Kerala’s alleged Rs 100 crore TRP scam rocks TV ratings world

KERALA: According to news reports, an alleged Rs 100 crore television ratings racket has burst into the open in Kerala, shaking confidence in India’s broadcast and advertising ecosystem. What began as murmurs of suspicious spikes in viewership has widened into a preliminary police probe featuring crypto trails, leaked chats and strategic meter mapping. 

Kerala Police are investigating claims that a Kerala-based channel owner bribed a Mumbai-based Barc employee to inflate television ratings. According to early findings, large sums were allegedly transferred through cryptocurrency wallets, and investigators are examining whether this money bought access to advance viewership data and guidance on manipulating the system. 

Police sources say they have recovered WhatsApp chats, call logs and other digital evidence between the accused individuals. In several exchanges, the Barc employee is reported to have shared weekly rating figures that later matched official Barc data, a detail now under forensic scrutiny. 

The investigation also points to the alleged sharing of PIN code clusters of neighbourhoods where Barc meters were installed. Such granular information could allow precise targeting of specific meter homes, enabling artificially boosted viewership in chosen pockets. One explanation offered by the channel for its sudden ratings surge was placement on the landing page of a small North Kerala cable operator with roughly 20,000 subscribers. This claim is now being questioned in a state that has around 8.5 million cable homes. 

The probe was triggered by a complaint from the Kerala Television Federation to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Barc leadership. A special police team has since begun collecting digital and financial evidence, including examining nearly Rs 100 crore allegedly routed into the Barc employee’s Trust Wallet before being moved to multiple beneficiaries. 

Investigators are also exploring claims that the channel invested heavily in overseas phone farm networks, particularly in Malaysia and Thailand, to artificially inflate YouTube viewership. This was reportedly combined with paid social media amplification to simulate breakout popularity. 

As the inquiry deepens, industry watchers warn that the case, still in the early stages of investigation, could expose serious vulnerabilities in India’s Rs 50,000 crore TV advertising market. What appeared to be a ratings anomaly now threatens to become one of the most unsettling revelations of how deeply the system can be manipulated when technology, incentives and intent collide.