In a significant development for India’s advertising and media measurement ecosystem, Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India) and Nielsen have jointly announced the launch of BARC | Nielsen ONE Ads, a new cross-media advertising measurement solution designed to provide a unified view of campaign performance across both digital and linear platforms.

According to a report by The Economic Times, the solution aims to address one of the most persistent challenges in the advertising industry — the lack of a single, reliable system to measure audiences across multiple screens. By integrating television and digital measurement into a unified framework, the new tool is expected to give advertisers a clearer picture of campaign reach and impact.

The initiative marks a first-of-its-kind effort in India to combine television viewership data with digital measurement into a single deduplicated reporting system. The platform merges BARC’s linear television viewership data with the capabilities of Nielsen ONE Ads, enabling advertisers to track audiences across multiple screens while avoiding duplication of viewers across devices.

Streaming platform JioHotstar will be the first premium content (PGC) platform to deploy the solution. The rollout will begin with coverage of the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 hosted by India and Sri Lanka. The companies indicated that the framework could expand further if additional broadcasters choose to participate, potentially enabling broader cross-screen measurement across the industry.

The launch comes at a time when India’s media consumption patterns are becoming increasingly fragmented, with audiences spread across television, connected TV, mobile devices and desktop platforms. For advertisers and agencies, this fragmentation has made it difficult to assess the true reach and efficiency of campaigns. The new measurement framework seeks to bridge that gap by offering integrated reporting and deeper insights into campaign performance across delivery endpoints.