WAVES OTT and MyWAVES Turn Viewers Into Content Creators

Public broadcasting in India has moved on to the phone. WAVES OTT, Prasar Bharati's public-service streaming platform, was launched on 20 November 2024 at the 55th International Film Festival of India in Goa. It pulls live television, radio, archives, education, devotional programming and digital publications on to a single multilingual platform.

What the platform carries

• A library of more than 24,000 titles and 15,000 hours of content.
• Over 140 television channels and 220 radio services streamed live, including all 35 Doordarshan satellite channels.
• PM eVidya channels for students, and e-books, photo collections and magazines such as Yojana and Kurukshetra.
• Games and shopping built in through ONDC integration.

How far it reaches

The platform counts 1.2 crore registered users and over 1.5 crore downloads, and is watched in more than 130 countries. Its interface runs in over 10 languages while the content itself is available in more than 26 languages, which is how it reaches viewers outside the big cities and outside paid streaming services. A Pay-Per-View content sourcing policy now lets producers and rights holders offer their work to the platform.

MyWAVES and Gems of India

Launched on 23 March 2026 inside WAVES OTT, MyWAVES turns the audience into contributors: citizens can create, upload and share original work, in short, vertical or episodic form, through a structured national platform. The Gems of India Challenge shows what that enables. Its pilot began on 21 July 2026 across six pilot States and Union Territories, with entries of one to three minutes accepted from 1 to 31 August 2026, asking creators to tell the story of their own district, its crafts, cuisine, festivals, monuments and lesser-known places. Prasar Bharati, My Bharat and State and district administrations run it, with YouTube and Meta helping reach creators.

The WAVES Summit behind it

The World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit held its first edition in Mumbai from 1 to 4 May 2025. Its WAVES Declaration was adopted by 77 countries, and WAVES Bazaar generated business transactions worth Rs 1,328 crore.