DTH
D2H celebrates Onam with a film campaign by LS Digital
Mumbai: D2H is marking the Onam festival with a dual celebration. The festivities include a compelling film, developed in partnership with LS Digital, which beautifully showcases the rich traditions and communal spirit of Onam. Complementing the film, D2H is also offering exclusive promotions that enhance value and entertainment, ensuring a festive and memorable experience for all customers.
Titled ‘Onam: A Celebration of Togetherness,’ D2H has introduced a film campaign in collaboration with LS Digital. This campaign masterfully blends traditional Onam customs with a modern narrative, capturing the festival’s essence through a contemporary lens. The film takes viewers on a nostalgic journey, celebrating the vibrant Pookalam (flower carpet) and the elaborate Thiruvonam feast while highlighting the significance of maintaining cultural connections in a rapidly changing world.
To add a special touch to the Onam festivities, D2H is rolling out enticing offers for both new and existing customers. New customers can take advantage of two special offers: the first offer is available with all modern retail chain outlets priced at Rs 1,999, includes Rs 5,000 cashback—Rs 2,000 as instant cashback plus 33 per cent cash back on every subsequent recharges—and comes with a robust five-year warranty (1 year comprehensive and four years on the set-top box) plus access to 6 six OTT platforms (five constant and one as per choice), available at select stores like Lulu Connect, Nandilath G-Mart, Pittapilly Agencies, KannanKandy, White Mart, Easy store, among others. The second Offer priced at Rs 2,500, offers similar cashback benefits plus access to six OTT platforms (5 constant and 1 as per choice) and also includes a 3-year warranty (1 year comprehensive and 2 years on the set-top box). For existing customers, any customer having Rs 200 or more pack unlocks access to six OTT platforms (five constant and one as per choice) without any extra cost, making it a perfect time to upgrade and enjoy enhanced entertainment options.
Dish TV India Ltd corporate head – Marketing Dish TV & Watcho Sukhpreet Singh said “At D2H and Dish TV, we consider our customers part of our extended family, celebrating their joys and milestones together. Onam is more than just a festival; it honors our cultural heritage, the values of kindness, and the spirit of community. Through this campaign, we aim to reconnect with these timeless traditions, especially during times when we may feel distanced from our roots. We are also excited to offer exclusive deals that provide exceptional value and enhance our customers’ entertainment experiences, underscoring our commitment to delivering the best in entertainment and being a cherished part of their lives.”
The film, which is now available on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram has resonated deeply with audiences, garnering significant attention and sparking meaningful conversations on social media about the value of preserving heritage. The authenticity and emotional depth of the film have been praised for their ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia and pride, making it a compelling tribute to the spirit of Onam.
LS Digital MD & COO Manesh Swamy shared his insights into making the film: “It was an exciting opportunity to create something that felt authentic yet relatable to the youth as well. Onam is like this big cultural melting pot of stunning visuals like the iconic boat races, quiet moments of reflection by the Pookkalam (flower rangoli), the laughter at the Onam Sadya feast, the vibe of the Pulikali Performances and festivities, We wanted to show the homecoming of Mahabali in a New Vibe, New Beat. Hence, we got a mix of traditional Kerala Musicians and Rappers to come up with this unique piece of Sound to sing along.”
The film was produced and Directed by SathyaDev.
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.
