Broadcast Audience Research Council and Nielsen launch cross-media advertising measurement solution

Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, and Nielsen, a global player in audience measurement, data and analytics, on Monday (March 9, 2026) announced their collaboration to provide a unified and comprehensive measurement of both digital and linear advertising.

“In a first-of-its-kind move for the Indian advertising ecosystem, BARC India and Nielsen have announced today the launch of BARC | Nielsen ONE Ads. This pioneering solution provides a comprehensive, unified measurement of both digital and linear advertising, addressing the industry’s imperative need for a single-source view of ad performance,” a release said.

JioHotstar has become the first ‘Premium Generated Content’ platform to avail the solution starting, with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup India and Sri Lanka 2026, the release said. “In the future, depending on interest from other broadcasters, a more holistic cross-screen coverage can be provided, further improving the robustness and industry-wide applicability of the framework,” the release said.

The move is aimed at providing integrated data to advertisers and agencies for optimised spends. “The solution combines BARC’s Linear Television Viewership Data with Nielsen ONE Ads to provide a deduplicated view of audiences across all screens,” it said.

“This marks a defining moment for cross-media ad measurement in India,” Nakul Chopra, CEO, BARC India, said, according to the release, which added: “BARC | Nielsen ONE Ads is the first-of-its-kind solution in India to bring together TV measurement along with digital screens, in a unified, deduplicated system”.

Neilsen Chief Product Officer Akhil Parekh said the collaboration fills “a real gap that advertisers have been grappling with for years”. This collaboration will provide cross-platform ad measurement for the Indian market combining BARC’s linear TV data with the digital screens measured via Nielsen ONE Ads.