The Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), for seeking NextGen technology solutions which will be in line with the needs for measuring TV audience in India.

The Television Post reports that the partnership is in line with BARC’s philosophy to provide a reliable measurement method for TV viewership in a country of 19.7 crores TV homes.

As part of the deal, students across ten IITs in India participated and presented new ways to measure the TV viewership habits of 83.6 crores individuals, who own a TV. BARC wanted solutions for a new methods of channels, advertisement identification, along with an alternative to the TRP measuring mechanism. At present, BARC uses button pushing and meters to record viewership data from panel homes.

A final year student, TYSS Santosh from IIT Kharagpur bagged the Gold medal and a summer internship with BARC for the best solution. His solution potentially would transform large visible hardware in panel homes into user-friendly smart assistants and further reduce dependency on third parties for identifying channels.

The BARC will also be testing all the solutions provided by students for their feasibility, and if proven, will adopt them into the system, enhancing the measurement service.

BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia said that the Indian TV industry is “dynamic and its needs are ever-evolving,” while adding various unique issues impact data collecting and so it is important to keep innovating themselves and thinking ahead.

Speaking about the partnership with IIT and participation from its students, Ramgarhia says, “through this partnership, we also want to encourage students to take technology from research labs to end users, impacting a million lives.”