A retired IAS officer from the 1988 Uttar Pradesh cadre, Navneet Kumar Sehgal, took over the reins at Prasar Bharati in March 2024.

The Prasar Bharati chairperson spoke at length about the national broadcaster's entry into the digital arena through its in-house OTT platform, Waves during an interaction with Manifest at the IAA (International Advertising Association) forum held in Mumbai in June.

The national broadcaster’s footprint across the country – backed by a network of more than 1,000 transmitters, over 36 television channels, and 58 radio stations – has an extensive reach in the hinterlands of Bharat. While Prasar Bharati’s reach is unmatched, Sehgal acknowledges the need to adapt to changing media consumption habits and technological advancements to remain relevant.

“Our DD free dish is connected to more than five crore households. That means we are connected to more than 20 crore people directly if you take the average as per the available information. Apart from that, we are present on all DTH platforms,” he said.“We want to be the number one communications channel in the country,” the former administrator stated.

Sehgal described Prasar Bharati as a half-government, half-autonomous behemoth with new-age ambitions.

The initial lukewarm consumer response to the broadcaster’s newly launched OTT platform, Waves, does not unduly worry him. “It’s only been four months, and we are already nearing four million downloads. So it will come, we don’t worry about it,” he said. The feedback received has been primarily good, he added.

Noting that most of the other OTTs today are giving a ‘different kind of entertainment that cannot be viewed with one’s kids and family’, Sehgal said, “On our OTT platform, we promise to give you clean, family entertainment. That’s our USP.”

Acknowledging that the new-age challenge now is of relevance and agility, he said, “We are looking for fresh, good content that can bring more people on board and make the platform more information-friendly and useful.”

He outlined some of the recent initiatives by the public broadcaster, which included building a robust OTT platform that unifies live TV, radio, e-commerce, and digital-first content. Launching direct-to-mobile TV broadcasting is another game changer that bypasses internet requirements.

Notably, most of Doordarshan’s legacy original shows are now available to view on the Waves platform.

“The earlier generations still fondly recall these DD shows and serials, so the reaction has been very encouraging. It has generated a lot of goodwill amongst viewers because they were not getting this content anywhere, and now it is on their smartphones. Many people, particularly from the older generation, are enjoying the content, and even several younger generations are showing it to their parents,” he said.

He cited the instance when actor Akshay Kumar tweeted about Jaspal Bhatti’s popular ‘Flop Show’, expressing surprise at finding the show on the Waves OTT.

The legacy content also enjoys popularity from the NRI diaspora, disclosed Sehgal. “Recently, I was in the US, and we organised a meeting with the Indian diaspora. They were very happy with the availability of this content because these 80s and 90s shows were not available for viewing anywhere – until now. And now they can be revisited anytime on the Waves app, so they are thrilled.”

To further ride on the popularity of its original shows of the bygone era, the platform is working to create sequels to some of them, revealed Sehgal.

“Wherever we have the IP rights, we are going in for the sequel, like Circus, Malgudi Days, and Byomkesh Bakshi, to name a few. These shows have been paying dividends in the reruns as well.”

He goes on to cite recent consumer surveys on viewer consumption, which indicate that rural and semi-urban markets are emerging as key growth areas.

On the monetisation model for the OTT platform, Sehgal spoke about wooing the big advertisers. “We have a massive reach across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets—no one else has that kind of penetration. And most importantly, every advertiser needs to tap into these markets. I want to engage with advertisers, understand their perspective, and let them know that we offer the widest reach. We are working on making it more effective by developing new models to attract advertisers,” he explained.

Sehgal also touched upon the general distrust amongst viewers when it came to TV news channels, and how it presents an opportunity for DD News.

“It’s an opportunity for us. From Doordarshan’s motto of ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ - a philosophy that emphasises the importance of seeking truth, to its slogan of ‘Desh Ka Apna Channel’, which translates to ‘The country’s own channel’, we promise to give our viewers only the truth, with no frills or sensationalism,” pointed out Sehgal.

He emphasised that the public broadcasting service doesn’t ‘extrapolate’ or ‘interpolate’ the news that comes in and does not telecast anything without verification.

“Even during the recent Operation Sindoor, we were the only channel to give credible news, verified by the army and Defence Ministry,” he claimed.

Delving into the key challenges faced by the public broadcasting service, Sehgal noted, “There are many challenges that Prasar Bharati is facing – chief among them is the mindset, which we need to change."

"We have to become more market-oriented and market-friendly while keeping our values intact: Striking the right balance, without compromising our core values,” he signed off.

This article first appeared in the July issue of Manifest. Click here to buy it.