DTH
Prasar Bharati’s WAVES earns Rs 2.9 crore in first year
Platform scales content, users but monetisation gaps limit revenue growth.
MUMBAI: Big waves, small ripples at least for now. When Prasar Bharati launched its OTT platform WAVES at the 55th International Film Festival of India in November 2024, it pitched a bold vision: a homegrown rival to global and domestic streaming giants, blending video, audio, gaming and commerce into a single digital ecosystem. Five months into FY2024–25, however, the platform’s revenue stands at just Rs 2.90 crore, a figure that underscores the gap between ambition and monetisation.
On paper, WAVES looks anything but modest. The platform has ingested 13,608 titles, totalling 9,495 hours of content, with over 13,000 titles already live. It has streamed more than 575 live events from the Mahakumbh Amrit Snan and the 76th Republic Day parade to the Hockey India League, Kabaddi World Cup and Mann Ki Baat while offering 74 live TV channels and 12 radio channels. With over 10 lakh registered users and more than 200 content partners onboarded, the scale resembles that of a fully operational streaming service rather than a pilot project.
The architecture supporting this scale is equally robust. Built under Prasar Bharati’s Central Archives vertical, WAVES runs on a cloud-based infrastructure with DRM, encryption and an integrated analytics dashboard. It includes dedicated units for content ingestion, quality control, publishing, graphics, marketing and billing, and is distributed across platforms such as OTTplay, Tata Play and BSNL. The offering extends beyond video to include audio-on-demand, e-games and even e-commerce via ONDC integration.
Yet, the numbers reveal a core disconnect. Despite its scale, WAVES generated just Rs 2.90 crore in a market where India’s OTT industry crossed Rs 23,000 crore in 2024. A key bottleneck lies in monetisation infrastructure: subscriptions cannot currently be purchased within the app and must be completed via an external website. In a mobile-first country where over 95 per cent of OTT consumption happens on smartphones, this extra step creates friction that most users are unlikely to overcome.
Ironically, content is not the problem, it is the platform’s biggest strength. Prasar Bharati holds one of the world’s richest broadcast archives, including 45,154 hours of digitised Akashvani programming and 35,723 hours from Doordarshan. For WAVES alone, over 3,800 hours of archival content have been made OTT-ready, including classics such as Ramayan and Shaktimaan, alongside rare cultural recordings and historical broadcasts.
There are early signs that this library holds commercial potential. Revenue from archival content licensing rose sharply to Rs 3.38 crore in FY24, up from Rs 67 lakh the previous year. Meanwhile, free digital platforms continue to drive massive reach, the PB Archives Youtube channel clocked 119.78 million views and added 4,02,000 subscribers in FY2024–25, crossing 1.7 million in total, while DD News has over 5.84 million subscribers.
That, however, presents a strategic dilemma. While free distribution builds scale, it also conditions audiences to expect content at zero cost making it harder to transition to paid models. WAVES, designed as a hybrid AVOD-SVOD platform with advertising and subscription layers, is yet to fully crack this balance.
The broader challenge is not technological but strategic. In an ecosystem dominated by platforms offering seamless payments, aggressive pricing and high-budget originals, WAVES is still bridging the gap between being a content repository and a commercially viable product.
For now, the platform reflects both promise and paradox. It has the scale, the content and the infrastructure but until monetisation catches up, WAVES remains less a revenue engine and more a digital showcase of what India’s public broadcaster could become.
DTH
DD Free Dish drives Rs 1,285 crore revenue for Prasar Bharati FY24
DTH platform leads earnings as surplus hits Rs 184 crore despite challenges.
MUMBAI: In India’s broadcast economy, free is turning out to be the most valuable play. Prasar Bharati’s flagship DTH platform, DD Free Dish, has emerged as the backbone of its commercial engine, contributing Rs 1,285 crore in FY24 making it the single largest source of internal revenue.
The numbers tell a story of quiet transformation. Out of Rs 1,911.6 crore reported under income from sales and services, DD Free Dish alone accounts for a dominant share, underlining its growing importance in a system historically reliant on government funding. While grants exceeding Rs 2,700 crore still form the financial base, total income for the broadcaster rose to Rs 5,043.6 crore in FY24, signalling a gradual but clear pivot towards self-generated revenue streams.
This surge has had a direct impact on the bottom line. Prasar Bharati reported an operational surplus of Rs 184 crore, supported significantly by the steady inflow from its DTH operations. At a time when total expenditure stood at Rs 4,859.6 crore largely driven by establishment and administrative costs, the predictability of DD Free Dish revenues has provided a crucial financial cushion.
What makes this shift notable is how decisively DD Free Dish has overtaken traditional revenue streams. Advertising, sponsored programming and archival content sales continue to contribute, but the DTH platform has effectively become the broadcaster’s primary monetisation engine offering scale, consistency and reach that legacy models struggle to match.
Yet, the balance sheet reveals a more nuanced picture. Sundry debtors have risen sharply to ₹828 crore, pointing to delays in revenue realisation and collections. A portion of these dues remains tied up in disputes and arbitration, casting a shadow on cash flow visibility and highlighting the operational friction in converting earnings into liquidity.
Even so, the broader financial position shows signs of strengthening. Prasar Bharati’s cumulative surplus more than doubled to Rs 602.1 crore, while its corpus fund expanded to Rs 812 crore, reflecting improved financial stability. However, legacy liabilities including outstanding loans and other obligations continue to weigh on the organisation, indicating that structural challenges are far from resolved.
The takeaway is clear, DD Free Dish is no longer just a public service broadcast platform, it is the economic spine of Prasar Bharati. As the broadcaster navigates the balance between public mandate and commercial sustainability, the success of its free-to-air strategy may well determine how independent its future finances can truly become.
