Breaking: WAVES OTT launches pilot PPV Policy, will be in effect till March 2026
During the pilot phase, WAVES will not implement a consumer paywall. Instead, Prasar Bharati will directly pay producers per view, treating the initiative as a "content investment and audience acquisition model".
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Prasar Bharati, India's public service broadcaster, has announced a major shift in its content strategy for the WAVES OTT platform, introducing a pilot "Pay-Per-View (PPV) Content Sourcing Policy". The new framework, effective from October 18, 2025, through March 31, 2026, aims to attract independent filmmakers and digital creators by offering a transparent, performance-based payment model.
The initiative is designed to create a data-driven system that rewards quality content based on actual audience engagement, moving away from traditional acquisition models. During this pilot phase, content on the WAVES platform will remain free for consumers, with Prasar Bharati funding the payouts to creators as a "content investment and audience acquisition model".
How the new model works
The core of the framework is a dynamic payment structure that compensates creators based on "validated views". A view is considered validated when a unique user watches at least 30% of a movie or an episode.
The payout calculation is based on several factors:
Base Rate: A base pay-per-view rate is set by language. Content in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam will receive Rs 12 per validated view, while content in other Indian languages will receive Rs 6 per view.
Performance Incentives: A progressive slab system rewards high-performing content. As monthly views increase, a payout multiplier is applied, ranging from 100% for up to 100,000 views to 200% for content that crosses 2,000,000 views in a calendar month.
Content Attributes: Additional multipliers are applied to incentivize specific types of content. For instance, "Exclusive & Unreleased" content gets a 1.5x multiplier, while content with both "Digital + Linear Rights" receives a 1.2x multiplier.
All view data will be tracked and verified exclusively through the WAVES Analytics System to ensure transparency. Content partners will receive detailed monthly performance reports and will have quarterly access to a dashboard to audit their content's performance.
A strategic investment in content
During the pilot phase, WAVES will not implement a consumer paywall. Instead, Prasar Bharati will directly pay producers per view, treating the initiative as a "content investment and audience acquisition model". All payments will be categorized as content acquisition costs under the WAVES operational budget.
Content creators will license their work to WAVES for a minimum of one year, while retaining copyright ownership. To ensure transparency, Prasar Bharati will share monthly performance reports with creators and plans to launch a WAVES Dashboard for partners to audit their content's performance.
A special "PPV Evaluation Committee" will monitor the pilot's performance, focusing on financial impact, audience trends, and cost-per-view efficiency. At the conclusion of the pilot in March 2026, the committee will submit a comprehensive report assessing its viability. The findings will guide the formulation of a final, long-term PPV content sourcing policy that will eventually supersede this pilot framework.
Prasar Bharati has also onboarded Creativeland Asia as its marketing and sales partner for its OTT platform, Waves, as part of a broader push to strengthen its digital presence and monetization strategy.
Prasar Bharati had invited advertising agencies empaneled with the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Policy (DAVP) to advertise on its OTT platform WAVES. The notice offered a 20% discount on the total business brought by each agency.
