NEW DELHI: The I&B ministry has proposed amendments to the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies, originally issued in 2014, given the significant shift in content consumption patterns, with a substantial increase in digital and on-demand media consumption.
The proposed draft, released on July 2, removes a few restrictive provisions for media houses to allow more players besides the current Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to democratise and modernise the television audience measurement ecosystem in India.
The ministry has invited feedback from stakeholders and the general public within 30 days on the draft. The proposed reforms are expected to enable fair competition, generate more accurate and representative data, and ensure that the Television Rating Points (TRP) system reflects the diverse and evolving media consumption habits of viewers across the country.
“Television viewing habits in India have undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Audiences now consume content not only through cable and DTH platforms but also via smart TVs, mobile applications, and other online streaming platforms. However, the existing system for measuring viewership, TRP, does not fully capture these evolving patterns,” said a statement issued by the ministry.
India currently has approximately 230 million television households. However, only about 58,000 people meters are presently used to capture viewership data, representing just 0.025 percent of the total TV homes.
This relatively limited sample size may not adequately represent the diverse viewing preferences across regions and demographics.
Moreover, the existing audience measurement technology does not sufficiently capture viewership on emerging platforms such as smart TVs, streaming devices, and mobile applications, which are witnessing growing adoption among audiences.
This gap between evolving viewing patterns and the current measurement framework can affect the accuracy of ratings, which in turn may influence revenue planning for broadcasters and advertising strategies for brands.
“There is a need to strengthen the television rating system to better reflect contemporary content consumption habits in a dynamic media environment,” said the ministry officials.
Pointing out a gap in the existing system in place, the ministry further said that BARC, at present, is the only agency providing TV ratings and it does not track connected TV device viewership, despite it being a major trend.
“Existing policies had entry barriers that discouraged new players from entering the TV ratings sector. Cross-holding restrictions prevented broadcasters or advertisers from investing in rating agencies. To fix these problems, the Ministry has drafted key amendments to the existing guidelines,” said the Ministry.
Feedback can be sent to sobpl-moib@nic.in and the draft is available on the ministry's website.