India's New TV Ratings Policy Expands Governmental Power, Includes OTT/CTV

The updated Indian TV Ratings Policy formalizes and expands the government's authority over audience measurement, integrating OTT and Connected TV into the framework. This move aims to enhance transparency and competition in a sector previously dominated by a single entity, BARC India, while bringing ratings under the purview of critical information infrastructure. The industry should monitor how the updated policy impacts ratings accuracy and agency independence, particularly given the government's demonstrated willingness to intervene in content measurement.

Following the notification of the TV Ratings Policy 2026, the MIB further amended the policy on May 8, 2026, mandating that at least 33% of a rating agency's board must be independent directors and increasing the required metered homes to 80,000 within 18 months for new agencies, or nine months for existing ones (per Storyboard18, May 2026). BARC India subsequently issued operational guidelines to broadcasters, detailing how landing page viewership will be excluded from ratings calculations, requiring weekly disclosures of such placements (BestMediaInfo, May 2026). However, the Kerala High Court on May 23, 2026, stayed the implementation of the landing page exclusion clause via an interim order, following a petition from the All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) and DEN Networks (Medianews4u, May 2026). This stay introduces uncertainty into the implementation of a key reform under the new policy. Separately, BARC India is set to restart publishing TRPs for news channels from June 11, following a suspension, with the revised methodology set to exclude landing page data, assuming the court order does not permanently impact its implementation (e4m, May 2026).