WAVES OTT Platform by Prasar Bharati - 2024

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting

WAVES OTT Platform by Prasar Bharati

WAVES OTT platform follows from Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision for Viksit Bharat and is a significant step forward for Digital India. Created on the legacy of Akashvani and Doordarshan, WAVES offers India’s rich cultural heritage with modern entertainment trends. WAVES is intended as the go-to platform for diverse entertainment, uniting generations and regions through one digital platform, and is a comprehensive, inclusive, free OTT which is intended to bridge the digital media and entertainment divide, on the back of its collaboration with BharatNet for last mile connectivity to rural audience.

Under its notified Content Acquisition Policy 2024 for acquiring content for WAVES, Prasar Bharati has curated a strong content lineup of content to satisfy diverse tastes of subscribers in all age groups across urban, metros, middle India and NRI audiences who seek Indian / regional / International viewing experience.

WAVES makes its entry as an aggregator OTT with Inclusive India stories embracing Indian culture with an international outlook, in 12+ Languages - Hindi, English, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese, spread across 10+ Genres of Infotainment; Video on demand, Radio streaming, Live TV streaming, 65 live Channels, several App in App integrations for video.

WAVES, brings a wide range of content for wholesome family viewing into every Indian home, that can use this platform to watch, listen, read, play, shop in a curated environment. Including latest releases, TV shows, movies, timeless classics, and nostalgia content of old favourites; and genres like family drama, mythology, devotional, reality show, history educational, fantasy, folklore, thriller, sports, news etc. It promotes social message themes like women empowerment, cybersecurity awareness and Swachh Bharat to name a few. In addition, it carries free-to-play gaming, music, live podcasts, animation, books, journals and magazines, online shopping through CSC-SPV’s ONDC supported e-commerce platform that will also promote MSMEs and local enterprises. Advertisement supported Tech Integration to attract advertising by underrepresented companies and MSMEs along with big FMCGs.

As a conscious step to unlock the potential of young creators in the creative economy, WAVES also offers its platform to content creators like the National Creator Awardees. WAVES has opened its portal to student graduate films, and some initial film and media colleges to partner on WAVES are FTII, Annapurna, AAFT.

Central Government ministries and states are also joining hands with Prasar Bharati to co-develop or contribute varied content such as docudramas, dramatized or fictionalized shows, reality shows with entertainment value, as an effective vehicle for meaningful messages. Some content includes a documentary on the 75th anniversary of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, cyber security awareness with CDAC MeitY, the NFDC archives Cinemas of India, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s rare archival content like historical photos compiled in subject-wise photos albums, and Journals and publications. The Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, IGNCA, Ministry of Culture and India Post have also contributed informative and entertaining programming to WAVES.

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Brief on WAVES OTT.pdf