integrity.

• A brief presentation is appended. This will elucidate many of the aspects referred above.

THE JOURNEY

Nielsen is awarded conduct of the IRS

Execution of Pilot

Q3’13 Q1’13 Q2’13 Q1’14

Fieldwork commenced in Jul ‘13

Q4’13

Fieldwork wrapped up in Dec ‘13

Data Processing

Regular Quarterly cycle is resumed

IT’S NEW AND BETTER IRS 2013

100% DS-CAPI !

Dual-Screen CAPI Interviews for all interviews

Significantly reduces non-sampling errors

• Eliminates order bias

• Ensures accuracy

• Reduces fatigue for respondent & interviewer

• Addresses social and cultural issues

• Has a positive environment impact

More India in the new IRS

The IRS now includes the North-East, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli

Provides a more accurate picture of India

• Tap into new communities

• Understand demographics for a larger India

WHY CANT WE COMPARE IRS 2013 WITH THE PAST?

The survey design has significantly changed from previous rounds - Data Collection, Sampling Design, Coverage and Reporting Breaks

• Population projections are now based on Census 2011, and estimated to December 2013

• Most city boundaries have been redefined, to include newer urban outgrowths

• For many Metros population dropped from estimated population to 2011 census population

• Data Collection Methodology

• 100% use of Dual Screen CAPI, reduces order bias, respondent and interviewer fatigue,

• Interviews locked down immediately, to remove any “post-correction”

• Location Tagging and Random Audio Recording to improve quality of interviews

• Data Processing done on automated servers without manual intervention

• More Recent Definition of Media Consumption

• Readership based on real usage – Last 1 Month, instead of Popularity Recall – Last 1 Year

BASED ON LATEST CENSUS DATA

• IRS 2013 uses latest GOI census data, removing significant deviations in many market-level population estimates. Some of the more salient changes are listed below:

15.3 13.5

17.7

7

14.2 12.1

15.6

7.6

0

5

10

15

20

Delhi Kolkata Mumbai Chennai

2012 2013

REDEFINITION OF READERSHIP FOR DAILIES

• The process to identify readers of Dailies, and hence the definition of readers of dailies has been updated in IRS 2013

• This ‘funnel’ process ensures

• That a frame of reference is set in the respondent’s mind

• Elimination of high claimed readership of Dailies

• Ensures recency of readership in data capture

Past 12 Months Past 30 Days

PREVIOUSLY IRS 2013

AIR (Yesterday) AIR (Yesterday)

Language Filter (P30D)

Read a Newspaper Read a Newspaper

STUDY DESIGN INCLUDES A MARGIN OF ERROR

• IRS is a sample survey and the sample design is based on -

10:90:20 Rule: 10% Incidence, 90% Confidence, Relative Error under 20%

• Below are examples that show the margin or error in estimates

• Despite lower penetration, IRS 2013 deliver significantly lower error rate for most cases

• Estimates provided in IRS are not point estimates. Given the study design is a margin of error built in

• We caution users to be cognizant of these error margins

Geography Sample

Size Publication AIR* Incidence

Margin of Error

Lower Limit*

Upper Limit*

Delhi 4,143 Dainik Jagran 536 3.8% 14.4% 459 613

West Bengal 18,835 Bartaman 2,510 3.3% 7.3% 2,327 2,693

Aurangabad 940 Lokmat 247 24.82% 10.4% 221 273

Chandigarh 1,015 Amar Ujala 56 6.24% 22.4% 44 69

* Wtd (000s)

ANALYSES ON UNSTABLE BASES

• The IRS Terms of Usage stipulate that users must not analyze or report numbers (especially, AIR) on an unweighted respondent count of less than 30

• It is being claimed that A Publication has multiple times readership in a City outside the home city as compared to the home city. Because of low sample counts, such instances are possible… Hence, the software warns when sample reaches a threshold.

• We strongly urge all media houses to report numbers based on statistically valid samples (at least 30), and as guided by IRS Terms of Usage

• DO REFER TO THE IRS TERMS OF USAGE

Totals City X Home City

Publication A

Unwgt 31 1 -

(000s) 104 3 -

Vert% 0.01 0.21 -

AN EXAMPLE

A

LOW BASE -EXCEL O/P WITH ERROR MESSAGE

THANK YOU