India proposes sweeping reforms to modernise TV Ratings System
New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday unveiled draft amendments to overhaul India’s decade-old television ratings framework, aiming to align it with rapidly evolving viewer habits and technological advancements. The proposed reforms seek to dismantle entry barriers, encourage competition, and integrate modern metrics for streaming and mobile viewership, addressing long-standing gaps in the current system.
India’s TV ecosystem has seen a revolutionary change ever since the 2014 launch of Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies. With the presence of 230 million TV homes, viewers now heavily depend on smart TVs, mobile apps and streaming services, which the current ratings system finds it challenging to account for.
The lone ratings agency, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), now employs only 58,000 people meters, or a paltry 0.025 per cent of homes, rasing concerns regarding representativeness in India’s diverse market. Critics aver that this small sample size and the inability to monitor connected devices, distorts data important to broadcasters and advertisers.
Restrictive clauses targeted in the draft policy previously deterred new entrants. Reforms suggested involve eliminating cross-holding prohibitions (Clauses 1.5 and 1.7) that precluded broadcasters and advertisers from making investments in rating agencies, preventing innovation. Clause 1.4 has been revised to allow companies to register under the Companies Act as long as they steer clear of conflicts of interest through consultancy or advisory positions. These changes seek to democratise the industry, allowing multiple agencies to coexist, compete, and bring in advanced technologies such as real-time streaming analytics. The ministry highlighted that wider participation will improve accuracy of data, especially for non-linear viewing on OTT platforms, and promote healthier competition between advertisers and broadcasters.
The officials pointed out that modernisation is the need of the hour, with obsolete metrics threatening to mislead advertising spend and content strategies in a market worth more than Rs 1 trillion. The reforms also look forward to more investments in infrastructure like deploying artificial intelligence-based meters and increasing sample sizes to ensure more representative regional and linguistic diversity. Stakeholders such as broadcasters, advertisers, and citizens have until July 31, 2025, to provide comments on the draft through email ([email protected]). The move reflects the government’s effort to establish a “transparent and inclusive” ratings environment, recognising that viewer behaviour will continue to change with technological disruption. If it is put into effect, India’s new TRP system may establish a global standard for harmonising market competition & regulatory stringency in the new digital age.
Meanwhile, the ball is in the public court, as the ministry approved what it termed a “future-ready” solution for the country’s media industry.
