ZEE5â€™s global monthly active users up at 63.1 mn; rollout in Europe, UK, Canada

After revealing Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (ZEEL) new vision – ZEE 4.0, wherein the group marks a big leap from the preceding phases that were marked by technology-driven changes, innovations and exponential growth as well as he 5G growth drivers in his Open Letter, Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, ZEEL, now presents a roundâ€‘up of how the year has been at ZEE, in the Q4 edition of ‘The Inside Story’.

Providing a sneak peak at the stories that will continue to make waves in FY21, ‘The Inside Story’ states that short-form video creation apps have taken the world of User Generated Content (UGC) by the storm, and has made stars out of many. ZEE5 is expanding its digital portfolio of offerings with HiPi, a homegrown short-form video creation app that will allow it to tap into the vast UGC segment, making it the one-stop destination for video content, an Entertainment SuperApp. As of March 2020, ZEE5 reported 63.1 million global monthly active users (MAU).

ZEE5 recorded 136 minutes average watch time per viewer per month in March 2020. The platform has entered into partnerships with leading telecom operators across the world, with commercial rollout of ZEE5 in Europe, UK, Canada.

With the ensuing lockdown, consumers spent more time online than ever before; resulting in a spike in viewership and advertising. OTT Platforms have witnessed a surge in content consumption across genres, geographies and consumer age groups. 150 minutes pre-lockdown to 280 minutes post-lockdown (minutes spend average on digital platform daily) Nielsen’20.

ZEE got the Supermoon, its unique Intellectual Property for LIVE events, to bring ZEE LIVE to Home. For ZEE5 subscribers, the group got expert celebrities across the fields of fitness, cooking and entertainment. The subscribers had access to 2 hours of daily curated content that is LIVE, original, and delivered without the experts themselves stepping out.

Under the #BeCalmBeEntertained initiative, ZEE5 added more than 500 hours of fresh content, and made it available to all its users for free, even those not subscribed to any plan. All users now have access to premium and new original content such as ‘Kar Le Tu Bhi Mohabbat’, ‘Kehne Ko Humsafar Hai’, ‘Baarish’, and ‘Ishq Aaj Kal’, among others, as well as movies.

Fresh content also included:

8 original shows with multiple seasons, and 7 hit Hindi movies
Short seasons of legacy shows
Popular Korean movies
Ancillary content such as ‘Behind The Scenes’, special moments and celebrity performances

Meanwhile, in an investor conference call, Punit Goenka said that over the last two and a half years, ZEE has invested more than 7 per cent of its EBITDA into ZEE5. He further said that ZEE5’s P&L will be available within the next 3 to 4 weeks.