BARC India (Broadcast Audience Research Council India) is the joint industry body that measures television viewership in India, jointly owned by broadcasters (IBF), advertisers (AAAI), and advertising agencies (ISA). BARC operates a panel of approximately 60,000-100,000 households equipped with set meters that capture second-by-second viewing data, aggregated and reported as TV ratings, channel reach, and audience demographics.
BARC data is the currency for broadcast TV advertising in India. For CTV and OTT planners, BARC matters because: (1) linear TV data shows which demographics consume content also on CTV platforms; (2) BARC OTT measurement covers streaming on metered TV screens; (3) BARC publishes monthly OTT subscriber data. BARC does not measure individual CTV ad campaign delivery — for that, advertisers use platform reporting and third-party verification (IAS, DoubleVerify).
Full guide
For a complete explanation, read: BARC India and CTV measurement: what it covers, what it misses