#e4mExclusive:  IRS pilot to measure media behaviour in both offline & online worlds: Vikram Sakhuja

After a six-year hiatus, the Media Research Users Council of India (MRUCI) on Monday approved the launch of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS)—albeit as a pilot, marking the survey’s first-ever pilot edition.

Vikram Sakhuja, the newly elected chairman of MRUCI, will steer this initiative at a time when the long-pending survey is finally set to be revived. An alumnus of IIT Delhi and IIM Calcutta, Sakhuja has previously chaired MRUCI’s technical committee, bringing research rigour and a cross-media perspective to the role.

Read e4m breaking story on MRUC approving IRS pilot survey

The last IRS was conducted in 2019–20. Since then, its rollout has been stalled—first due to the pandemic and later because of funding challenges. In an exclusive conversation with exchange4media, Sakhuja explains the intricacies of the much-anticipated pilot survey.

Why Pilot Survey?

Explaining the rationale behind the decision to run a pilot IRS instead of a full-fledged survey, Sakhuja states, “The media landscape has changed profoundly since the last IRS that was released in Q1 of 2020. We wanted to run a pilot in a couple of markets before rolling it out nationally, to specifically explore four areas.”

1. Capturing online newspaper readership and its interplay with print
2. At a larger cross media level reading the interplays between consumption of Media that encompasses TV, Print (Newspapers and magazines), Radio, Cinema, Online readership, Online Video long and short form, Social Media and e-Commerce. 
3. In a world of MAUs and DAUs and everything in between, understanding the metric that best represents  how each Medium’s consumption should be reported.
4. Capturing the readership and media consumption of the creamy layer homes typically under-represented in establishment surveys.

Cities remain under wrap 

Read e4m report on Vikram Sakhuja's appointment as MRUCI Chairman

Although the pilot is expected to cover a couple of markets, including both urban and semi-urban, as e4m reported earlier, Sakhuja declined to name them: “We will disclose this at the right time. But it needs to cover the pilot objectives.”

On who will pay for the exercise, Sakhuja says, “The pilot will initially be funded by MRUCI. As we learn from it and expand, it will be made commercially available for subscription.” 

Will Inteliphyle (led by Prasoon Basu, former executive at Kantar and Nielsen, to execute the much-awaited survey) be roped in to conduct the survey, as reported by e4m earlier, he remained measured: “As we finalise all agreements, we will share modality and partners that MRUCI will be working with at the appropriate time.”

Read e4m report on roadblocks for IRS Pilot

No timeline, but top priority 

The industry wants timelines and expects balls to set rolling by the year end, but Sakhuja would not be pinned down to dates. “I have learnt the hard way not to go ahead of myself by committing to a date. Rest assured we will be working on this with priority,” he says in a guarded response. 

On when a full-scale IRS might return, his response was succinct: “After the successful completion of the pilot, God willing.”

Read Rajiv Dubey's Guest column on India's media measurement

New research protocols 

e4m earlier reported that several key members of the Council are increasingly skeptical of the traditional door-to-door survey model, citing restricted access to housing societies post-COVID and rising privacy concerns. They cited that metro residents were less willing to spare 45 minutes for interviews, which could compromise the reliability of urban data and, in turn, the credibility of the IRS.

MRUCI is attempting to close those gaps, to assuage their concerns through new research protocols, stronger tech-based controls and a more transparent and accountable working structure, Sakhuja noted.

On the perennial tension between print and digital metrics, he rejected the premise of a trade-off. “Our job is to accurately capture the media India is consuming. This doesn’t require a balancing act,” he said.

If the pilot meets its objectives, it will only be about techniques or partners but whether MRUCI can rebuild a trusted cross-media measurement currency for India. For now, Sakhuja’s focus is pragmatic: deliver accurate, usable data that mirrors how India consumes media today—and let the industry decide the next steps.