From measurement gaps and agency inertia to digital’s siren call and broadcasters missteps – an industry reckoning and a three‑point rescue plan.
Television is dying. Not in a decade, but right before our eyes. While the entire medium faces challenges, smaller broadcasters are dying first and fastest. Once the king of Indian living rooms, TV now faces a slow bleed: ad revenues stagnate, linear viewership flattens or shrinks, and smaller General Entertainment Channels (GEC’s), niche movie networks, and independent news broadcasters teeter on the brink. If we don’t act, dozens of diverse voices will vanish replaced by the same handful of national behemoths and global streaming reruns.
But who pulled the trigger? The answer isn’t one villain. It’s an unholy alliance of:
- BARC’s Data Blindspots
- Media Agencies’ Road Route Planning
- Big Digital’s Precision Mirage
- Broadcasters’ Own Strategic Missteps
As someone who’s spent 30+ years selling airtime, running channels, and now advising, I’ve seen each of these systems play their part. This isn’t finger‑pointing for its own sake it’s a wake‑up call. And it’s an invitation: to broadcasters, agencies, brands, and regulators alike to join hands in resurrecting the diversity TV still deserves.
1 The Four Core Challenges Uncovered
A. BARC’s Data Black Hole
BARC revolutionized TV ratings but its 55,000‑home panel has become a blunt instrument:
FTA, Niche & Smaller Regional Under‑Representation: Free‑to‑air (FTA), niche national, and smaller regional channels often register minimal or zero measurements despite collectively reaching several million viewers weekly.
Regional Under‑Sampling
Some languages and markets rely on fewer than 800 sample homes. Kerala’s 93% TV penetration can be represented by just 150 households; Bhojpuri or Bangla markets have even fewer. This limited sampling can substantially under‑report true viewership leading planners to allocate lower ad investments and leaving these channels underfunded relative to their real audience size.
LCN Visibility Trap
Channels that are positioned beyond slot 120 in the Electronic Program Guide often due to carriage fee constraints can end up at LCN 300 or higher, significantly reducing visibility. While this may still allow for discovery in Tier‑3 and Tier‑4 markets where local content consumption is high, in more saturated urban environments, it often results in reduced sampling. When agency planners equate LCN position with popularity, it can unfairly impact channel inclusion in media plans.
Impact
Significant but underreported viewership often remains invisible to planners and brands. For example, channels with consistent 0.1–0.3 TVR can still deliver strong regional engagement and brand recall. However, without adequate measurement, advertisers tend to favour only the well‑measured national players, leaving smaller broadcasters struggling to justify their commercial value.
B. Agencies’ Thumb-Rule Trap
Media planners and buyers face endless pressure: deliver reach and ROI on tight timelines. The path of least resistance is obvious:
“Low TRP → Low Reach”
Planners often rely solely on topline BARC numbers, equating low TRP’s with limited impact. As a result, niche national, FTA, or smaller regional channels despite having pockets of strong local engagement are excluded from plans due to a lack of measured visibility.
Dark Audiences Ignored
Millions consume regional shows via YouTube, Facebook, telecom apps, even WhatsApp clusters. Yet these “dark” viewers vanish in traditional deals.
Convenience Over Due-Diligence
Requesting localized focus studies or running quick SMS/IVR polls adds cost and friction. So, agencies default to known currencies TRP and GRP’s while real audiences slip through the cracks.
Impact: Smaller networks often lose visibility not due to a lack of viewers, but because planning briefs, timelines, or budget constraints rarely allow for deeper exploration. While objectives may be met with mainstream media, opportunities for regional resonance and untapped audiences remain underutilized.
C. Big Tech & OTT’s Precision Mirage
We all bought the digital dream: pinpoint targeting, real‑time metrics, brand safety. Reality has been messier:
Mis‑Targeted Campaigns
Travel portals still chase first‑time users among their repeat loyalists. Dating apps serve “single” ads to married audiences.
Fraud & Bots
Independent auditors flag 25–30% invalid traffic. Yet ₹40,800 Cr pours into digital, funding algorithmic reruns of linear shows more than originals.
Linear’s Siphoned Share
Advertisers convinced by “precision” shift budgets away from TV, starving broadcasters of critical funds for fresh content.
Impact: Digital platforms grow richer, while TV loses the oxygen of ad revenue even as millions still tune in nightly.
D. Broadcasters Themselves: Self‑Sabotage
Survival demands strategy, but many “small” players falter before they even fight:
No Focus Studies
Without quick surveys or viewer diaries, they lack proof of reach beyond BARC’s gaze.
Chaotic FPC’s
Constant channel rebrands and slot changes confuse loyal viewers who may never rediscover the network.
Talent Drain
Stars jump ship for big‑brand paychecks. Meanwhile, on‑air teams lack digital storytelling skills.
Gloss Over Authenticity
Mimicking big‑budget sets drains budgets. Local storytelling cheaper and more resonant gets sidelined.
Impact: Even with real audiences, many broadcasters struggle to articulate value, and slip further behind.
2 Why This Matters: TV’s Still Mighty
Before despair sets in, pause on the hard facts:
- 3+ hours/day of Indian attention still goes to TV.
- 85 million smart TVs boot up linear channels monthly.
- Festivals, elections, local crises regional broadcasters remain community lifelines.
We’re not writing TV’s obituary yet. But unless we acknowledge these systemic gaps and empower those most affected, we risk losing the diversity that gives television its cultural relevance and reach. The crisis isn’t just about saving small channels, it’s about preserving the diversity that keeps television relevant. When smaller broadcasters vanish, TV becomes a handful of generic national players serving homogenised content.
3 The Three‑Point Survival Toolkit
To turn the tide, every stakeholder must play its part. I’ve condensed decades of battle‑tested tactics into three pillars:
i) Reclaim Data & Measurement
Empower yourself with proof beyond BARC’s panel.
Integrate “Dark Audience” Metrics
Embed YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp stats into your sales decks. Show advertisers active, engaged community numbers in real time.
Run Rapid Focus Studies
SMS/IVR polls or ₹5 lakh district surveys can validate 200K+ unseen viewers in 30–45 days. Bring these mini‑reports to every pitch.
Forge Coalitions for Sample Expansion
Broadcasters must unite to pressure BARC and policymakers for increased rural and language‑specific sampling. Amplify your collective voice.
ii)Innovate Content & Distribution
Own your hyper‑local truth and make discovery effortless.
Digital‑First Channels
Launch a free app via no‑code tools (Appy Pie, FlutterFlow) in 4 weeks. Live‑stream broadcasts, host catch‑ups, and drive linear tune‑ins with on‑screen QR codes.
Frugal Authentic Storytelling
Partner with local colleges, citizen journalists, even enthusiastic viewers for UGC. Produce folk dramas, community sagas, governance exposes stories no metro channel can touch.
Stable Channel Identity
Freeze FPC’s for min 13 weeks. Let viewers form habits don’t uproot them mid‑season.
iii) Reinforce Revenue & Partnerships
Diversify income, share risk, and win advertiser trust.
Tiered Sponsorship Bundles
- Title Partner: Exclusive branding for flagship shows (₹X Cr).
- Segment Sponsorship: Co‑produce a local news break or musical slot (₹Y Lakh).
- “Supported By”: Lower‑cost integration’s for SME’s (₹Z K).
Hybrid Events & Shoppable TV
Co‑host regional festivals or digital fairs. Embed QR codes during segments for real‑time commerce auto leads, retail orders, or donation drives.
Long‑Term Rate Locks
Offer 12‑month commitments at discounted rates guaranteed digital extensions on your app. Advertisers gain price certainty and omni‑channel reach.
Case in Point: How One Regional Channel Fought Back
Consider the journey of a mid-sized Gujarati entertainment channel that was haemorrhaging viewers after a carriage dispute pushed them from LCN 45 to LCN 287. Their BARC ratings dropped to near-zero, and three major agency networks removed them from planning templates.
Instead of accepting defeat, they implemented our toolkit:
Data Reclamation: A ₹4.8 lakh SMS survey across 8 Gujarat districts revealed 340K weekly viewers who couldn’t find the channel post-LCN shift. They packaged this data with YouTube analytics showing 2.1M monthly views of their folk drama clips and WhatsApp forward rates of 23% for episode highlights.
Digital-First Strategy: Using FlutterFlow, they launched a free app in 28 days. The app’s live-stream feature helped displaced viewers rediscover the channel, while QR codes during prime-time drove 12K+ app downloads in the first month.
Revenue Innovation: They introduced “Community Champion” sponsorships at ₹15K per episode, targeting local jewelers and textile merchants. Result: 18 sponsors signed up, generating ₹2.7 crore additional revenue.
The Outcome: Within 90 days, two regional agencies reinstated the channel in their Gujarat media plans. Linear viewership recovered to 85% of pre-dispute levels, while the app generated an additional 180K monthly active users audiences BARC never measured.
The lesson? Your viewers didn’t disappear, they just became invisible to traditional measurement.
4 A Collective Call to Arms
To Broadcasters:
Stop seeing carriage fees and focus studies as optional. Your audiences are real. Prove it. Lock down your channel identity. Upskill teams in digital storytelling. This is war‑room strategy, not ad‑hoc tactics.
To Agencies & Brands:
Question the ecosystem. Allocate 20% of digital budgets to test small regional channels for a month. Track QR scans, dealer footfalls, UPI transactions—beyond “zero TRP.” Audit digital fraud before slashing TV plans.
To Policymakers & Regulators:
Accelerate BARC’s rural sample expansion. Cap carriage fees at 15% for channels under 1 TRP. Champion a Tier 2/3 Media Index mapping 50+ channels to economic hotspots so growth markets get the visibility they deserve.
5 Your Partner in Resurrection
I’ve spent three decades in these trenches selling airtime, launching channels, and consulting on boardrooms. If your network is ready to:
1.Build a zero‑cost app prototype in a month
2.Run rapid focus studies that prove 200K+ unseen viewers
3.Design tiered sponsorships and hybrid event models
…then I’m ready to share my playbook: 30+ templates for surveys, rate cards, content repurposing, and negotiation scripts. Bring your last audience diary, your most outrageous carriage invoice, and one raw idea let’s build the rest together.
Let’s resurrect your channel before the obituary spins its first line. Your audiences are out there waiting to be seen, heard, and valued. It’s time we fought back as one ecosystem.
We are not just watching the slow erosion of linear TV, we’re dismantling an ecosystem that sustains thousands of livelihoods and drives an industry valued at nearly ₹80,000 crore. The loss isn’t just about screens going dark; it’s about silencing diverse voices, shrinking opportunities, and weakening a medium that still connects millions across India every day.
(View are personal)
