Comment
Broadcasting woes
“If we are to transform India, a realist or ‘Patelist’ engagement with the rest of the world is what we must implement; engaging the world from strength while recognising reality for what it is, foreswearing hubris and belligerence”, remarked Shiv Shankar Menon during the Patel Memorial Lecture of All India Radio last year. India in effect continues with Sardar Patel appreciation against taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations and has been successful in averting international manipulation in our internal affairs. In the recent past, reports appeared in sections of the press that our neighbours are active in rolling controversies and possible resentment for rehabilitating surrendered militants via Nepal. Yasin Bhatkal’s revelation of Nepal remaining the favoured nation for transiting members of the Indian Mujahideen further fuelled diplomatic irritation.
The most disturbing vilification campaign alleging torture of Nepalese people whipping up local sentiments and a number of FM stations with content paid up by vested interests and mixing attractive Bollywood stuff in Nepal are psy weapons that merit the nation’s intervention. Gorkhas of Nepalese origin have shared triumphs and sorrows battling in all theatres of operations as part of the glorious Indian Army. As of today, there seems to be no coordinated trans-border broadcast policy to air either views or the stand point of the nation. India’s National Public Broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, continues to be sub-optimally utilised.
After Independence and up to the eighties, the External Services Division of AIR functioned in close coordination with MEA through External Publicity Division with greater interaction between the two keeping in view foreign policy requirements, dynamics of foreign relations, and priorities set from time to time.
Due to its colonial links with England, AIR entered the domain of external broadcast in 1939 purely as a tool for propaganda for the allies during World War II with service in Pushto language in order to counter German Radio blitzkrieg and complement the efforts of the BBC in this region. When the theatre of operation expanded to South East Asia and East Asia by 1945, External Services Division had a total of 22 language services. The importance waned once the War ended, plummeting from 22 to just 10 languages. The capacity of ESD remains to cover 100 countries with coverage of 75% of world population in 16 foreign and 11 Indian languages with a targeted audience of 9 neighbouring countries comfortably.
But gone are the days of diplomatic bags overflowing with letters addressed by radio audiences from all over the world to External Service Division of AIR. The Urdu Service widely popular among Pakistan and at home is in a state of disarray and listeners’ feedback has become a trickle. Chinese domination in the visual and audio medium is of concern since a substantial Arunachalee tribal population living in East Syong, Tirap, Changlong, Ajnow, Lohit, Upper and Lower Dibang Valleys could access Chinese TV channels of High Power Transmissions from Chinese territory whereas our own Doordarshan, Itanagar, covers a few kilometres through Low Power Terrestrial Transmission. However there being no impediment to satellite TV through DTH, the case for Set Top Boxes for DD free Dish is indispensable if Prasar Bharati has to prudently cover the North East. It is our national duty to reach inaccessible terrain inhabited by tribal Indians in and around Tawang who witnessed chaotic battle scenes during the 1962 operation and upper reaches near Leh, Ladakh.
In the changing scenario of popularity of FM channels compared to Medium Wave and Short Wave transmissions, the country needs to shift its primary broadcast to FM radio with relevant content retaining its own and traditionally loyal trans-border audience. There are more than 150 independent Radio Stations operating in Nepal. If India has to retain audience base in Nepal, augmentation of transmission power and number of FM stations is necessary as of yesterday. As far as Bhutan, English added on to Dzonka could cover the whole population with increased presence of FM. In times of crisis, it is AIR, BBC or Indian satellite channels which are tuned into in Pakistan for credible news; Maj Gen Mohd Azam Asif of PAK Army observed once, substantiating the relevance of AIR.
Coverage of regional content, news and current events for external audience could only succeed with local dialect and flavour. There is all round apathy about external radio broadcast of ESD among all stakeholders including MEA, resulting in progressive decline of our broadcast as an instrument of diplomacy relegated to the background, adversely impacting its performance, notwithstanding the historic role played. It is unfortunate and ironic that our external broadcast is touching the nadir at a time worldwide efforts are on to re-invent the importance of external broadcast expanding and consolidating their position, adopting the newest of technologies including new media to meet the changing realities of international politics.
Complete dismantling or discontinuation of external broadcast may not be in the larger national interest and may turn out to be throwing the baby with the bucket of water. Credible assessment of external audience indicates decline in short wave and medium wave, suffers clarity due to concrete congestion and sky scrapers in Urban India and the neighbourhood. Simulcasting in FM, web streaming, proliferation in internet and availability in hand held devices would rejuvenate AIR. Unless ESD functions with regular interaction from stakeholders like MEA, MoD, MHA, meeting the needs of foreign policy and priorities, the vast infrastructural wealth of the nation in the hands of Prasar Bharati will continue to be wasted, risking its painful death. The nation has a duty and great opportunity to revisit and formulate an integrated policy on our external broadcast which is in the Government domain.
(These are purely personal views of the writer and do not represent the official views of Prasar Bharati and indiantelevision.com does not subscribe to these views)
MUMBAI: 2025 will be remembered as the year India’s OTT industry stopped chasing scale for its own sake and began reckoning with how audiences actually consume content. Completion rates fell, patience wore thin and the limits of long-form excess became impossible to ignore. In this guest column, Pratap Jain, founder and CEO of ChanaJor, traces how micro-drama moved from the fringes to the centre of viewing behaviour, why short-form fiction emerged as a retention engine rather than a trend, and how platforms that respected time, habit and emotional payoff were the ones that truly grew up in 2025.
If there is one thing 2025 will be remembered for in the Indian OTT industry, it’s this: the industry finally stopped pretending.
Stopped pretending that bigger automatically meant better.
Stopped pretending that viewers had endless time.
Stopped pretending that scale without retention was success.
What began as a quiet reset in 2023 and a cautious correction in 2024 turned into a very visible shift in 2025. Business models matured. Content strategies tightened. And most importantly, platforms started aligning themselves with how Indians actually watch content, not how the industry wished they would.
At the centre of this shift was micro-drama—not as a trend, but as a behavioural inevitability.
When OTT finally understood the time problem
For years, long episodes were treated as a marker of seriousness. A 45–60 minute runtime was almost a badge of credibility. Shorter formats were pushed to the margins, labelled as “snack content” or “mobile-only.”
That belief quietly collapsed in 2025.
What platform data showed very clearly was not a drop in interest—but a drop in patience. Viewers weren’t rejecting stories. They were rejecting commitment.
Across platforms, the same patterns appeared:
* First-episode drop-offs on long-form shows kept increasing
* Completion rates continued to slide
* Viewers were sampling more titles but finishing fewer
At the same time, shows with episodes in the six to 10 minute range started showing the opposite behaviour: higher completion, higher repeat viewing, and stronger daily habit formation.
Micro-drama didn’t win because it was short. It won because it respected time.
Micro-Drama didn’t arrive loudly. It took over quietly.
There was no single moment when micro-drama “launched” in India. It crept in through dashboards and retention charts.
By mid-2025, it was clear that viewers were happy watching four, five, sometimes six short episodes in one sitting—even when they wouldn’t finish a single long episode. Romance, relationship drama, slice-of-life conflict, and grounded comedy worked especially well.
This wasn’t disposable content. It was compressed storytelling.
In shorter formats, there was no room for indulgence. Every episode had to move the story forward. Weak writing was punished faster. Strong writing was rewarded immediately.
Micro-drama raised the bar instead of lowering it.
Where ChanaJor naturally fit into this shift
ChanaJor didn’t pivot to micro-drama in 2025 because the market demanded it. In many ways, the platform was already built around the same viewing behaviour.
From the beginning, ChanaJor focused on short-to-mid-length fictional stories that felt close to everyday Indian life—hostels, rented flats, office romances, small-town relationships, young people figuring things out. Stories that didn’t need heavy context or cinematic scale to connect.
What worked in ChanaJor’s favour in 2025 was clarity:
* A clearly defined audience
* Tight episode lengths
* Storytelling that prioritised emotion and pace over spectacle
While several platforms rushed to copy global micro-drama formats, ChanaJor stayed rooted in familiar Indian settings and conflicts. That familiarity mattered. Viewers didn’t have to “enter” the world of the show—it already felt like theirs.
Why audiences started responding differently
One of the biggest misconceptions going into 2025 was that audiences wanted shorter content because their attention spans had reduced. That wasn’t entirely true.
What viewers actually wanted was meaningful payoff per minute.
On platforms like ChanaJor, episodes didn’t waste time setting the mood for ten minutes. Conflicts arrived early. Characters were recognisable within moments. Emotional hooks landed fast.
A typical consumption pattern looked like real life:
* One episode during a break
* Two more before sleeping
* A few the next day
This is how viewing habits are built—not through marketing spends, but through comfort and consistency.
Viewers came back not because every show was a blockbuster, but because they knew what kind of experience to expect.
2025 was also the year OTT faced business reality
The other big change in 2025 was on the business side. Subscriber growth slowed. Discounts stopped hiding churn. Customer acquisition costs rose.
Platforms were forced to ask harder questions:
* Are viewers finishing what they start?
* Are they returning without reminders?
* Is this content worth what we’re spending on it?
This is where micro-drama began outperforming expectations. A well-written short series could deliver sustained engagement without massive budgets. It didn’t peak for one weekend and disappear—it stayed alive through repeat viewing.
Platforms like ChanaJor benefited because they weren’t chasing inflated launch numbers. The focus was on consistency and retention, not noise.
Failures Became Visible Faster
2025 also exposed weaknesses brutally.
Several platforms assumed micro-drama was a shortcut—short episodes, quick shoots, instant traction. What they discovered was that bad writing fails faster in short formats than in long ones.
Viewers dropped off within minutes. Episodes were abandoned mid-way. Weak stories had nowhere to hide.
Micro-drama didn’t forgive laziness. It amplified it.
The platforms that survived were the ones that treated short storytelling with the same seriousness as long-form—sometimes more.
OTT Stopped Chasing Prestige and Started Chasing Habit
Perhaps the most important shift in 2025 wasn’t technical or creative—it was psychological.
OTT stopped trying to look like cinema. It stopped chasing validation through scale and awards alone. It began behaving like what it actually is in people’s lives: a daily companion.
Platforms like ChanaJor found their space here because that mindset was already baked in. The goal wasn’t to dominate a weekend launch. It was to quietly become part of someone’s everyday viewing routine.
That shift changed everything—from release strategies to how success was measured.
What 2025 Ultimately Taught the Industry
By the end of the year, three truths were impossible to ignore:
* Time is the most valuable thing a viewer gives you
* Retention matters more than reach
* Format must follow behaviour, not ego
Micro-drama didn’t take over because it was fashionable. It took over because it fit real life.
Looking Ahead
Micro-drama is not replacing long-form storytelling. It is redefining the baseline of engagement.
Longer shows will survive—but only when they earn their length. Short-form fiction will continue to evolve, becoming sharper, more emotionally confident, and better written.
Platforms like ChanaJor have shown that it’s possible to grow without shouting—by understanding the audience, respecting their time, and telling stories that feel real.
2025 wasn’t the year OTT became smaller. It was the year it became smarter.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
