Ratings Chori: Kerala Channel Owner Transferred Crores to BARC Employee to Manipulate TV Ratings, Investigation Reveals

An ₹100-crore BARC TV ‘Rating Chori’ racket involving a Kerala-based channel owner and Mumbai-based BARC employee Premnath has triggered a police probe led by Kerala State Police Chief Ravada Chandrashekhar, who has termed the offence “very serious.”

Authorities are examining evidence that crores were paid in bribes, routed through cryptocurrency and linked digital wallets, to inflate one channel’s ratings and ad revenue.

Leaked WhatsApp chats and frequent call records between Premnath and the Kerala channel owner show the official sharing rating numbers in advance and confirming payments with brief acknowledgments and emojis.​​

The investigation shows the channel owner falsely projected a dramatic ratings surge as the result of securing a “landing page” on a small North Kerala cable network with about 20,000 subscribers, despite Kerala having roughly 8.5 million cable connections.​​

Premnath allegedly supplied PIN codes of areas where BARC meters were installed, enabling focused efforts in those localities to influence viewing patterns and bend the panel-based rating system in favour of the conspirators.

On one cited date, the rating figures sent by Premnath reportedly matched the subsequently published weekly BARC ratings exactly, which is presented as direct proof that the data were manipulated to favour the paying channel and damage competitors.

DGP Ravada Chandrashekhar confirmed that a preliminary investigation has begun into the BARC rating fraud following a complaint from the Kerala Television Federation to the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and BARC’s CEO.​​

Acting on the Chief Minister’s instructions, a team led by the DGP has started collecting evidence, with the case being treated as a grave attempt to corrupt the TV rating system that underpins India’s ₹50,000‑crore television advertising market.

Investigatons indicate that around ₹100 crore reached the “Trust Wallet” of Premnath, described as a mid-level BARC official, with funds allegedly originating from the account of a Kerala TV channel owner.​​

The payments were reportedly made in USDT cryptocurrency, then distributed onward to multiple beneficiaries, which is being cited as evidence that similar manipulation rackets may be operating in other states as well.

Alongside the BARC manipulation, the channel owner allegedly invested crores in “phone farming” operations in countries such as Malaysia and Thailand to artificially inflate YouTube viewership using large number of phones.​

Paid campaigns on social media platforms were also reportedly used to build a misleading perception of popularity, creating a digital backdrop that helped justify and conceal the distorted television ratings.

Story Highlights : Kerala Channel Owner Transferred Crores to BARC Employee to Manipulate TV Ratings