The Indian government has rolled out a new TV ratings policy, replacing the over a decade old 2014 framework and expanding the scope of ratings to cover OTT platforms, connected TVs, and other digital viewing modes.
The policy, notified on Friday, widens the scope of ratings and tackles concerns around manipulation by not counting views generated from landing pages where channels autoplay when one switches on a TV.
The government has also increased the sample size used to calculate ratings, requiring at least 80,000 homes, with plans to scale this up to 1.2 lakh homes over time.
Rating agencies will now have to publish their methodology, disclose limitations, and share anonymised data with the government, while the government has set up a dedicated Ministry-level Audit and Oversight Team to carry out regular and risk-based audits.
The policy introduces suspension of ratings as the first step in a graded framework, unlike the 2014 guidelines, which mainly relied on financial penalties and cancellation.
