Prasar Bharati FY25 revenue falls 9.5%, DD FreeDish remains top contributor

Prasar Bharati’s total revenue declined 9.46% to Rs 1,643.35 crore in FY25 from Rs 1,815.07 crore a year earlier. Commercial revenue from Doordarshan and Akashvani recording declines, according to its Annual Report 2024-25. DD FreeDish remained the largest revenue generator for the public broadcaster. Revenue from its DTH platform stood at Rs 1,060.71 crore in FY25, down 1.54% from Rs 1,077.27 crore in FY24. Despite the marginal decline, DTH accounted for the largest share of Prasar Bharati’s revenue during the year. Commercial revenue from Doordarshan fell 30.89% to Rs 256.74 crore, compared with Rs 371.48 crore in FY24. Commercial revenue from Akashvani declined 14.47% to Rs 222.73 crore, from Rs 260.43 crore a year earlier. Doordarshan’s commercial operations include revenue from agencies, clients and producers, as well as revenue sharing from sports events. Its sales team works with advertising agencies to sell broadcast airtime. Prasar Bharati’s audience research division also provides programme ratings and listenership data to sponsors, advertisers and marketers for commercial purposes. DD FreeDish was available in about 49 million households during FY25. The platform carried 381 TV channels, including Doordarshan, educational and private channels, as well as 48 radio channels. Meanwhile, revenue from digital operations increased to Rs 2.90 crore, from Rs 2.23 crore in FY24, a 30.04% rise. Revenue from the sale and licensing of archival footage and YouTube also increased during the year. Prasar Bharati has also been expanding the use of its archival content across social media platforms and its WAVES OTT service, with the aim of monetising its media assets.