EXCLUSIVE: Prasar Bharati onboards Creativeland Asia to drive marketing and sales for WAVES
As Prasar Bharati transitions from traditional broadcasting to a hybrid digital model, partnerships like that with Creativeland Asia signal the organization’s intent to blend creativity with commercial sustainability.
ADVERTISEMENT
Public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has 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.
Confirming the development, Gaurav Dwivedi, CEO of Prasar Bharati, said the agency’s mandate extends beyond creative promotions to include advertisement acquisition and audience engagement.
“Creativeland Asia is our marketing and sales agency. Their role is to take our content and products to audiences and also to bring in advertisements for the platform, which they are doing,” Dwivedi told Storyboard18.
The circular emphasized the opportunity for agencies to reach a diverse audience through innovative digital advertising solutions on WAVES. However, agencies are responsible for selecting and planning their own ad-serving arrangements, including covering the costs associated with ad servers and all technical integration costs.
The collaboration marks a significant step in Prasar Bharati’s efforts to commercialize its growing digital ecosystem. Waves, which hosts multi-lingual curated original content and from Doordarshan and All India Radio, is positioning itself as a competitive homegrown OTT alternative, with a flexible revenue-sharing model tailored to various content partnerships.
“Our revenue model on Waves is variable — it includes revenue-sharing arrangements, commissioning models, and royalty-based structures, depending on the nature of deals with content producers or owners,” Dwivedi explained.
Prasar Bharati has also undertaken a comprehensive content sourcing policy consultation, which Dwivedi said has been met with an encouraging response from stakeholders.
“Over the last two years, we’ve been fine-tuning our content policy through several iterations. Now that we have a strong digital presence, we are continuously seeking feedback from industry partners and producers to improve our processes,” he added.
The move to bring Creativeland Asia on board is part of a broader modernization effort by Prasar Bharati, which is also experimenting with Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) technology and digital transmission upgrades. Dwivedi emphasized that all initiatives are being rolled out in consultation with stakeholders to ensure a “win-win” for the entire broadcast ecosystem.
“Everything that we do at Prasar Bharati is through a consultative process — whether it’s D2M, content policy, or digital rollout. We are engaging with telcos, device manufacturers, and ministries to ensure all concerns are addressed,” he said.
As Prasar Bharati transitions from traditional broadcasting to a hybrid digital model, partnerships like that with Creativeland Asia signal the organization’s intent to blend creativity with commercial sustainability — an effort aimed at positioning India’s public broadcaster as a competitive player in the evolving media landscape.
The circular emphasizes the opportunity for agencies to reach a diverse audience through innovative digital advertising solutions on WAVES. However, agencies are responsible for selecting and planning their own ad-serving arrangements, including covering the costs associated with ad servers and all technical integration costs.
