KOCHI: Kerala's fiercely competitive television market could be among the regional markets to watch as the Centre introduces a new framework aimed at making television audience measurement more transparent, independent and representative.
The Television Rating Policy (TRP) 2026, which replaces the 2014 guidelines, expands the number of metered homes from 50,000 to 80,000 and provides for periodic establishment surveys every three years. It also allows technology-neutral measurement covering connected TVs and television channels available on OTT platforms.
For Kerala's broadcasters, particularly its crowded Malayalam news television segment, the significance of the changes lies not merely in the weekly TRP rankings. Audience ratings are an important reference point for advertisers and broadcasters in deciding advertising rates, programming investments and channel positioning.
The government has also lowered the net-worth requirement for rating agencies from Rs20 crore to Rs5 crore and placed no restriction on the number of agencies that can register under the new policy. As of July 24, however, no agency had registered under the new framework.
That opens up the possibility of greater competition in audience measurement itself, although it remains to be seen whether additional agencies emerge and whether broadcasters and advertisers adopt their numbers.
Kerala scenario
The policy introduces several safeguards intended to address concerns over independence and credibility, including restrictions on cross-holdings, independent directors, conflict-of-interest provisions and independent audits. It also provides for graded penalties for non-compliance.
The changes come at a time when the boundaries of television viewing are becoming less clear. Viewers increasingly consume television content through connected devices and digital platforms, making conventional television-only measurement less representative of actual audience behaviour.
For Kerala, therefore, the bigger question may not be whether the new system immediately changes the pecking order among channels. Rather, it is whether a larger sample, periodic surveys and potentially greater competition among rating agencies can produce audience numbers that advertisers and broadcasters consider more representative of the state's viewing market.
That could eventually make the TRP system more consequential for Kerala's television industry — not because the government is prescribing who should lead the ratings, but because the credibility of the numbers themselves is becoming part of the competition.
The policy also excludes landing-page viewership from audience measurement, while allowing landing pages to be used only as a marketing tool.
With no agency yet registered under the new framework, however, the impact on Kerala's television market is likely to emerge only after the new measurement ecosystem takes shape.
