How TRP is affected by shows calculated alongside Weekend shows

In India, the market is still evolving. According to TRAI, there are 800 channels and 160 of these are pay channels. Out of 24.7 crore households in India, there are 14.7 crore households with TV out of which 9.4 crores have access to cable TV and the rest only receive Doordarshan. Conditional Access where you pay for the channels that you view and only those has been promised for a decade or more, but not delivered. The cable lobby is simply too strong. Channels earn a fraction of the revenue that is collected by the cable operator from a household. The rest is not declared. In addition to under-declaring the number of households in their locality, cable companies also demand a fat carriage fees for carrying the channel. The world of cable operators is still the proverbial 'wild west' they rule their roost with an iron hand. Channels that push too hard do not get seen.
Most channels rely on advertising as the main source of revenue.

The rates they can command from the client is dependent on only one metric, the TRP that is monitored and reported by a monopoly agency TAM, owned by international giant AC Nielsen. They monitor 8,150 households across India ( Now Increase By 2-4%, After Digitization) and the viewership ratings are based on these households. In each of these households a meter is fitted to the TV set. The family is given a remote control. Each family member is identified by gender and age by a button on the remote. While watching TV, they are supposed to push their button followed by the channel number. If it sounds complex and unintuitive, it is. Not only that, it relies too much on manual inputs and is prone to error. But, it is the only system we have for monitoring viewership. The advertising budget of various TV channels is determined by ratings.