MIB Bans Landing Page Viewership from TRP Counts; Mandates Panel Expansion to 1.2 Lakh Households
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Institutions: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB)
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has issued draft amendments to the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India (2014), proposing significant reforms to enhance transparency, statistical robustness, and integrity in the Television Rating Points (TRP) system. The Ministry is seeking feedback from the public and stakeholders on these modified amendments by December 5, 2025.
The major proposed amendments include:
Exclusion of Landing Page Viewership: Any viewership arising solely from the ‘Landing Page’ shall not be counted in audience measurement. The Landing Page can only be used as a marketing tool, ensuring that ratings reflect genuine audience choice and not paid channel placements.
Mandatory Panel Expansion: Television rating agencies must significantly expand their audience measurement panels (the total number of households that have a special device installed (a “BAR-O-meter”) to continuously and passively record their TV viewing habits.)
Existing rating agencies must achieve a minimum panel size of 80,000 households within six months of notification.
Thereafter, the panel must expand by 10,000 households annually until it reaches 1.2 lakh (1,20,000). This expansion is aimed at increasing statistical robustness and reducing urban-centric bias in the ratings.
Stricter Conflict of Interest and Cross-Holding Rules:
No single entity or legal promoter may hold 20% or more equity (”substantial equity”) in both a rating agency and a broadcaster.
Any member of the Board of Directors of the rating company cannot be in the business of broadcasting.
The rating agency must have a minimum net worth of Rupees five (5) crores.
Exemption: These eligibility and cross-holding clauses shall not apply under the self-regulation model to an industry-led body like the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which directly provides the ratings.
Technology-Neutral Ratings: Ratings should be platform-agnostic, covering all viewing mediums, including Connected TVs (CTVs), to adapt to evolving platforms.
This move by the MIB aims to inject greater credibility and accuracy into India’s crucial television measurement ecosystem, which determines over ₹30,000 crore in advertising revenue. The rules on panel expansion aim to reduce urban-centric bias and improve statistical robustness, while the prohibition on counting landing-page viewership directly curtails manipulative practices that inflate audience numbers, ensuring advertisers pay for genuine engagement.
What is ‘Platform-Agnostic’ audience measurement?→ Platform-agnostic audience measurement refers to the requirement for TV rating agencies to measure viewership uniformly across all delivery systems, including traditional cable/DTH (linear television) and new platforms like Connected TV (CTV) and digital. This ensures that TV ratings reflect total consumption across all screens, regardless of the technology used to receive the broadcast signal.
Follow the full update here: https://www.mib.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-11/6th-november-2025-notice.pdf