Discovery takes a U-turn; back to weekly ratings

The so-far last entrant in the pro-monthly TAM ratings race has become the first one to move back to weekly ratings.

Discovery Network, the last broadcaster to join the list of broadcasters that had announced their decision to get monthly ratings, has taken a U-turn and has moved back to the weekly ratings.

The network that runs channels like Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo, has stepped back, most likely because of the major advertisers' pressure to pull out ads on the network's channels.

The broadcasters that are still stuck on their decision to move to monthly ratings are- Network18, Viacom18, STAR India, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, BAG Films, MSM, NDTV, Prism (Eenadu) and Times Television Network.

The major broadcasters like HUL, P&G, Marico, maruti, Coca-Cola, Pepsico and Reckitt Benckiser, had written individual letters to the broadcasters threatening them to pull out ads if they did not return to the weekly ratings. July 16 was the deadline for the broadcasters to revert to weekly TAM data, however, nothing was heard from the either side regarding this while filing the report.