logo
Beyond TRPs: Govt's ratings reform may transform OTT audience measurement

Beyond TRPs: Govt's ratings reform may transform OTT audience measurement

Mint21-07-2025
The government's recent proposal to amend the norms for television ratings system in India, currently monopolized by Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc), encouraging big tech and other private entities to set up their own rating agencies could spark competition and help create more credible cross-platform audience measurement systems, experts said.
The current system of measuring television rating points, which indicate the popularity of TV programmes and the time slot when most viewers tune in, is used by brands to place their advertisements for maximum impact. However, TRPs are restricted only to linear TVs, meaning they gauge viewerships only for cable TVs and direct-to-home, with no insight into streaming platforms or connected TVs, making it difficult for brands to make confident ad spend decisions.
The ministry of information and broadcasting's (MIB) draft amendments to the Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India, released on 2 July, could democratise the rating system, leading to more credible measurement systems for OTT video streaming content, too. The draft amendments are open to public feedback until 1 August.
Read more: Movie theatres are back to being prime drivers of Bollywood revenue as OTT cools
'This move could encourage third-party agencies or tech firms to develop or licence audience measurement tools for OTT. Currently, most OTT platforms rely on internal (and opaque) analytics. A policy push could incentivize competition, innovation, and transparency, leading to more credible and cross-platform metrics," Anupam Shukla, partner, Pioneer Legal said.
Benefits for advertisers
Until now, viewership of web shows and films have only been tracked informally by select media consulting firms and agencies, leading to an opaqueness around what works. Although streaming platforms themselves have such data, very few, with the exception of foreign players such as Netflix, release the same. In the rare cases that they do, there is no standard metric for viewership of OTT programmes, creating an obstacle for advertisers to bet on such content, if it is streamed for free.
That could change, industry experts say, with the availability of granular and verifiable viewership data, offering targeted advertising solutions based on user demographics, behavioural insights, content preferences, and viewing habits.
Currently, Barc is the sole ratings provider on TV and didn't track connected TVs or OTT platforms, Bharati Wukkadada, associate professor in data science and technology at Mumbai's KJ Somaiya Institute of Management pointed out. Further, OTT platforms in India use their own measurement metrics and reporting formats. The absence of uniform standards made it difficult to compare or consolidate viewership data across platforms. Major Indian OTT services preferred to keep viewership data confidential, treating it as a competitive advantage rather than sharing it with industry bodies or advertisers, Wukkadada said.
While data for OTT platforms can be tracked even now, the accuracy of the metrics remains questionable, agreed Natasha Treasurywala, partner at law firm Desai & Diwanji. With the entry of more rating agencies including those owned by the OTT platforms themselves, competition will increase, and the data will become far more reliable and authentic, she said.
Calling the MIB move a shift aimed at making audience viewership measurement more accurate, transparent, and representative, Gaurav Sahay, founder partner, Arthashastra Legal, said that the OTT sector currently operates outside the framework of any government-mandated audience measurement system. It relies instead on proprietary and opaque data analytics managed internally by streaming platforms. 'These data sets are rarely shared with advertisers or regulators in a standardized or verifiable format. This absence of uniform measurement hinders comparability, credibility, and cross-platform audience analysis. Though the proposal primarily focuses on linear television broadcasting, it can result in consequential bearing on OTT content," Sahay said.
Read more: Old Indian films find revival on OTT platforms, thanks to social media, nostalgia cravings
Precision viewership data enables advertisers to move beyond traditional impression-based models to outcome-based metrics such as click-through rates, conversions, and engagement duration, thereby justifying higher ad spends and improving return on investment. Access to credible, third-party audited data could bridge the trust deficit that often exists between OTT platforms and advertisers, leading to increased programmatic ad purchases and cross-platform campaigns that combine television, digital, and mobile viewership, the experts said.
Further, from a regulatory standpoint, granular audience insights also assist in internal compliance with age-appropriate rating norms, language-specific targeting, and accurate content classification.
However, there is a flipside to the government's move.
A senior executive at a streaming platform pointed out that like TV, this could lead to multiple parties, including OTTs themselves, claiming to provide credible data that suits their interests. "Whom would the viewer trust in this case?" the executive asked. Moreover, for significant advertising, streaming content would actually have to prove to clock in significant eyeballs in mass-market areas, which remains a challenge.
Yet, many see the possibility as a positive one for the industry.
'This data also supports fair market practices under competition, which can help platforms meet disclosure requirements under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India) guidelines, while ensuring alignment with IT Rules, 2021, and emerging privacy requirements under DPDPA (The Digital Personal Data Protection Act) frameworks," said Gaurav Gupta, founding partner at law firm Bridge Counsels. "Just as Barc ratings help shape buying decisions for television, independently verifiable OTT metrics would enable fair ad placement and unbiased audience segmentation. Ensuring transparent pricing through such metrics is also crucial to prevent potential claims of advertiser deception."
Read more: Will ZEE5's new slate of content, regional push, and micro-drama help it win the OTT war?
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Jane Street working on its defense against stock market manipulation allegations from Sebi, here's how
Jane Street working on its defense against stock market manipulation allegations from Sebi, here's how

Mint

time21 minutes ago

  • Mint

Jane Street working on its defense against stock market manipulation allegations from Sebi, here's how

Jane Street Group LLC is expected to argue that its controversial Indian options trades were a response to outsized demand from retail investors, people familiar with the matter said. The trading giant has been working on its defense against market manipulation allegations from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The regulator in early July alleged Jane Street had taken large positions that artificially influenced prices in the country's stock and futures markets, moving them in favor of its options bets on multiple days. Jane Street said on Monday it has sought an extension to respond to the interim order. Last week, SEBI lifted Jane Street's temporary trading ban after the firm deposited 48.4 billion rupees ($560 million) in alleged 'unlawful gains' into an escrow account. A 105-page order from SEBI detailing its preliminary findings devoted a long section to Jane Street's trading activity on Jan. 17, 2024, which was the firm's most profitable day over a roughly two-year period that the regulator scrutinized. The New York-based firm is expected to argue it was eager to facilitate options bets from the country's retail investors, knowing it would be largely unhedged, said the people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The firm hedged less in India than in other markets and spread out its hedging activity over multiple hours on that day in January 2024 to reduce its market impact, the people said it is likely to explain. On that morning, the NSE Nifty Bank Index dropped 3.2% at the open and fell further during the day. SEBI alleged that Jane Street aggressively bought the index's constituent stocks in the cash and futures markets to manipulate the gauge's intraday levels, then reversed the trades in the afternoon to profit from a much larger bearish index options position. Jane Street is expected to say that high retail demand for options on that index was a key driver behind its trading in the morning, according to the people familiar with the matter. The firm will likely argue that individual traders bought about $4 billion worth of the gauge's stocks using options in the first half hour of trading, and that Jane Street — which was acting as a market maker — facilitated about $1 billion of that demand. Those numbers are based on net delta positions, which represent the value of cash equities the options positions are equivalent to when taking into account the derivatives' sensitivity to the underlying assets' price moves. SEBI's order said Jane Street's share purchases on that January 2024 morning represented between approximately 16% and 25% of the trading turnover for 10 of the 12 Nifty Bank Index stocks, making the firm by far the single largest net buyer. As Jane Street sold call options and bought puts, it amassed a bearish position that represented 7.3 times the size of its long cash and futures bets, according to the regulator. Jane Street is expected to argue that the high retail options demand created a gap between prices implied by the options and those reflected by the shares, and the firm sought to close it through a standard arbitrage trade, the people familiar said. The retail demand was so large that only 10% of it could have been hedged — partial hedging being a common practice among derivatives market makers internationally, the firm is expected to say. In the afternoon, Jane Street sold the stocks over more than three hours, spreading out its hedging to protect against settlement-price uncertainty as the options were about to expire, also a typical tactic globally, the people said it will argue. SEBI did not respond to a request for comment. Retail traders' enthusiasm for options has helped turn India into the world's biggest market for listed derivatives by contracts traded, with turnover of more than 300 times that of cash equities. Global trading firms have used their capital and technological edge to profit from that large imbalance, but local investors have cumulatively incurred billions of dollars in losses, leading the regulator to crack down on the trading frenzy. Critics of Jane Street say the sheer size of its positions built up over a short time would have given the firm market-moving power, even if the trades were within regulatory limits. Alexander Gerko, the billionaire founder of rival XTX Markets Ltd., has challenged Jane Street to show that its India trading strategy was 'legit' by proving it would work better after scaling it down by a factor of a 100. 'Any 'normal' strategy works worse as it scales up, due to market impact, unless your strategy IS market impact,' he wrote in a LinkedIn post earlier this month. The regulator's interim order presented serious allegations and a 'compelling narrative,' though it is not certain that Jane Street acted inappropriately based on the initial findings, said Abhiraj Arora, a Mumbai-based partner at law firm Saraf and Partners who once worked at SEBI's surveillance and investigations department. Arora, who isn't involved in the case, said too harsh a crackdown and excessive surveillance of market makers could lead to wider bid-ask spreads, poorer trade execution and increased price swings. The Jane Street case ultimately 'serves as a significant test for India's regulatory framework and its capacity to oversee increasingly complex global trading practices,' he said. Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.

Volatility in market & volatility of bottom line are different: 6 mid-cap stocks from different sectors with an upside potential of up to 33%
Volatility in market & volatility of bottom line are different: 6 mid-cap stocks from different sectors with an upside potential of up to 33%

Economic Times

time23 minutes ago

  • Economic Times

Volatility in market & volatility of bottom line are different: 6 mid-cap stocks from different sectors with an upside potential of up to 33%

There is no escaping this fact: In a growing economy like India, you have to be bullish. Because the Nifty and Sensex have once again started to decline after witnessing a stable April, May, and June does not mean you have to be bearish on India. Yes, you can be bearish on select stocks, sectors and indices, but don't extend that to being bearish on the Indian economy. Now, can the correction continue in the short term? Yes, it could. In a FONT SIZE SAVE PRINT COMMENT

Is Aditya Infotech's IPO a risky bet for investors in a competitive market?
Is Aditya Infotech's IPO a risky bet for investors in a competitive market?

Economic Times

time23 minutes ago

  • Economic Times

Is Aditya Infotech's IPO a risky bet for investors in a competitive market?

Agencies Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel ET Intelligence Group: Aditya Infotech , a security and surveillance products manufacturer, plans to raise ₹500 crore through fresh equity to partly repay debt and another ₹800 crore through offer for promoter stake will fall to 77% after the IPO from 95%. The standardisation testing and quality certification (STQC) norms, which came into effect in April 2025, will affect the sale of products from Chinese companies in the internet protocol (IP) driven surveillance systems thereby increasing the addressable market opportunity for Indian this augurs well for Aditya, the extent of the benefit will take a few quarters to become clear. In addition, the company's Ebitda margin was in single digits, at 8-9% between FY23 and FY25. It indicates that the company operates in a highly competitive market. Given these factors, the IPO looks more suitable for long-term investors with high risk undertakes manufacturing and sales of its own products as well as trading of products of China-based Dahua Technology. Trading of Dahua products contributed 24.7% to revenue in FY25. This is expected to fall given the STQC norms . Trading margin is typically one-third of Aditya's own products margin. A lower trading contribution in revenue, therefore, may improve the Ebitda margin. Revenue grew 16.7% annually to ₹3,111.8 crore between FY23 and FY25. In July 2024, the company acquired control of its JV with Dixon technology in a share swap agreement with the PAT was boosted by ₹248.6 crore in FY25 as a gain on account of fair valuation of its stake in the JV, taking the total annual net profit to ₹351.4 debt was ₹231 crore in FY25 compared with ₹334.8 crore in the prior year. Net profit in FY25 includes a one-time fair value gain, which renders the trailing P/E multiple less effective. Profit before exceptional items and tax at ₹185.4 crore in FY25 was similar to ₹189.9 crore in FY24. Valuation based on FY24 numbers makes more sense. The FY24 P/E works out to be 68.7. The company does not have any listed peers.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store