I&B Ministry tightens TV rating audits

The I&B Ministry released TRP-2026 imposing larger sample sizes and stricter audit, governance, and transparency rules for TV rating agencies.

The policy requires agencies to scale metered panels to 80,000 homes within 18 months (6 months for existing agencies) and ultimately to 120,000, and to measure across all TV screens technology‑neutrally. It also mandates quarterly internal and annual external audits, at least 50% independent boards, a ban on consultancy to clients, and publication of methodology and anonymised data, making conflicted partnerships, opaque measurement, and low-capacity operations harder to sustain.