Prasar Bharati will close financial year 2021-2022 with a strong revenue growth of 13% from its commercial operations, at nearly ₹1,350 crore. While the road to financial self-sustainability for the public broadcaster is still way off, the foundation has been laid with key reforms such as phasing out of obsolete technologies, consolidation of redundant operations, IT/digital enablement of functions and new avenues for monetisation, said Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Shashi Shekhar Vempati. In a chat, Mr. Vempati spoke about the factors driving Prasar Bharati's revenue growth and its future plans.
What are the key factors for the strong revenue growth of Prasar Bharati?
It is mainly due to the growth in DD FreeDish revenue and a strong post-COVID-19 recovery in radio advertising revenues. Also, for the first time, our tower rental revenues touched ₹100 crore, which also contributed to the growth. Digital, while being a small source of revenue relatively, is growing at 30%.
DD Free Dish is now the largest Direct-To-Home platform, with a reach of more than 43 million homes. In which States has there been maximum increase?
Free Dish is largely concentrated in the Hindi-speaking States, apart from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. We are working to expand Free Dish’s footprint in non-Hindi States, and this will be a focus area in the coming years.
What have been the key decisions on the digital front?
Digital has been integral to all activities, with daily 800+ digital uploads happening across the network. All in-house produced news and non-news content are available for on-demand consumption on digital platforms. NewsOnAir App has been a game-changer with 200+ live streams.
What are the future plans for expansion of Prasar Bharati’s operations?
Expansion of Free Dish and FM radio will be the priorities going forward, apart from more digital content and newer formats of digital content. We will also be working on new avenues of monetisation, such as syndication of new and archival content.
