The television advertising industry was a 145 billion dollar industry globally in 2005. Advertisers, media planners and broadcasters alike, require an accurate idea of the viewership habits of TV audiences to aid programming, scheduling, pricing; and media planning & buying decisions. The audience measurement industry supports this decision-making by providing viewership data collected from a sample TV audience panel and statistical analysis based thereon.

DecisionCraft manages the largest TV homes panel in the world in India for its sister concern Audience Measurement and Analytics Ltd - aMap ( www.audiencemap.com ) and also partners for data modeling to gain insight into what audiences are watching. DecisionCraft-aMap's data center hosts proprietary web-based applications developed by DecisionCraft. These applications include calling servers that dial into 6,000 peoplemeters daily to collect data, and ftp servers for transfer of data to and from clients. DecisionCraft has also developed a unique proprietary algorithm for significantly scaling down the amount of data being transferred on a daily basis between the panel meters and the data center.

DecisionCraft has also been developing decision support systems for aMap to aid the television industry that includes:

1. Data Validation System: A system was developed to validate the viewership data received from the sample homes before carrying out further analysis.
   
   
2. Media Optimizer: Media optimizer provides an optimal media plan that will maximize ratings or reach or minimize the budget, for a set of user specified parameters (channels, day parts, target groups, time period).
   
   
3. Promo-planning System: A system that calculates the best times to show promos for a program aimed at a particular target audience while ensuring minimum use of prime time.

DecisionCraft is also at advanced stages of development for the following applications that will be used by broadcasters and advertisers:

1. Optimal Program Scheduling System: A system to identify the best time to schedule a particular program. This system would take into consideration the target audience, competing show schedule, and primetime/non primetime programming constraint.
   
   
2. Broadcasting Revenue Management System: A DSS for broadcasters that will facilitate revenue maximization through the sale of inventory at the right prices using demand forecasting and optimal inventory allocation. DecisionCraft also provides consulting services on Broadcasting Revenue Management. Revenue Management in this industry facilitates availability of ad-inventory at the right price to the right customer at the right time. Revenue management systems have been instrumental in increasing both revenue and profits across industries like Media, Airlines and Travel and have become a necessity in view of growing competition and an increasingly discerning advertiser.

DecisionCraft's intent is to use the power of analytics and advanced mathematical modeling for the media industry with future forays into DTH, IPTV and other emerging technologies.