Mumbai: OTT platform Zee5 is celebrating six years. It said that its content library now features over 6000 titles in 20 languages. Its service is available it claims across over 190 countries and over 4000 Indian cities.
It has forged partnerships with Dolby, Apple SharePlay, Magnifi and claims to reach over 712 million devices. Zee5 launched over 230 Originals across languages including in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Bangla. It is expanding the AVod roster. It streamed the ILT20 S1 marking its foray into sports and e-sports segment ~
The titles that it said have done well include ‘RRR’, ‘Gadar 2’, ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’ in Hindi; ‘Vidhuthalai – Part I’ in Tamil; Karthikeya 2’ in Telugu; ‘Vedha’ in Kannada; and Shabash Feluda’ in Bangla, amongst others. The platform also launched successful originals across languages like ‘‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hain’, ‘Taj: Divided by Blood’, ‘Mrs. Undercover” in Hindi; ‘Koose Munisamy Veerappan’, ‘Ayali’, ‘Sengalam’, ‘Oru Kodai Murder Mystery’ in Tamil; ‘Vyavastha’, ‘Puli Meka’, ‘Maya Bazaar For Sale’ in Telugu; and ‘Abar Proloy’, ‘Chhotolok’, ‘Swetkali’, ‘Shabash Feluda’ and ‘Roktokorobi’ in Bangla.
‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai’ had the highest watch-time across Zee5 movies. ‘Taj: Divided by Blood’ topped the watch-time list among all ZEE5 titles released in the last six years. Originals like ‘Abhay’, ‘Rangbaaz’, ‘Sunflower’, ‘State of Siege: 26/11’, and ‘Rangbaaz: Darr Ki Rajneeti’ also feature in the top 10 shows on the platform, while ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, ‘Radhe – Your Most Wanted Bhai’, ‘RRR’, ‘Antim: The Final Truth’, ‘Silence…Can You Hear It?’ and ‘The Kashmir Files’ feature in the top 10 movies list.
2024 will see releases, like ‘Sam Bahadur’, ‘Kaatera’, ‘The Kerala Story’, ‘Sunflower S2’, ‘Broken News S2’, Guneet Monga’s ‘Gyarah Gyarah’, and the Telugu spy-thriller series‘Mission Tashafi’.
Amit Goenka, President – Digital Businesses And Platforms, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. said, “Over the last six years, Zee5 has played a pivotal role in delivering accessibility and affordability to its consumers across the globe. As we cross yet another milestone in our journey, our aim is to further fortify the synergies between content and technology to build a robust consumer experience across connected devices. While we remain committed to offering immersive entertainment experiences to our consumers across our digital platforms, the parallel growth trajectory of the linear and digital ecosystem will enable us to further strengthen our capabilities.
“As the digital landscape matures steadily, and improved infrastructure further proliferates the ability for transactions on digital platforms, the opportunities remain endless. As pioneers in the industry, we will continue to maintain a strong focus on growth and innovation, simultaneously enabling a conducive environment for the industry at large.”
Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, Zee5 India said, “At Zee5, we envision to be the platform of choice for billions of viewers with real, relatable, and relevant stories in languages that resonate with them. Over the last few years, we have focused on improving user experience and launching multiple blockbuster movies and originals while using technological innovations to improve our platform experience significantly. 2023 has been eventful with many firsts and multiple successful projects strengthening our presence across markets with significant penetration in the tier III and IV cities.”
“Tech adoptions across business touchpoints for increasing efficiency and enhancing in-app experience have been a priority. 2024 has already started on a strong note with the release of ‘Sam Bahadur’ and “The Kerala Story”. As the industry scales newer heights, ZEE5’s unwavering commitment will remain centered around delighting our users with more focus on delivering quality content seamlessly.”
Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, Zee5 Global said, “From the initial idea of taking our South Asian content global, to growing out the business to become the No.1 South Asian streaming platform internationally, it has been a remarkable journey. Today, Zee5 Global stands as the premier destination for South Asian content, connecting the diaspora across the world with their language content. And as we continue to grow out our massive leadership in the US., our recent pivot to becoming an Aggregator of South Asian streaming platforms with the launch of Zee5 Add-ons, only further cements our position in the market as the singular largest hub for South Asian content. South Asian stories are finally claiming their well-deserved spotlight on the global arena, and we look to be at the forefront of this conversation, setting the stage for even more disruptive growth.”
Zee5 Global recently launched Add-ons in the USA. It pivoted to an aggregator of multiple South Asian streaming platforms within ZEE5 itself. Zee5 had over 15 billion streaming minutes on AVOD from May to December 2023.
It strengthened its presence with slates in Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam
Zee added that its Technology and Innovation Centre in Bangalore has delivered a development on product enhancement with the vision of an innovation leader in the M&E segment. It worked with technology partners to ensure the adoption of new technology like the launch of the Zee5 Add-Ons aggregator platform in the USA to enhance the streaming experience, particularly for the Indian and South Asian diaspora in the market.
In August 2023, Zee5 was made accessible on foldable devices. Additionally, Zee5 Music debuted on Android Auto, both being showcased at Google I/O event.
Zee5 now features 150 hyper-casual games. It has also introduced ad formats, that it calims has driven an 80% increase in interaction and Click-Through Rates (CTR). To expand its distribution channels and attract users across metros and tier I and II markets, Zee5 has explored bundling propositions through partnerships with players like Jio platforms, Tata Play Binge, Flipkart, Paytm, HT OTTplay and BCN Digital TV
It leveraged tech advancements like advanced generative AI for personalisation of search results, and recommendation search engine. It also focussed on strengthening content security of the app, and the customer support chatbot.
It said that it revamped its entire connected TV apps interface and worked towards reducing the app size by 10% and the app launch time also improved by 25%. In June 2023, Zee5 launched Apple Watch Party on iOS for global content enjoyment, allowing the platform’s subscribers to watch content through FaceTime on iPhones and iPads.
