ZEE5 aims to reach 50% of the audience that’s consuming content digitally: Manish Kalra

ZEE5 is home to over 2 lakh+ hours of on-demand content, 100+ live TV channels, with a rich library of over 140+ original shows spread across 12 Indian languages. The year 2021 has been great for ZEE5, where a lot happened. The OTT platform’s foray into Punjabi-speaking markets has been remarkable, with active subscription numbers registering 126% growth in Punjab, 92% in Haryana and 104% in Chandigarh. The streamer bets big on other regional markets such as South India, Bengal, etc., by producing more original content and featuring popular stars. ZEE5 has identified 100+ taste clusters across different languages and geographies with an eye to satiate viewers’ appetite for entertainment.

“Our focus for 2022 will be to scale our efforts in providing a rich and compelling entertainment experience for the entertainment-loving Indian audience. We have a focused content strategy in store that will help us inch closer to our ultimate goal of ‘entertainment inclusion’,” said Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5, in an interview with Adgully. Going forward, he said, the aim is to focus on family entertainment along with regional content. Excerpts:

How has ZEE5 grown to become a consumer-favourite brand in a span of just four years? What was the USP that differentiated ZEE5 from other homegrown OTT players?

Being India’s largest home-grown video streaming platform and the multilingual storyteller for multiple entertainment seekers, ZEE5 has always stood for empowering Indians to consume entertainment anytime and anywhere. Our primary objective is to drive ‘Entertainment Inclusion’, by onboarding millions of digital consumers from newer/ underserved markets and democratising access to bespoke Indian entertainment for all markets and audiences, especially those that are underserved.

By virtue of stemming from India’s legacy content powerhouse, ZEE, we have a strong pulse over our audience preferences and, therefore, we are constantly bringing compelling content that one can enjoy from any device, anytime across multiple languages and genres. We have identified 100+ taste clusters across different languages and geographies to understand content preferences and deliver hyper-personalised content satisfying consumers’ appetite for on-demand entertainment. We have been able to convert our customer centricity into a power-packed content library with tailor-made content for entertainment seekers across the country. We constantly work towards delivering purposeful, diverse, and clutter-breaking language content for a mass premium audience that cuts through geographies. Our rich library of over 140+ original shows, which is 10 times more than the immediate competition, comes in 12 Indian languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Punjabi.

Additionally, we designed value-for-money pricing strategies to make entertainment more accessible, along with strategic partnerships that enhance our content slate. Also, with OTT becoming mainstream, entertainment is now open not only for personal, but also for family consumption. We worked towards enhancing the living room experience via connected devices and therefore augment the way entertainment is consumed by the user.

ZEE5 has forayed into Punjab and north India markets. Will you follow suit by entering the South Indian markets with Originals, web series and movies? Going forward, is regional the key?

The pandemic has acted as a shot in the arm for the industry, with viewing habits in India continuing to witness an upswing. Especially in an ethnically diverse nation like ours, people love consuming real and relatable content in their own tongue. A KPMG study showed that nearly 30% of Indians consume content on OTT in their preferred language, over and above English and Hindi.

Being one of the prominent players in the regional markets with a strong language play, ZEE5 forayed into Punjabi-speaking markets in September this year to cater to the massive 3 crore+ Punjabi native speakers in India who hail from Punjab and other neighbouring states. Within just three months, we have witnessed a tremendous response from the audience for the three blockbuster Punjabi movies released so far – ‘Puadaa’, ‘Jinne Janme Saare Nikkame’ and ‘Qismat 2’. Our active subscription numbers have gone through the roof with 126% growth in Punjab, 92% in Haryana and 104% in Chandigarh in September 2021 from April 2021.

There is also a huge demand in the Southern markets comprising Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. Bengali also has a big audience. We want to enhance the offering for regional languages by producing more Original content, bringing more movies and shows, and bringing more popular stars on ZEE5 across these languages. We want to cater to this growing appetite to consume quality content in local languages, by bringing real, relevant and resonant stories from the heartland to strike a chord with our ethnically rich audience. ZEE5 will continue to bolster its content slate with bespoke and powerful regional content, bringing us one step closer to our larger vision of achieving entertainment inclusion for newer and underserved markets.

How important is it to identify the ever-evolving taste clusters, exploring new genres and audiences to stay ahead of the competition?

With the pandemic hitting us, ZEE5 witnessed an unprecedented rise in consumption as consumers across the country were on the lookout for stay-at-home entertainment options. The pandemic did help the audience adopt a more digitally advanced way of entertainment, something that went beyond the conventional mediums, leading to mass adoption of OTTs and a resulting surge in viewership and watch-time. In this scenario, some key trends that emerged were increased focus on storytelling across languages leading to the creation of extensive and expansive content libraries. Audiences were looking for stories that helped them disconnect from their daily lives and escape into a fictional world of a set of characters that help transport them to their realm.

This appetite for fresh content has brought forth a plethora of opportunities for OTT platforms, especially to experiment with new, differentiated, and unique content. Something that goes beyond the unsaid rules. Original content has always been one of the key pillars of our business strategy. Even in the first pandemic, we introduced an exciting content line-up of new shows and movies spanning genres to cater to our diverse consumer taste clusters. Today, we are home to over 2 lakh+ hours of on-demand content, 100+ live TV channels, with a rich library of over 140+ original shows spread across 12 Indian languages. We are also extremely here and now with our content strategy, mainly to mirror the ever-changing consumption preferences of the country. We keep manoeuvering our content strategy to give audiences what they want – right from a blockbuster mass entertainer like ‘Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai’, to socially relevant films like ‘Rashmi Rocket’ and ‘Helmet’, to celebrated cults like ‘Friends: The Reunion’, Sunil Grover’s comedy thriller ‘Sunflower’, some of TVF’s widely popular and much-loved stories, and a sports docu-drama like ‘Break Point’. Adding diversity to our content mix is something we have always held in high regard, something which will continue even in the future.

To be in sync with the changing consumer preferences, at ZEE5 we have identified 100+ taste clusters across different languages and geographies with an eye to satiate viewers’ appetite for entertainment. We have made a conscious effort towards experimenting with new formats and genres across platforms. We aspire to have the best-in-class stories, across languages and genres, and believe people should have access to new voices, cultures, and perspectives. As a consumer-focused brand, for us, the key for success in each of these markets is how close you can go to understanding the pulse of the consumer and what would entertain and engage them.

What will be ZEE5’s content strategy in 2022? Will you be having a hybrid model of Originals and commissioning/ licensing?

With consumers always at the heart of our strategy, our focus for 2022 will be to scale our efforts in providing a rich and compelling entertainment experience for the entertainment-loving Indian audience. Right from expanding our diverse library to include quality content across multiple languages and genres, to cutting across new geographies and catering to greenfield markets across the country, we have a focused content strategy in store that will help us inch closer to our ultimate goal of ‘entertainment inclusion’. We are partnering with passionate creators and remarkable content powerhouses to create a robust pipeline so that we can continue entertaining our viewers.

Moving forward, we want to focus on family entertainment along with regional content. Our aim is to make South-Asian content across languages popular, not only in India but also internationally. We aim to reach 50% of the audience that is consuming content digitally and will continue to offer differentiated shows and blockbuster movies and invest in content that suits our customer’s preferences, which will, in turn, drive our market share. In terms of content investments, 50% will go into original shows and 50% will go into acquisitions, primarily films and other shows.

We will also double down on our efforts to enhance our technology prowess by providing high-quality video and a best-in-class content viewing experience across devices. A strong content push along with an enhanced user experience, resulting in an improved net promoter score (NPS) and top-of-the-mind recall for ZEE5 will be our top priority.

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