NEW DELHI: Fazed by stagnant viewership and battling a “negative perception”, Doordarshan has set up a strategy ‘War Room’ to look into re-vitalising the pubcaster’s marketing and content acquisition processes with an overall aim to enhance revenues.
The crisis management group, set up under the overall stewardship of DD Director-General Supriya Sahu, is mandated to suggest ways to attract and invite fresh talent for various DD channels in view of depleting manpower, new marketing and programming strategies and shore up the bottomlines via innovative marketing.
Elaborating on the need for a crisis management group, the DG said in an office order: “Dive deep into the issues that are adversely impacting our performance and devise a strategy to re-position ourselves... (hence) it is proposed to set up a strategy 'War Room' in the office of Director-General.”
According to Sahu, who has taken over the new role at DD few months back after having done a fruitful stint at Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), the `War Room’ will study rules and regulations for in-house production and suggest measures to modify them to improve programming for DD National and regional channels.
The office order doesn’t mince words when it goes on to add that new programming strategy should look at revamping how programmes and films are acquired for DD channels--- especially for the auction slots --- and suggest credible methods to improve viewership (audience measurement) and enhance revenues.
In addition, this group is to deliberate on present marketing initiatives of DD, which experts feel are out-dated, and devise new strategies to revitalise it, apart from suggesting innovative ways to pool resources and synergise efforts for maximising DD's impact.
Sahu has made it clear that since there cannot be a one-shoe-fits-all approach, the `War Room’ has to come up with programming and marketing strategies that is specific to each channel like DD National, DD Kisan, DD Bharati, DD India (the international channel), DD Urdu, DD Kashir and DD Sports.
Dwelling on the negative perception relating to the overall functioning of DD, especially content acquisition policies and marketing processes, Sahu said in the office order, “We need to change this perception. This would happen through a very strategic thinking, planning, implementation & initiation.”
The `War Room’ would end its work later this month when it is expected to submit a report on ways to reboot DD, which, hopefully, would also resonate with parent Prasar Bharati’s bosses.
Headed by Deputy Director of Programmes G Sajan, the other members of this group include P.K. Srivastava, PEX, DDK-Raipur; Sandeep Sood, ADP, DDK-Pune; Anurag Darshan, Programme Executive (PEX) DD National; Abhishek Dubey, Advisor DD Sports; Ms. Soma Bose, Consultant, Films Division; Sanjeev Rai, Production Assistant, DD Urdu; Tathagat, Creative Editor, DD Bharati; Karmdeep, Senior Content Manager, DD Sports; Birupakhya Goutom Phukan, Senior Programmer and Arjun Mehto, Senior Content Manager.
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