The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting unveiled the new TV Ratings Policy 2026 on Friday, aiming to revamp how television viewership is gauged in the country. One significant change is the reduction in entry barriers, with the required net worth for TV rating agencies lowered from Rs 20 crore to Rs 5 crore. This adjustment is expected to facilitate the entry of new players and enhance competition in the ratings sector.
The policy also emphasizes the need to prevent conflicts of interest by mandating that at least half of the board members in rating agencies must be independent directors with no affiliations to broadcasters or advertisers. Furthermore, there is a strong focus on enhancing the accuracy of TV ratings by expanding measurement systems to cover 80,000 households within 18 months and eventually scaling up to 1.2 lakh homes.
In a move towards transparency and data privacy, rating agencies are now required to disclose their methodologies clearly and publish anonymized data. Compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, is also mandatory to safeguard users’ personal information. To ensure accountability, the policy introduces a dual-audit system, with agencies conducting internal audits quarterly and undergoing external audits annually.
