New Delhi: Ashish Bhasin, chairman and chief executive, Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia, has been unanimously elected chairman of the board of Media Research Users Council (MRUC), the body that oversees the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), the council said in a statement on Thursday.
Bhasin, who will head the council for two years, succeeds I. Venkat, director of Ushodaya Enterprises, the publisher of the Telugu daily Eenadu.
A second appointment at MRUC’s 23rd annual general meeting, which concluded on 13 September in Mumbai, was that of Pratap Pawar, chairman and managing director, Sakal Media Group, as vice-chairman. He takes over from Sanjay Tripathi, former senior vice-president, HDFC Life.
Venkat, the outgoing chairman of MRUC, said, “Over the past two years of leading the apex industry body of advertisers, agencies, publishers and broadcasters, the focus really has sharpened on bringing out a world-class study in IRS. Yes, it has been a long wait for everybody, but it’s going to be a wait worthwhile. I’m excited at the prospect of Ashish and Pratap taking up the leadership; it’s going to bring good to media research in the country.”
With over 29 years of experience in advertising and the media marketing fraternity, Bhasin heads advertising conglomerate Dentsu Aegis Network in South Asia. Prior to Dentsu, he has set up several businesses under Lintas India (IPG) and also played a critical global role for Lowe Worldwide as the executive vice-president and Asia regional director, integrated marketing.
“I’m lucky that we have an extremely senior industry person, Pratap Pawar, as vice-chairman along with a distinguished board of directors, all of whom are very senior representatives from publishers, advertisers and clients. I’m optimistic that we will be able to bring out the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) which, for various reasons, has not been consistent in the last few years. I’m hopeful we will be able to bring it up to the global standards and thereafter continue it on an ongoing basis because it is crucial to have an authentic readership data,” said Bhasin on his new role.
An engineer by education, Pratap Pawar has been on the board of Sakal Media Group since 1985. The group has businesses across print, digital media, television as well as on-ground events and commercial printing. Pawar has also served many industry bodies including Federation of Chambers and Associations Maharashtra, the Indian Newspaper Society, New Delhi, the Indian Language Newspapers Association and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).
“There is a lot to be done in the area of media research, more towards being relevant in a scenario where business problems are mounting and consumer preference and behaviour fast changing. I look forward to this opportunity,” noted Pawar.
Established in 1994, the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) is an industry body created for providing its members with credible and consistent research, enabling critical marketing and business decisions. Its members represent advertisers, agencies, publishers and the broadcasting industry.