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Landing page viewership
What it is
A landing page is the channel a set-top box tunes to automatically when switched on. Broadcasters pay distribution platforms for that placement, and the resulting default viewing has historically been counted in ratings
Because the viewer never chose the channel, the practice inflates measured viewership for whoever pays most, rather than measuring genuine audience preference
Impact on industries
- Corrupts the ratings currency at source - rates get set on viewership reflecting carriage payments rather than editorial appeal, favouring the deepest pockets
- The 2026 policy sought to exclude such default viewing from measurement, with later active viewing of the same channel still counted - a targeted fix rather than a blunt one
- Implementation was stayed - the Kerala High Court restrained the exclusion in May 2026 on a petition from cable distributors, for whom the fees are revenue
- The dispute is really about who captures the payment - broadcasters want it excluded from ratings, distributors want the revenue preserved