Moving India from TRP to CRP

Guest Column: Dr. Rabindra Narayan, Founder & MD, GTC Network, writes a note to MIB Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on why India needs a unified, census-based, tamper-proof content rating system

by Dr. Rabindra Narayan
Published: Jul 17, 2026 11:17 AM | 3 min read

Dr. Rabindra Narayan, Founder & MD of GTC Network, advocates for a unified, census-based content rating system in India that encompasses TV, OTT, CTV, and social platforms, addressing current flaws in audience measurement.
The existing television ratings are based on a small sample size of over 50,000 homes, which is vulnerable to manipulation and fails to accurately represent diverse regional and language viewership; OTT and CTV platforms are currently unmeasured.
The proposed system includes mandatory access to aggregated, anonymized viewership data from all platforms, a standardized watermarked output for consistent measurement, and the introduction of Content Rating Points (CRP) as a unified metric for advertisers.
The implementation of this system is positioned as beneficial for the national interest, ensuring accurate advertising metrics, fair representation of regional content, and eliminating manipulation in audience measurement.

Dr. Rabindra Narayan, Founder & MD, GTC Network, writes a note to MIB Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on why India needs a unified, census-based, tamper-proof content rating system covering TV, OTT, CTV and social platforms.

The moment is right

Television ratings are currently frozen pending licence renewal under the Television Ratings Policy 2026. The measurement framework is open for redesign. This is the window to fix the two structural flaws in Indian audience measurement: sample-based estimation and the complete absence of independent measurement for OTT and CTV.

The two flaws

TV ratings rest on a sample. Roughly 50,000+ meter homes stand in for over 200 million TV households. Sample-based systems are statistically defensible but structurally vulnerable: small panels invite manipulation, as past ratings scandals have shown, and cannot capture fragmented regional and language viewing with confidence.

- OTT and CTV are not measured at all. Streaming platforms hold census-level server data on every second watched by every user, and disclose only what suits them. Advertisers move thousands of crores annually on self-reported, unaudited numbers. No other advertising medium in India is permitted to grade its own homework.

The proposal: three steps to one currency

- Mandate census data access. Require all OTT, CTV and digital video platforms operating in India to provide the accredited rating agency with API access to aggregated, anonymised viewership data in real time. This is 100 percent census measurement, not sample estimation. Platforms cannot fudge what they do not control. Privacy is fully protected: the mandate covers aggregate content-level data only, no user-level information, in compliance with the DPDP Act, 2023.

- One signal, one watermark, every beam. The ratings watermark is already embedded at playout for linear TV. Mandate that broadcasters deliver a single watermarked output feeding the linear beam, OTT apps, CTV, YouTube and social platforms alike. The watermark travels with the content everywhere. The agency then measures a show wherever it plays, from one embedded identifier.

- Replace TRP with CRP. The unit of measurement should be the content, not the pipe. A Content Rating Point aggregates verified viewership of a programme across every platform into one number. One currency for advertisers, one truth for the industry.

Why this serves the national interest

- Advertising money, including government DAVP/CBC spend, flows on verified numbers instead of platform claims.

- Regional and smaller-language content gets counted fully. Sample panels chronically under-represent it; census measurement cannot.

- Manipulation becomes structurally impossible. There is no panel to influence.

- Globally, Nielsen ONE and the UK's Origin project are attempting cross-platform measurement through slow commercial negotiation. India can leapfrog both by policy and set the global standard.

Request

MIB may kindly direct that the framework under the Television Ratings Policy 2026 incorporate: mandatory aggregated data access for accredited rating agencies from all OTT and CTV platforms, a single watermarked playout standard across all distribution beams, and adoption of the Content Rating Point as India's unified audience currency.

A note from the undersigned

The undersigned has spent 28 years building satellite television in India, launched the world's first Punjabi satellite channel in 1998, and has lived through every iteration of TAM and BARC measurement. The sample-meter era served its time. India now has the digital infrastructure to count every viewer of every programme on every platform. It should.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com.