New Delhi [India], July 3 : In a latest development, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has proposed significant changes to the policy guidelines for Television Rating Agencies, originally issued in 2014.
According to an official release, the proposed draft, released on July 2, 2025, removes "some restrictive provisions for media houses to allow more players besides the current BARC to democratise and modernise the television audience measurement ecosystem in India."
The Ministry has also invited feedback from stakeholders and the general public within 30 days of the issuance of the draft. The proposed reforms aim to enable fair competition, generate more accurate and representative data, and ensure that the TRP system reflects the diverse and evolving media consumption habits of viewers across the country.
With this, the ministry aims to fix gaps in measuring streaming and mobile viewership, giving a tech refresh to the outdated ratings system
As per 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 per cent 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," the release stated.
"Recognising these developments, there is a need to strengthen the television rating system to better reflect contemporary content consumption habits in a dynamic media environment," it added.
The release mentioned the issues with the current TRP system. It said that the BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) is currently the only agency providing TV ratings which 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," the release stated.
To fix these problems, the Ministry has drafted key amendments to the existing guidelines:
"Modification of Clause 1.4 by replacing the earlier requirement that a company's Memorandum of Association (MoA) shall not include any activity like consultancy or advisory services, with an easier-to-comply provision stating that "The company shall not undertake any activity like consultancy or any such advisory role, which would lead to a potential conflict of interest with its main objective of rating," the release mentioned.
"Remove restrictive clauses (1.5 and 1.7) that were acting as barriers to entry," it said.
It emphasised that the proposed amendments aim to allow multiple agencies to foster healthy competition, bring in new technologies, and provide more reliable and representative data, especially for connected TV platforms.
As viewing habits evolve, so must the way we measure them. The amendments will also enable more investments from broadcasters, advertisers, and other stakeholders to improve rating technology and infrastructure.
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