The Doordarshan network’s viewership has reportedly declined to 656.4 million last year as compared to the 724.3 million views it recorded in 2022.
“DD has made continuous planning and effort to invigorate the programming landscape. These efforts include a spectrum of initiatives aimed at enriching the viewer experience and elevating the channel's standing in the broadcasting arena,” according to the third report on the demands for grants of the ministry of information and broadcasting presented by the standing committee on information and technology last month.
A similar fluctuation in viewership was observed in 2021 as well. Then union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur, quoting data from Broadcast Audience Research Council, had said the gross unique viewership for DD channels, operating in SD, stood at 684.9 million in 2021 compared to 747 million in 2020. The report of the parliamentary standing committee on information and technology, presented last month, had pegged the figure at 656.4 million for 2024 while the information and broadcasting ministry had told the Rajya Sabha in October 2023 that viewership numbers stood at 724.3 million in 2022.
Meanwhile, the report presented by the standing committee also pointed out that Prasar Bharati was meeting its operational expenses and had some surplus in revenue.
“Two years ago, Prasar Bharati's total revenue came from its own resources which mainly came from three sources. First is the auction of free dish slots which had a revenue of about Rs 750 crore. Second, our revenues are from Akashvani and Doordarshan which are commercial operations in which we get ads. And third, we can monetise our infrastructure in some way, like we allow private operators to install radio transmitters on our towers. Similarly, telecom companies also use our towers. I would like to bring to your notice that in the last two years, we have increased our free dish revenue by Rs 750 crore to Rs 1,100 crore this year by further streamlining the auction process. Secondly, the commercial revenue of Akashvani and Doordarshan used to be around Rs 250 to 300 crores. This year, our effort is to increase it to around Rs 500 to 600 crores and in the process of monetisation, we have strong towers and transmitters. Instead of giving them on rent, we can monetise the properties that we have, the land that we have at various places across the country, and use it to raise resources. In this regard, we have submitted a note,” the Prasar Bharti CEO was quoted as saying in the report.
The committee observed that the number of vacant posts in AIR had increased from 13,966 to 15,864, and in DD, the number of vacant posts had increased from 12,420 to 13,708.
The Prasar Bharati CEO was quoted as saying that this was a long-standing issue. “Due to the lack of a comprehensive policy, it was not possible to address the vacancies that were coming up,” he said, adding that they are working on a new roadmap.
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