Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech will be available on the Google homepage with public broadcaster Prasar Bharati tying up with the American tech giant for livestreaming the event.

Doordarshan’s coverage of Independence Day celebrations tomorrow will open with a patriotic song recorded by singer composer Shankar Mahadevan, and in a first, anchors will present the event from the ramparts of Red Fort.

‘Next level’

“Apart from what we normally do, which is going live on TV and livestreaming on Youtube and so on, we will also have the livestream available on the Google search home page as well,” Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati told PTI .

“When people are searching for anything to do with Independence Day, the livestream will appear on their page on the top. This will dramatically increase the visibility and access to the livestream,” he said.

This facility was also used to telecast the inauguration ceremony of US President Donald Trump. “Livestreming has now been going on for a few years. Last year it was a million plus views, Republic Day was 3-4 million views. That is the general trend. This will take it to the next level altogether,” he said.

Digital push

Asked if the tie-up with Google was part of Prasar Bharati’s efforts to reach out to younger people, Vempati said the dominant sentiment about Doordarshan was nostalgia. With the younger generation having no real brand experience of Doordarshan, this was one way of making them familiar with it, he said.

“We have dramatically increased our digital presence. We have now 37 plus active Youtube channels which are uploading content from across the country, different languages, different regions. We have 250 plus Twitter handles across the network of all our regional news stations, All India Radio stations, Doordarshan Kendras. All of them are actively uploading on social media. This is part of our broader effort for a digital connect,” the Prasar Bharati CEO said.

The Prime Minister’s speech will be aired on All India Radio in about 20 different languages through the day, he said.

Vempati said a new version of the All India Radio news android application has also been launched which not only has the news bulletin in all the 20 plus languages and the livestream of the various All India Radio stations, but also has AIR’s external services.

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