Explained: I&B Ministry’s blueprint to strip landing-page viewership from TV ratings

New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday drew industry-wide attention by bringing the longstanding issue of landing pages into its fresh draft amendments to the TV ratings guidelines.

To ensure a level playing field, the draft proposes that viewership generated from channel landing pages will no longer count toward ratings.

Also read: Arnab-led NBF hails landing page action, the full circle of Republic’s TRP karma

The Ministry has clarified that landing pages may continue “only as a marketing tool,” but audience data derived from them must be excluded from official measurement.

A landing page in television broadcasting is the default channel that appears automatically when a viewer switches on the TV or set-top box. Broadcasters pay a premium to cable or DTH operators to place their channel in this position so that it opens first on every TV connected to that network.

The concept of landing pages is not new to the Indian broadcast industry. From general entertainment to sports, many channels have used it either occasionally or regularly.

However, it became a flashpoint when Arnab Goswami launched Republic TV in 2017 and the channel became No. 1, widely seen as riding on this tactic. The move prompted many players to follow suit to protect their interests against Republic TV.

Soon after the draft amendments were released, industry leaders appeared puzzled about how to implement the landing-page provisions.

A senior industry executive told BestMediaInfo.com that a one-line directive needs a considered view on implementation.

“The Ministry contemplated this idea in the past, but it did not see the light of day due to implementation constraints. How will BARC segregate viewership from landing pages? Will it entirely exclude the first tune-ins? Or will the first few minutes be excluded from the final numbers? If all first tune-ins are excluded, overall television viewership could collapse, as several set-top boxes resume from where the viewer left off last time,” the executive said.

“How will we handle second or third landing pages?” the executive added.

Broadcasters dragged TRAI to the Supreme Court, and the matter is still pending. They argue that landing is a marketing tool and, if they spend on it, they should be compensated in ratings. The regulator’s view is that nowhere in the world is sampling counted as sales.

Top Ministry sources told BestMediaInfo.com that the government has done its groundwork, including on legalities.

“Our Ministry has always taken a consultative approach to policy changes. Here too, we have given 30 days for industry views. We will study stakeholder comments and proceed accordingly,” the source said.

Pressed on implementation challenges, the official said rating agencies will be required to devise a system to completely exclude numbers coming from the landing LCN of any cable or DTH operator.

“Suppose a cable or DTH operator has earmarked channel No. 100 as the landing LCN, 101 as the second LCN, and so on. In that case, the rating agency will have to identify such landing LCNs and exclude the numbers arising from them from the final viewership,” the official explained.

On technological constraints, since viewership is measured via watermarking of content and not via LCNs, the official said, “BARC will have to devise a way to implement it. With the advancement of technology, this challenge is not big enough to supersede the intent.”