In an exclusive interview with Moneyconteol, Sai Abhishek, Head of Factual Entertainment, Lifestyle & Kids, South Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery, said the response to Operation Sindoor has validated the company’s belief that Indian audiences have a growing appetite for immersive, high-quality factual storytelling.
Sarika Sharma
September 22, 2026 / 10:26 IST
Sai Abhishek of WBD talks about the success of their IP Operation Sindoor
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is looking to take premium factual entertainment in India beyond the standalone documentaries. Its aim is to do franchise-building, large-scale productions and also want original Indian intellectual property to emerge as key pillars of its strategy.
At the centre of that push is their new IP ‘Declassified’, the factual franchise launched with Declassified: Operation Sindoor.
Operation Sindoor brought together rare access, archival material and accounts from India’s military and strategic leadership.
In an exclusive interview with Moneyconteol, Sai Abhishek, Head of Factual Entertainment, Lifestyle & Kids, South Asia, Warner Bros. Discovery, said the response to Operation Sindoor has validated the company’s belief that Indian audiences have a growing appetite for immersive, high-quality factual storytelling.
He said the programme’s streaming and YouTube performance ‘beat every benchmark we had’, while affiliate partners and international markets also showed strong demand.
During the course of the interaction, Sai Abhishek spoke about the thinking behind Declassified and especially the challenges that they faced while securing access to key figures including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and the economics of producing large-scale factual projects.
He also said that WBD wants to build repeatable franchises across armed forces, history, mythology, true crime, adventure and survival rather than rely on one-off programming as Operation Sindoor’s success has given them a boost.
The conversation also touched on how audience behaviour is changing across linear television, streaming, YouTube and Instagram, including the growing consumption of Discovery content among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
Abhishek said younger audiences may not be their core demographic for every commission, but their changing viewing habits are increasingly relevant for WBD as its looks to create authentic Indian factual IP that can travel beyond television and across international markets.
Excerpts from the exclusive interview:
Discovery has built a strong legacy around factual storytelling. What is the larger vision behind launching the ‘Declassified’ franchise, and how do you see premium factual entertainment evolving in India?
Sai Abhishek: The audience, like you and me, has grown up watching a certain kind of documentary and factual entertainment, but that has evolved over time. The audience has evolved, and so have content choices, treatment, production values and scale. Discovery itself has been evolving over several decades, both in India and globally. So when we do a project like Operation Sindoor, we cannot make it like a documentary that could have been made 20 years ago. This project is very much in the seat of the action. It almost gives you a movie-like feeling of being there when the decisions were taken, understanding what went into those decisions and the strategic inputs behind them.
From a genre point of view, people are certainly interested. We know that for a fact. Their appetite has actually increased. The challenge now is that audiences are spoilt for choice. There are many more creators, producers, networks and streaming services. Only programming that feels truly must-see will stand out.
Declassified was also never meant to be a one-off. We wanted to build a franchise, with Operation Sindoor being the first chapter. What comes next is something we are still researching and developing, but franchise-building was one of the key considerations from the beginning.”
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What made Operation Sindoor the right story to anchor the franchise? And why did you feel the need to show it?
Sai Abhishek: We have been telling stories from India’s armed forces for decades, whether through Paratroopers, Breaking Point, Ladakh Warriors, Belgaum Commando School or Mission Frontline. We have explored these stories through different formats, including celebrity-led programming, training schools, reality formats and deep-access documentaries. We had not done armed forces programming in India for a couple of years because we were waiting for the right project. When our producers came to us with the opportunity to do Operation Sindoor, we felt this was the right one.
Topicality was important, but access was even more important. Topicality will keep coming and going, but this kind of access does not come often. There had also been enough time to begin understanding what happened behind the scenes of the operation. The third consideration was franchise-building. We have built franchises such as Secrets, Legends and Mission Frontline. Similarly, we wanted Declassified to become a repeatable franchise rather than a standalone programme.
Given its scale and contemporary relevance, what was the editorial and production thinking behind documenting the 88-hour conflict from the perspectives of the war rooms as well as the frontline?
Sai Abhishek: The idea was to make it feel like you were in the seat of the action rather than watching a documentary made in the traditional style. We wanted audiences to feel that they were present when important decisions were being taken and to understand the strategic thinking and inputs that went into those decisions.
That meant the treatment had to evolve along with the audience. The production values, storytelling and scale had to create that sense of immediacy. Access was central to making that possible because it allowed us to move beyond simply retelling events people may already have seen and instead show what was happening behind the scenes.
The series features unprecedented access, including Mr Ajit Doval’s first interview since Operation Sindoor, along with accounts from senior military leadership and rare footage. How challenging was it to secure this access and also investment and production economics of a project like this?
Sai Abhishek: It was very, very challenging. Getting Mr Doval was perhaps the most challenging interview, although there were several difficult interviews involved. The biggest challenge was honestly getting his time. He has an extremely busy schedule, and obviously he is not going to work around our production calendar. Navigating his calendar and aligning it with our production schedule was the biggest challenge.
Thankfully, we had very good producers in Sparkle World Films who had built relationships with him and with the armed forces community over the years, and we were able to benefit from those relationships. For projects of this scale, we also have a very structured commissioning process. Budgets, timelines, revenue potential and expected ratings all go through multiple layers of evaluation. We have internal benchmarks that a project needs to meet, and while there is accountability in India, there is also global visibility because this content can travel to different parts of the world.
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The response to Declassified: Operation Sindoor appears to underline a growing appetite for immersive real-world storytelling. Are you seeing a shift in audience behaviour towards factual content?
Sai Abhishek: Absolutely. From a genre point of view, people are interested and they do have the patience to watch this content. In fact, I would say the appetite has increased. What has changed is that audiences now have far more choices. Therefore, simply making factual programming is not enough. It has to be high quality, differentiated and compelling enough to demand attention.
We have already seen this with Operation Sindoor. While linear television data had not been reported for some time, the streaming data and YouTube numbers that we looked at beat every benchmark we had. We also saw very strong numbers through affiliate partners and demand for the programme from different parts of the world.
What does the response tell you about the size of this opportunity in India?
Sai Abhishek: The response has been tremendous. Our streaming data and YouTube numbers beat every benchmark we had, and we have seen incredible numbers through our affiliate partners as well as demand from different parts of the world. For us, that demonstrates that the appetite for this kind of programming is clearly there. The opportunity is not limited to one platform or one audience. Different age groups consume Discovery differently across linear television, streaming, YouTube and Instagram, and we know audiences are coming to us for different genres and different needs.”
Does the success of Declassified: Operation Sindoor change WBD’s appetite for investing in Indian factual storytelling?
Sai Abhishek: One hundred percent. We are not only encouraged by it, this is already part of our strategy. Our strategy is to build recognisable and repeatable franchises that can bring audiences back across different shows, where people understand what they can expect from that franchise. We are looking at this across history, mythology, armed forces, true crime, reality, adventure and survival. We have done franchises such as Into the Wild with Bear Grylls, Reality Ranis of the Jungle, Star vs Food and Star vs Food Survival. The goal is to find authentic voices, recognisable faces where relevant, and repeatable franchises across genres so Discovery becomes a destination where audiences expect meaningful programming to arrive regularly.”
What is the revenue potential of premium factual entertainment in India today? Has audience interest in high-quality factual content translated into stronger advertiser demand and commercial value for WBD?
Sai Abhishek: I would definitely answer that positively, although there are challenges. We know audience demand exists. The issue is that the way audiences are measured and sold has not evolved at the same pace. The relationship between media planners, broadcasters and advertisers still follows a pattern that has existed for many years, with a lot of reliance on one set of data to determine the value of different genres.
We spend significant amounts making high-quality documentaries, reality programmes and large-budget shows. But advertising can still be very campaign-driven. An advertiser may have a phone, car or another product to launch and plan accordingly.
For factual entertainment to move to a much higher level, the advertising business also needs to evolve in how the category is sold and valued, rather than being dependent primarily on BARC data. At the same time, factual content is also sold on the strength of the brand. This is high-quality specialist programming that audiences cannot necessarily get on a general entertainment channel. Advertisers therefore also come for brand association. There are other monetisation opportunities today as well, including YouTube, streaming and distribution, which did not exist in the same way earlier.
How do you evaluate the economics of a large-scale production like Declassified: Operation Sindoor? Given the extensive research, access, archival footage and production involved. What kind of investment does a project of this scale require and also its ROI?
Sai Abhishek: Whenever we commission a piece of content or a documentary on Discovery, it goes through a very structured commissioning process. There are multiple layers looking at the budget, timelines, revenue potential and expected ratings. We have internal benchmarks around what each of these needs to deliver for a project to be positive within our benchmarking system. While this is evaluated in India, it is also benchmarked globally. When we look at monetisation and ROI, we consider the different places where a programme can telecast or stream, including opportunities outside India.
Then there is also earned value. When people talk about a show and it creates conversations around the brand, that creates significant value, but it is difficult to predict before launch. We do not go into a project saying it must generate a certain number of conversations globally. So ROI is evaluated through budget and recovery benchmarks, ratings benchmarks, distribution and monetisation opportunities, along with the earned value generated by the programme.
Is WBD seeing advertisers increasingly willing to pay a premium to associate with credible, high-quality factual content? How has the advertiser mix or brand interest in factual programming changed over the past few years?
Sai Abhishek: There are special projects such as Operation Sindoor where advertisers come specifically because they want to associate with the brand and the subject. We have seen this multiple times. There are advertisers who may not even be part of the regular pool of advertisers but come specifically because they want that association with factual entertainment. A lot of factual entertainment is sold on the strength of the brand because it is specialist, high-quality programming that is not available everywhere.
At the same time, the overall model of how factual entertainment is bought and sold still needs to evolve. Advertisers have changed, audiences have changed, but the measurement and selling systems have not necessarily evolved at the same pace.
What does the response to Declassified: Operation Sindoor mean for WBD’s future content investment in India? Could strong audience traction lead to a larger slate of high-budget, access-led factual IP, and potentially bigger budgets for the category?
Sai Abhishek: One hundred percent. This is already our strategy. We want to build recognisable, repeatable franchises across genres and create tentpole programming. There is simply too much content available today across streaming and linear television, and everyone is competing for the audience’s time. The only way to stand out is to make meaningful programming and market it well enough to generate audience traction. Otherwise, even good content can get lost.
Operation Sindoor becoming such a big success also helps us when we look at the future of Declassified. More people may now be willing to open their books and bring us stories around operations that have been declassified in the past. We are approaching this as a creative opportunity rather than as something with limited possibilities.
How do you monetise a franchise like ‘Declassified’ across TV, OTT, YouTube and international markets? Does having multiple revenue and distribution avenues make such IP more commercially attractive?
Sai Abhishek: There are now several monetisation opportunities that did not exist earlier. We monetise YouTube. We have streaming opportunities. We have a strong linear television business. We also look at the different places around the world where a programme can telecast or stream and the revenue potential that exists outside our home market.
So when we assess ROI, we do not look at just one platform. We look at where the show can travel, where it can stream, where it can telecast and what opportunities exist across those different markets. That is part of the commissioning process and part of how we evaluate the economics of a project.
At the end of the day, can premium factual entertainment become a meaningful revenue and growth driver for WBD in India, rather than simply being a brand-building exercise?
Sai Abhishek: For us, it was never simply a brand-building exercise. Factual entertainment is already a very meaningful part of our business. We have kids, factual and sports businesses, and within the portfolio that my team and I manage, factual represents roughly half of what we do. Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC, Science and Discovery+ are all part of that ecosystem.
Premium factual entertainment already drives meaningful revenue for us and is a growth driver for WBD in India. For the category itself to become larger, I think more players need to invest equally, if not more, in factual entertainment. Right now, it often feels as though we are carrying a significant part of the category, with more sporadic investment from other major players.
The second thing that needs to evolve is how factual entertainment is bought and sold by advertisers.
The third is original format development. India still imports and adapts many European, American and British formats, but original thinking in factual entertainment is limited to a relatively small group of people. Networks and commissioners need to invest more time in original development and research because factual programming cannot simply be commissioned today and produced next week.
Finally, the documentary filmmaking ecosystem itself needs support. There are relatively few funding opportunities for documentary filmmakers in India compared with parts of Europe where grants and other funding mechanisms exist. We need to build and support the next generation of factual filmmakers. Otherwise, where will the talent come from?
What are the areas or subjects you are now looking to explore, and could franchises like Declassified eventually become Indian-origin IP?
Sai Abhishek: I actually see this as a great creative challenge rather than a limitation. There have been so many operations that we, as ordinary people, may not even know about. There are also operations audiences may know largely through their Bollywood versions, where creative liberties may have been taken. Declassified gives us an opportunity to unlock stories around lesser-known operations and bring them to light in a factual way. We are already working on that.
Now that Operation Sindoor has become such a big success for us, more people may be willing to open their books and give us access to stories that have been declassified over the years. Original Indian IP is also very important for us. Star vs Food, for instance, is a franchise we built in India that travelled around the world, and we later created Star vs Food Survival as a spin-off.
How audiences engage with Discovery also differs across linear television, streaming, YouTube and Instagram. People across age groups are already watching us in different ways. Gen Z and Gen Alpha may not be the core audience around which every commission is designed, but we know they are already consuming our content.
The larger objective is to keep building authentic, original, repeatable Indian franchises that can work for our core audience while also having the potential to travel to much broader audiences.
Sarika Sharma is Editor, Entertainment, MoneyControl.com. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of entertainment journalism.
first published: Sep 22, 2026 10:18 am
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