Zee Group, one of India’s largest News networks, has launched four digital news channels exclusively for the regional news of South India. The channels – Zee Tamil News, ZEE Kannada News, ZEE Malayalam News and ZEE Telugu News– with a digital-first approach will cater to the needs of tech-savvy young viewers. The company is confident and assured on quality – both in terms of content and the team behind the channel.
As per data available, the internet penetration of South India is much higher compared to the rest of India. The time spent watching videos per day has also increased by 60%–70% over 2018–20, where 85% of content viewed is non-English and 30% in languages other than English or Hindi. With 68% of the population consuming news through digital platforms, ZEE will address the need for a voice that is unbiased towards the local political influences and therefore can focus on the real on-ground situations.
Speaking of the launch Purushottam Vaishnava, CEO, ZEE Media Cluster 2 says, “It is a great feat for us to enter the South Indian market with digital news channels that aren’t just selling debates. We see a gap in honest, unbiased and extensive on-ground reporting in these markets and hence these channels will cater to fulfilling that gap. We aim to be the most trustworthy news brand of these markets,”
The channels which will fall under India Dotcom Private Limited has also launched a marketing campaign to sensitize viewers on the launch of the new channels. The campaign will focus on the digital platform along with radio and tv.
Udaya Kumar has been appointed as the Sales Head for the south digital channels. Speaking on the launch Udaya Kumar says, “I am super excited to be associated with ZEE. ZEE is already a pioneer brand in the news and media vertical across the country with a range of innovative products, the launch of DIGITAL NEWS TV is another innovation. We have carefully curated programming that caters to all the needs and wants of an educated viewer. Our focus is not just politics but includes a plethora of other genres like crime scene investigation, political satire, lifestyle, health etc. Looking forward to some great work with this dynamic team and contributing to the revenue growth across all 4 south Indic languages.”
The channels – Zee Tamil News, ZEE Kannada News, ZEE Malayalam News and ZEE Telugu News – will be available for viewership on the respective websites- www.zeetamilnews.com; www.zeetelugunews.com; www.zeemalayalamnews.com; www.zeekannadanews.com ; on YouTube platforms; social media platforms such as Facebook; OTT Streaming platform like Zee 5 and others along with news aggregators like Daily Hunt etc.
