Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may selectively determine to decode a downlink shared channel multicast transmission based on whether the downlink shared channel includes a retransmission of an initial multicast transmission. A base station may transmit a message in a downlink control channel to indicate if the downlink shared channel is carrying the retransmission of the initial multicast transmission. For example, the base station may transmit a group random network temporary identifier, downlink control information with a retransmission indicator bit, or both to indicate if the downlink shared channel is carrying the retransmission. In some cases, the message in the downlink control channel may be received at a layer one (L1) of the UE, and the downlink shared channel transmission may be decoded at L1 of the UE and sent to a layer two (L2) of the UE for processing.