BARC doesn't need a restart. It needs a revolution

The suspension of BARC ratings has sent the television industry and the media industry  into panic mode. Channels are worried, agencies are confused, media planners are improvising, and advertisers are wondering how to justify hundreds of crores in television investments.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: if the entire television and media industry collapses because one ratings system is paused, then the problem was never the suspension. The problem was the system itself.

The need of the hour is to be solution-oriented while charting a clear path for the way forward.

To read the previous opinion piece on BARC ratings, click here. 

For years, we've mistaken ratings for reality. We've allowed one weekly number to dictate programming, advertising rates, investment decisions, careers and even the fate of entire channels. Today, with that number gone, we suddenly realise we have built a multi-billion-dollar industry on a single point of failure.

That should concern everyone. The question isn't when BARC returns. The real question is whether it deserves to return in its current form at all.

India needs one currency. Not competing truths.

Every functioning economy has one accepted currency. Imagine if every bank issued its own rupee. Imagine if every stock exchange created its own Sensex.

Chaos would follow. Yet that is exactly what some stakeholders seem willing to accept in media measurement. The moment BARC pauses, everyone begins talking about alternative datasets, proprietary metrics and individual measurement systems.

That is madness.

Media cannot function on competing versions of the truth. India needs one currency—trusted by advertisers, accepted by agencies and respected by broadcasters. Not five, Not ten but only ONE. Because the moment every seller starts bringing their own scorecard to the table, the buyer loses.

Why are broadcasters still sitting in the examination committee?

Here's the elephant in the room. Broadcasters continue to have enormous influence over the very system that measures their performance. Let's ask a question no one seems willing to ask loudly. Should students design their own examination system? Should companies audit their own balance sheets? Should politicians count their own votes?

Of course not.

Then why are broadcasters so deeply embedded in deciding the framework that determines advertising revenues? Measurement must be independent—not merely independent in structure, but independent in perception. The industry has spent years debating methodology, sample sizes and technology. Perhaps we've been debating the wrong issue.

Governance is the real issue. You cannot build trust when the people being measured are also among the most influential voices shaping the measurement system. It's time advertisers took back control

Let's stop pretending.

BARC exists for one reason. Not for broadcasters, Not for television networks, Not for programming heads. It exists because advertisers spend tens of thousands of crores every year and need a trusted way to evaluate where that money goes.

The people paying the bill should own the currency. Advertisers have remained surprisingly passive while others dictated the future of measurement.

That has to change.

India's marketers—not broadcasters—should become the principal custodians of audience measurement. Because ultimately, ratings are a buying tool and not a selling tool. And while we're demanding accountability from TV...Let's talk about the biggest hypocrisy in Indian advertising.

Television gets audited.

Television gets questioned.

Television gets suspended.

Meanwhile, Meta and Google continue to operate behind walls of self-reported performance metrics that advertisers are largely expected to accept on faith. Why?

Together they command an enormous share of India's advertising investments. Yet independent access to meaningful first-party data remains limited. Imagine if television channels simply declared their own TRPs every Thursday. The industry would laugh. So why do we accept precisely that model in digital? Transparency cannot be selective. If television is expected to submit itself to independent scrutiny, digital platforms should be held to exactly the same standard.

No exceptions and no special treatment.

Government must stop watching from the sidelines

This is no longer an industry issue but an economic issue where advertising fuels consumption and consumption drives growth. Media measurement underpins advertising. Which is why government cannot remain a passive observer. Its role isn't to run ratings. Its role is to make transparency mandatory. Every major advertising platform should operate under uniform standards of independent audit.

Whether television, digital or streaming. If advertising money depends on audience measurement, that measurement must be independently verifiable. Anything less is unacceptable.

BARC needs independence—not retirement appointments

Institutions don't earn credibility through technology alone. They earn it through leadership. The next CEO of BARC cannot be perceived as someone simply occupying a comfortable post-retirement chair. The industry deserves a leader selected for independence, intellectual credibility and the courage to make difficult decisions.

At a time when trust is the industry's scarcest asset, credibility matters more than designation. Give the reset to people who have actually built the industry

The next version of BARC should not be redesigned inside closed boardrooms. It should be rebuilt by people whose careers have been defined by building brands rather than protecting vested interests. Imagine an independent council comprising Sanjiv Puri, Bharat Patel, Sanjiv Mehta, Shashi Sinha, Vikram Sakhuja, Bharat Patel, L. V. Krishnan, Anupriya Acharya, Sunil Kataria, Priya Nair, Nirvik Singh and Partho Banerjee from Maruti who is a large advertiser. These are indicative names, the stakeholders can choose tall leaders who have empathy, compassion, knowledge and high integrity and a passion for serving our Industry well.

People who have spent decades building companies, brands, teams, and allocating media budgets, understanding consumers and demanding accountability. Not defending institutional positions.

If India wants a measurement system that survives the next twenty years, it needs wisdom—not lobbying. This isn't about ratings anymore. It is about trust. Let's stop treating the BARC suspension as an unfortunate interruption.

It is a stress test. And the industry has failed it.

The blackout has exposed how dependent Indian television became on one number, one institution and one ecosystem whose governance has long demanded reform. Restarting BARC without fundamentally changing how it is governed would be the easiest solution.

It would also be the biggest mistake. India doesn't need the old BARC back. It needs a new social contract for media measurement.

One currency, advertiser-led governance, Broadcasters at arm's length, mandatory transparency from digital platforms, independent leadership, uniform standards across every medium, everything else is cosmetic reform. The television industry has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild trust. If it chooses comfort over courage, we will find ourselves back here again—arguing over ratings instead of building credibility.

And by then, the audience may have moved on long before the industry does.