The Indian government has said that public broadcaster Doordarshan’s gross unique viewership in 2022 was 724.3 million according to BARC India data, up from 684.9 million in 2021.

“Prasar Bharati (Doordarshan and All India Radio’s parent organisation) has informed that as per the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India) viewership data of subscribed Doordarshan channels for the last five years, viewership data across the network is as under: 2018- 743.1 million; 2019- 760.4 million; 2020-747 million,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur informed the Lok Sabha yesterday.

The Minister added that in recent years, Doordarshan has been “revamping the content” of its channels both at national and regional levels “according to the need and taste of audience”, including by way of opening a portal inviting proposals for fresh programmes from reputed production houses.

A number of mega shows have been launched along with new serials to attract viewers across different socio-economic segments, Thakur elaborated, saying, “Doordarshan is also strengthening its marketing vertical for publicity of programmes, which will enhance viewership.”

The minister was replying to a query from a fellow parliamentarian on whether viewership of Doordarshan channels had fallen drastically when compared with private TV channels and the steps being taken by the government to stem the slide.

“Modernization of Doordarshan is a continuous process and schemes in this regard are formulated and implemented on periodical basis depending upon availability of resources and funds,” Thakur added.

According to him, presently there are 66 Doordarshan studio centres functioning in the country consisting of 23 major centres where 24×7 transmission originated.

Doordarshan has 36 satellite TV channels consisting of seven pan-India, 21 regional (24×7), seven regional (non 24×7) and one international TV channels.

The minister also said that there were 7319 regular staff working in Doordarshan, while the number of contractual employees in DDand DD News channels were 192 and 404, respectively.