Police investigate after BARC India reports TV ratings abuse
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 26 March 2018

Indian police have detained five people after TV ratings agency BARC India filed a complaint in Kerala over alleged tampering with audience meters.

The complaint, lodged in conjunction with the Malayalam channel trade body Kerala TV Federation (KTF), came after BARC India’s vigilance team received complaints regarding attempts to retrieve addresses of BARC India panel homes and influencing them.

The BARC India team says that it has gathered what it calls ‘conclusive evidence’ of multiple efforts to tamper with BARC India’s television viewership measurement system in favour of certain channels. The organisation claimed that ground inquiries confirmed that some individuals had attempted not only find out addresses of BARC India panel homes, but also to incentivise them and influence what they viewed.

BARC has removed the homes involved from its TV ratings measurement system and the police are now investigating.

“TV industry trades on the currency released by BARC India and we understand how important every rating point is to the broadcaster. We have evidence of a couple of broadcasters trying to tamper with our panel homes to improve ratings. We have taken steps to quarantine the affected panel homes,” said Partho Dasgupta, CEO, BARC India.

“While we have filed a complaint this time, we want the industry to be aware that going forward BARC India will stop publishing ratings for those channels found involved in such activities.”