MxMIndia

Tag: Zee TV

  • The Aaj Likhenge Kal philosophy signifies the aspiration of the great Indian middle class

    Zee TV unveils new identify, credo & brand films

    By A Correspondent

     

    Twenty-five years after launch, Zee TV unveils an all-new ideology, encapsulated in the line – Aaj Likhenge Kal. The fresh reiteration of its brand purpose urges the audiences to curate their own extraordinary future. Two films have been created by Zee’s new creative agency, Publicis India.

     

    Said Punit Misra, CEO – Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, Domestic Broadcast Business: “As a pioneer of the satellite broadcast space, Zee TV’s content has always highlighted values that are deeply ingrained in the middle-class audiences around the world. As we look forward to the next leg of our journey, it is important for us to continuously reflect the aspirations of the evolving viewer, and inspire them to be their extraordinary self. Aaj Likhenge Kal is a brand and content mantra which will translate into a stronger bond with viewers. We wish to walk along the life journeys of our viewers and nudge and support them to proactively take control of their destinies. Zee TV’s evolution of its brand proposition is a part of a larger brand refresh exercise for our organization.”

     

    The Aaj Likhenge Kal philosophy is brought alive with a brand new visual identity, where each element signifies the aspiration of the great Indian middle class, note a communique, adding:  “The circular logo denotes the universal appeal of Zee TV’s all-inclusive content. The orange colour represents the inner glow or radiance that emanates from within – a symbol of positivity and confidence that the brand echoes. The brand packaging will be brought alive through elements of nature such as fire, earth, water, air – the diya which represents light and hope, the blooming of an orange flower that stands for the beauty of life and evolution, gold that denotes eternal richness and mosaic which enunciates the power of synergy that stems from several fragmented pieces coming together to form a beautiful whole.”

     

    Added Deepak Rajadhyaksha, Deputy Business Head – Zee TV: “With Aaj Likhenge Kal, we are cementing the building blocks of our relationship with viewers. As we move forward, we hope to unlock the India of our dreams by serving as catalysts in transforming the middle-class into self-motivated go-getters, reaching out for the extraordinary. Our shows, be it the existing line-up or the new launches, will be in reflective of our core proposition. With them, we wish to ignite a spark amongst our viewers to fight both intrinsic and societal battles, and proactively transform their destinies to shape a beautiful tomorrow.”

     

    Said Prathyusha Agarwal, CMO, ZEEL: :As we bring alive our brand philosophy through our shows and characters, a robust marketing strategy will establish and amplify the brand POV through multiple brand assets. Our brand anthem, composed by Vishal Bharadwaj, sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Arijit Singh hums the extraordinary journeys our audiences are making and hopes to be the voice of this unwavering spirit. Our brand film captures the essence of the great Indian middle class rising and aims to spark many more to take the leap. To truly touch people’s lives with the essence of Aaj Likhenge Kal this Diwali, Zee TV will bring light to the nation’s budding future through mobile vans with LED lit installations of the new logo. These vans, strategically placed, will provide light for those who would otherwise study under street lamps.”

  • Starting a week-long series coinciding with Zee TV’s completion of a quarter century

    25 and a huge force to reckon with!

     

    Zee TV completes 25 years of existence on October 2, 2017. Since we are closed that day, we bring you the first in a week-long series on the channel starting today. The last in the series will appear on Friday, October 6

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Phew! Twenty-five years of Zee Television. Just five years back, one celebrated the twentieth anniv with much fanfare. I remember the days when Zee TV was being launched in 2002. Tension was building up around Babri Masjid which culminated in what happened in Ayodhya in December 1992.

     

    I would edit a computer magazine then – Business Computer for the Indian Express group’s Sterling Newspapers. I would also review television for film trade weekly Screen and moonlight for a few publications.Star Plus wasn’t for the masses then – though shows like The Bold and The Beautiful and Santa Barbara were very popular with the urban set. One would watch the BBC World Service to find out what actually happened at Ayodhya in 1992, and many of us would be nuts about the graphics on MTV and knew each veejay by name.

     

    The Zee Story

     

    Timeline of mostly the entertainment part of the Zee Television story

     

    1992

    > Launches Zee TV

    > Initial Public Offering of Zee Telefilms Limited

    1994

    > EL TV launched

    1995

    > Commences Siticable operations Joint Venture with News Corp

    > Launches Zee News and Zee Cinema.

    > Zee TV goes global – launches Zee TV, UK

    1996

    > Starts first cable channel in India – Siti Channel.

    > Launches Zee TV, Africa.

    1997

    > Launches Zee Music (originally called Music Asia).

    1998

    > Launches Zee TV in the US.

    > Institutes ‘Zee Cine Awards’.

    1999

    > Acquires News Corp’s 50% stake in joint ventures of their television broadcasting business tie-up.

    > Launches regional channels.

    > Launches Zee News

    2000

    > Launches Internet over Cable services – first cable company in India to do so.

    > Enters into content distribution joint ventures with MGM and Viacom.> Launches pay bouquet of channels in the Asian region.

    2001

    > Introduces Zee TV and Zee News as pay television offerings.

    >‘Gadar – Ek Prem Katha’ became highest grossing box office movie (it released on the same day as Aamir Khan’s Lagaan)

    2002

    > Acquires controlling stakes in ETC Networks Limited and Padmalaya Telefilms Limited.

    2003

    > Launches 5 new channels for the DTH market viz. Action cinema, Classic cinema, MX, Premier cinema and Smile TV.

    > Enters into a distribution tie-up with Rajshri Pictures for theatrical distribution of films in India.

    > Launches ‘Trendz’ – A premium fashion and style channel, targeted at the fashion conscious Indian consumer.

    > Launches Zee Business

    2005

    > JV with Dainik Bhaskar group to set up DNA, DNA launched

    2006

    > De-merger of Zee Telefilms Limited.

    > Failed attempt to acquire news agency UNI

    2007

    > Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE) gets listed as an independent company.

    > Zee Next launched

    2008

    > Zee Next shuts down

    2010

    > Launches Zee Khana Khazana – India’s first 24-hour food channel

    > Launches Zee Salaam – India’s first Urdu infotainment satellite television channel> Acquires stake in Ten Sports.

    > Launches Ten Cricket – a dedicated 24-hour Cricket Channel.> Launches Ten Action+ – sports channel showcasing the best football action from around the world.

    > Launches India.com – Joint Venture between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. and Mail.com

    2011

    > ZEE’s distribution arm, Zee-Turner Ltd, enters into a 50:50 JV with Star Den Media Services Pvt. Ltd. to form MediaPro Enterprise India Pvt. Ltd.

    > Announces share buyback

    2012

    > Launches Ditto TV – India’s first and only OTT (Over-The-Top TV) Distribution Platform

    > Launches Ten Golf – India’s first and exclusive 24 hour Golf channel

    > Launches 24-hour Bengali movie channel

    > Announces launch of a kids’ channel

    >Launches Zee Alwan – Dedicated 24 Hour Arabic Channel

    2013

    > Launches &Pictures and Zee Anmol

    2014

    > Launches &pictures HD and Zindagi – a premium Hindi GEC channel

    2015

    > Launches Zee Theatre – India’s first M&E company to foray into theatre production

    > Launches Zee Magic – the first French GEC offering Indian content to mainstream French audiences in Francophone Africa

    > Acquires Sarthak TV – the #1 GEC in Odiya language

    > Launches Hindi GEC &tv and &tv HD

    > Launches Zee Hiburan – A GEC localised for Indonesia

    > Launches Zee World – a GEC for mainstream audiences in Africa

    2016

    > Announces acquisition of the GECs from Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd

    > Launches Zee Marathi HD, Zee Bangla HD and Zee Talkies HD

    > Launches Zee Mundo – its Spanish-language Bollywood movie channel for the US Hispanic & LATAM markets

    > Launches Zee Cinemalu – its Telugu movie channel

    > Launches Zee Anmol Cinema – its FTA Hindi Movie channel

    > Launches Zee Yuva – the first regional youthful channel targeted at Marathi audiences

    > Launches Zee.One – a Bollywood movie channel for Germany

    > Launches Zee Sine – a Bollywood movie channel for the Philippines

    > Launches OZEE – a new digital platform

    > Launches ZEAL for Unity – a peace initiative

    2017

    > Launch of Z5 Weyyak for the Arabic audience

    > Launches Zee Mundo in Mexico and Ecuador

    > Shuts down Zindagi on June 30, moves it to OTT

    > Announces entry into Poland with Zee.One

    > Enters Mali with the launch of Zee Magic and Zee Cinema

    > Completes first phase of Two-Phase Divestment of Ten Sports Network to Sony Pictures

    > Launches its first radio station 106.2 big fm in the UAE

    > Launches two new channels, Zee Bollymovies, a 24-hour dedicated Bollywood movie channel and Zee Bollynova, a customised GEC, in Africa

    > Completes acquisition of RBNL channels Big Magic and Big Ganga. Also, 49% equity in Big FM

     

    Source: Zee Corporate Communications, Zee website, MxM Newsdesk

     

    Zee arrived and not many took it very seriously initially. All we knew was that a Subhash Chandra Goel was behind the venture. Yup, the same man who had set up the Esselworld amusement park on the outskirts of Mumbai, was once a rice trader and had made a success of Essel Packaging. But for someone like me in the Mumbai media, it was the association of Ashok Kurien, then poster boy of Indian advertising, that led me to believe that there was merit in the venture.

     

    A friend at Mid-Day asked me to write about this weirdly-named ‘Z’ TV. For a while, we would call it Z, thinking that just as our Maths professor at college would pronounce ‘z’ as ‘zee’, the announcers called the channel Zee. I am fuzzy about it, but I think my story on Zee in Mid-Day appeared soon after Rajdeep Sardesai’s did in the Times of India.

     

    I remember reasoning with my friend that Zee had a future because Kurien couldn’t get it wrong, and it’s for this reason I insisted we also interview Subhash Chandra on the occasion. I don’t think we carried the interview.

     

    Zee moved on from strength to strength. UTV, which had done programmes like The Mathemagic Show on Doordarshan, came up with a variety of gameshows… Saanp Seedi, for one.

     

    Doordarshan launched a Bollywood music countdown show in Superhit Muqabla (produced by Harish Thawani’s Nimbus), but the satellite channel came up with its own popular countdown show (Philips Top 10).

     

    There was a period when Doordarshan’s primary and Metro channels gave Zee serious competition, but with time, couldn’t match Chandra’s longterm vision of the space.

     

    Zee experimented a fair bit – a news bulletin in colloquial Hindi peppered with a lot of English words, a weekend show on the stockmarket, a telefilm by Mahesh Bhatt, and finally a second channel called EL TV. I would work with Mid-Day then and very actively tracked Zee’s various forays.

     

    Zee’s top team saw various captains as business and programming heads: – Karuna Samtani, Nitin Keni, Digvijay Singh, Kamlesh Pandey, Meenakshi Menon, Anil Dharker for a bit, Chandraprakash Dwivedi… the list could go on. Sandeep Goyal too was CEO and announced a makeover, but he exited soon, to be followed by Apurva Purohit. Pradeep Guha occupied the CEO’s chair, but he left after a few years. Nitin Vaidya, who had helmed the regional channels for a while, took charge of the flagship Zee TV, but he too moved on leaving one with the belief that while the Zee top job may be coveted, it was too hot to handle for professionals. In fact when MxMIndia tried speaking to some of the former captains around the time of the 20th anniv, many refused to be quoted saying that since it was too long ago for them to remember much.

     

    Yet, privately they acknowledge that even though Subhash Chandra is a maverick, he’s a huge force to reckon with in Indian media. He is aggressive, dynamic, cost-conscious and a big risk-taker.

     

    Last year (in 2016), Subhash Chandra released his autobiography ‘The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time’. It’s a must-read for anyone to get under the skin of one of the world’s most dynamic media leader.

     

    Very few others in the media have seen the ups and downs that he has probably seen. After being a darling of the stockmarkets and the Indian viewing public, Zee’s stock fell – in every possible way. In the early 2000s, the Economic Times would have a story virtually every other dialing quoting some regulatory irregularity.

     

    But Subhash Chandra, minus the Goel that he dropped in the late 1980s, wasn’t going to be down for too long.

     

    In 2005, after hiring Pradeep Guha from The Times of India group, he stitched up a joint venture with the Dainik Bhaskar group to launch a newspaper called DNA. PG, as Guha is popularly called, and the Bhaskar group’s Agarwals ensured that the paper had a high profile launch. That the Times of India improved its offering several times over, launched Mumbai Mirror and Hindustan Times too kicked off a Mumbai edition may have been dampeners, but DNA didn’t take too long to establish itself.

     

    I was fortunate to be part of the DNA editorial team for a bit, though often felt the strains of a newspaper with too many people at the helm – owners and top management.

     

    Much after I had left DNA and the Bhaskar group, I learnt that Subhash Chandra had assumed charge of DNA. There were several exits around that time, and one feared there would be instability after that. But that didn’t happen, although the editor changed and the paper dropped the editorial page. The DNA has continued to see many changes, many CEOs and many editors.

     

    Flagship channel Zee has seen its ups and downs. From a clear #1 in the 1990s to losing its leadership first to Sony and later for a long, long time to Star Plus, Zee has come back and attained strength in the GEC space.

     

    Post Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000, Zee was hit badly. It produced a dud in Sawaal Dus Crore Ka to combat KBC.  All those who backed the network had fallen in love with the new Star. Not for too long, as Subhash Chandra’s team picked up the pieces and steadily started inching up. And then Colors happened in 2008, pushing Zee down again. However, soon after his channel had turned #1 the then Colors CEO Rajesh Kamat told me that more than Star Plus, his team and he were watching Zee very closely. Its fictions and reality shows had promise.

     

    Which it did. Cut to 2017, although there’s been a see-saw in the Hindi GEC space and Star Plus and Colors have dominated the ratings roster, but over the last few months Zee has got back to the top slot. Post the release of ratings for rural audiences, Zee Anmol has also been doing rather well. It’s indeed happy days for Zee as it celebrates its 25th anniversary on October 2.

     

    Credit for this goes to Chandra’s son and Managing Director and CEO Punit Goenka who has led the network very effectively.  Zee Media Corporation Ltd, the company managing the news channels, has There are various genres Zee is in, but its channels aren’t much to talk about. Zee News has a new CEO, but it will need to do loads to turn #1. Ditto with the various other channels – Zee Music, Zee Smile, Zee Studio. Zee Cafe has tried to create a bang with more recent seasons of popular shows, but the niche channels require some attention from Goenka (See interview). Chandra’s second son – Amit Goenka – manages the international business which again has been growing very rapidly.

     

    His leadership team has an interesting mix… Other than Punit and Amit Goenka, there are: Bharat Kedia (CFO), M. Lakshminarayanan (Company Secretary & Compliance), Praveer Priyadarshi (Chief People Officer), Punit Misra (CEO, Broadcast), Rajneesh Mittal (CTO) and Sunil Buch (Zee Live & Talent, Head – Corporate Brand & Communications)

     

    Goenka’s leadership has also brought with it much camaraderie with Star India and its CEO Uday Shankar, and this is one reason why there has been little infighting amongst the various entertainment broadcast major.

     

    Until a few years back, Zee lacked buzz-creating content. But no longer. DID has been putting up a blockbuster performance every year. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa continues to rock ratings. Zee didn’t come up with anything like Satyamev Jayate, but it chose not to be a me-too.

     

    At times like these when celebration is in the air, it’s not uncommon to gloss over a company’s various failures. But rather than blips, I would look at these as the network’s strength to have in Subhash Chandra a promoter who has been willing to take risks.

     

    Although I wouldn’t report on media in 2000-01, I am told the proposals for Kaun Banega Crorepati and some of the top-rated Balaji soaps were rejected by Zee.

     

    Chandra started EL TV (no marks for guess where that name came from) at a time when he thought he could replicate the flagship’s success with a second GEC. That didn’t happen, and EL metamorphosed to Zee India TV and later Zee News. Yet another attempt to look at the younger, urban set with Zee Next in late 2007 survived for less than a year. Zee’s radio foray was still-born and attempts to publish TV and film magazines didn’t work.

     

    Zee had much failure in bidding for cricket rights, including the World Cup. Despite his bid being the highest, Chandra lost out which many agreed was unfair to the media baron. In 2007, buoyed with India winning the T20 World Cup and the success of the 20-over format, and anguished with the ways of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Zee set up the Indian Cricket League. While the ICL took off, it never gained ground as key cricketers of the day were not allowed to participate for the tournament was dubbed ‘unofficial’. Chandra gave up after a protracted fight with the BCCI as the ICL became meaningless post the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Zee has now permanently exited the sports arena, but, then, as any Zee-watcher will tell you, you never know with Subhash Chandra. Chandra is now a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, with his allegiance to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but with very close friends in other political dispensations.

     

    Twenty-five years on, how would I rate Zee’s performance? A 9 or 10 on 10 for the spirit of enterprise and growing the industry.  Too many leadership changes may have not given the company stability, but as Chandra once told me, the only reason why he’s had to move CEOs out is because of non-performance. And he shouldn’t be faulted for that. The ousted CEOs naturally have another story, but as mentioned earlier, almost everyone who has been associated with the network plus his business rivals and peers recognise Subhash Chandra and Zee’s tremendous contribution to Indian broadcasting.

    Three cheers to that!

     

    Adapted from an article by me published on MxMIndia in October 2012

  • DishTV warns against possible monopoly in cricket telecast if Star India wins IPL rights

    Zee and Star warring again?

    By A Correspondent

     

    Journalist and broadcasting industry professional Anjan Mitra captured it right. “Sense of deja vu for old timers & those hacks like me who covered media as a beat in mid90s to mid 2000:Zee vs Star,” he posted on his Facebook timeline.

     

    On Wednesday evening, when media offices received a mail from the Dish TV PR agency along with a letter from company bossman Jawahar Goel, it did remind many a journalist of the mid-1990s/2000s when the two networks were warring fiercely.

     

    A journalist who covered the beat then recalled how he had received anonymous dockets twice over against Star India founder and media tycoon Rupert Murdoch. Another journalist recalls how what was rivalry fought more to ward off Murdoch from the Indian broadcast scene reached a new high when Star India beat Zee with the launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000.

     

    It took Zee some years including re-engineering of its operations to bring back its old, glory days.

     

    However, there has been much public display of camaraderie between the two network in the recent past. It even led to the formation of a distribution arm called ‘Mediapro’ which was later disbanded.

     

    Star India CEO Uday Shankar and Zee MD have also known to be friends, and have collaborated on many industry initiatives. In fact it’s their collective leadership that has led to many of the recent successes of the broadcast industry, including warding off any government intervention and the successful launch of the audience measurement system under the joint industry body BARC India.

     

    We don’t know whether this salvo has the backing of Zee group chairman and now Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subhash Chandra. Goel, Chandra’s brother, is also known to be independent, but observers say the current move couldn’t have been made without the blessings of Chairman Chandra.

     

    But more than the speculation whether the two networks are at war, the issues that the Jawahar Goel letter raises could majorly impact the process of awarding the rights for telecast of IPL.

     

    And even if Star eventually does win the rights for the cricketing league, the process for charging consumers (via cable distributors and DTH operators) could be be totally governed by pricing policies issued by telecom regulator TRAI which may well make the entire proposition unattractive.

     

    DishTV letter against possible monopoly in cricket telecast if Star India wins IPL rights is sure to be taken very seriously by all recipients especially the politicians who can’t afford to displease consumers.

     

    Please click here for the Jawahar Goel letter

     

  • Viewers can expect an array of new programmes produced in the U.S. by Zee, which will air on the channel throughout 2017 and 2018, notes a communique

    Zee unveils first English-language reality show in the US

     

     

    Zee TV Americas has launched the first English language South Asian reality show, ‘Made In America.’ The show is entirely produced and filmed in the US and marks the first time that a channel of Indian origin is producing content at a global scale for international audiences.

     

    Said Sameer Targe, CEO of ZEE TV Americas: “We realised that there was a need in the marketplace to reach a younger South Asian audience who have an enormous desire to be in the glamour world. Zee TV, being the flagship television network for South Asians in the United States, we decided to launch ‘Made In America’ to fulfill their Hollywood dreams, and create a platform for them to be able to showcase their talents.”

     

    As each episode focuses on one specific challenge ranging from an array of categories, at the end of each episode a winner is chosen, leading to a final single winner in the season finale of the show, which will air on October 12, 2017.

     

  • Starting Saturday, 25th Feb 2017 at 9:00pm, the popular singing reality show for kids 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs' is back with the sixth season

    Zee TV launches Season 6 of Amul Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs

    By A Correspondent

     

    After screening more than 60,000 entries over eight weeks of grueling auditions across 27 cities to discover India’s most talented singers, only 15 of the most striking voices with an ability to touch hearts will make it to the stage of Zee TV’s ‘Amul Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs. Starting Saturday, 25th Feb 2017 at 9:00pm, the popular singing reality show for kids ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs’ is back with the sixth season.

     

    This season, the kids will be mentored by music composer-turned-actor Himesh Reshammiya, the soulful playback singer Javed Ali and joining them for the very first time on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs will be playback singer NehaKakkar. Aditya Narayan returns to host the upcoming season. For the first time ever on Li’l champs, a panel of 30 jury members who are experts from the music fraternity, will closely assess the aspiring child singers right from the audition stage and help the mentors in the selection process.

     

    Commenting on the launch of the new season, Zee TV Deputy Business Head Deepak Rajadhyaksha says, “Having wrapped up our top-rated weekend thriller ‘Brahmarakshas- JaagUthaShaitan, we now present Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs, the children’s edition of Zee TV’s iconic franchise -  Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. The last season of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa broke all records of 2016 on television, delivering the highest ratings for a non-fiction episode. The sixth season of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l Champs has on board Himesh Reshammiya, Javed Ali and NehaKakkar as mentors for the kids. Not only are they extremely warm, affable and great with kids but also have the ability to step in as role models and guiding forces for their growth as singers. We have enlisted the support of 30 music connoisseurs – experts in the music fraternity who will aid the selection process right from the outset. We are pleased to partner with Essel Vision Productions in presenting the new season”.

     

    The hunt for the country’s best singers has spanned across 27 cities including Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Patna, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Nagpur, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Indore, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

     

  • As Zee will complete 25 years of existence next year, last week MxM announced a special volume: Zee@25. We replay the notice

    Do you have an interesting Zee story?

     

    Next year, 2017, to be precise, the Zee Network completes 25 years of existence.

     

    On October 2, 1992, Zee TV was launched with mixed fanfare. Will a name like Zee work, many asked. Just how can someone not from the business of entertainment get into television. Yes, Star TV was around, but can Zee do a similar act?

     

    Despite many sceptics, Zee TV under Subhash Chandra and a team of energetic professionals took off in style. And since then hasn’t looked back. And although there have been some blips in the 25 years, it’s been a journey of highs and highs. Even fierce competitors acknowledge that Zee is by far the most successful Indian television media conglomerates.

     

    In this quarter of a century, Zee TV has touched the lives of many across the country, and the world.

     

    MxMIndia announces a book to chronicle the Zee journey.

     

    So do you have a Zee story that you would like to share with us and the world? Have you worked with Zee for a period of one year or above? Have you been a vendor or done a show for Zee? Have you done business with Zee? Or have you got the wrong end of the stick? Have you been a journalist who has reported on Zee or a creative/media agency having done business with the channel? Send us your account… your experience with your name and photograph and a day-time telephone number and we will publish it (subject to our editorial discretion and it may be trimmed for brevity and style).

     

    The volume will be printed in August-September 2017, and the deadline for submissions is January 31, 2017.

     

    Write to us at editor@mxmindia.com

    Please note that this volume is being published by MxMIndia independently (and not commissioned by anyone). However, we are happy to carry sponsorship and receive bulk bookings for copies.

     

  • A dedicated Bollywood movie channel specially adapted for the German market

    Germany gets a taste of Bollywood with Zee.One

    By A Correspondent

     

    India’s leading media conglomerate, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL)  announced the launch of Zee.One, its dedicated Bollywood movie channel for the German market. The channel was launched in Germany by Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, ZEEL, Amit Goenka, CEO - International Broadcast Business, ZEEL,  Friederike Behrends, CEO – Asia TV GmbH (Zee TV) and international Bollywood Superstar, Shah Rukh Khan.

     

    Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) said: “As a global media conglomerate, ZEEL is present in 171 countries entertaining over one billion viewers across the world. With our entry into Germany, we are now present in one of the most important and competitive TV markets worldwide. This is what makes the launch of Zee.One special for us.”

     

    Amit Goenka, CEO – International Broadcast Business, ZEEL added: “The launch of Zee.One in Germany is a step further as part of our international expansion strategy. We want to establish a lasting presence and of course, grow in the German television market. With our highest levels of entertainment, we are confident of being able to offer viewers an attractive enrichment to the existing range of television offerings. We are proud and happy to welcome the German community into our ZEEL family.”

     

    Friederike Behrends, CEO – Asia TV GmbH German speaking countries (Zee TV) said: “From today, the German TV landscape will be enriched by a unique, new channel, Zee.One. We want to entertain our viewers with the best of films, series, and music daily, making Zee.One a channel for all the senses!”

     

    Zee.One – I Feel Bolly.Good will deliver high-quality entertainment from Bollywood. The free-to-air channel will broadcast a great variety of movies and series, starring popular international megastars like Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. The movies will span across all genres including romance, comedy, action among others. Furthermore, music clips with outstanding dance performances as well as in-house productions will add to the entertainment.

     

  • An interview with Priyanka Datta, Cluster Head (FTA channels and Zindagi) at Zee Entertainment for her sentiments post Anmol's amazing rise

    Jaldi 5 with Priyanka Datta: On how focus on the brand ensured Zee Anmol rise to #3 Hindi

    One of the highlights of the new BARC urban-cum-rural ratings is the rise in viewership of all free-to-air (FTA) channels. Particularly noteworthy has been the performance of Zee Anmol which attained the #3 slot, ahead of the network’s flagship Zee TV.  We spoke with Priyanka Datta, Cluster Head (FTA channels and  Zindagi) for her sentiments post Anmol’s amazing rise.

     

    01. Congratulations on the rise of Zee Anmol on the combined urban and rural (U+R) ratings roster as released by BARC earlier today. Would you say this is something you always knew but were looking at some ratification from a ratings agency?

    Thanks for the good wishes.  Zee Anmol has been a leader in the FTA genre for over one year now. It is indeed very heartening to see the rise in the U+R ratings roaster as released by BARC yesterday as well. The channel has truly lived up to its brand promise of “Dil Choo Jaye” and touched the hearts of many.

     

    1a. To what would you attribute the success of Zee Anmol?

    There has been complete focus on this brand and constant on ground initiatives taken, be it for sampling of the brand, engagement or visibility and that has given positive results. Add to it extremely engaging and entertaining programming which largely comprises of some excellent shows Zee TV has produced clubbed with shows from some other channels that we showcase on our channel. Earlier this fiscal, we launched our very first original reality show, Grihani No 1.

     

    02. Other FTAs like Star Utsav and Colors Rishtey have done well in the U+R ratings. Would you say this is a given for the entire genre, considering they are Free to Air and showcase reruns of popular content?

    We would however like to reserve our comment till we see the data of a few more weeks.

     

    03. Now that you have tasted success, will you prop up the channel with more current or even original content or will the mix stay the same?

    At this stage, all I would like to say is that the channel team will continue to focus on the channel as always. There are a lot of things planned, which will be put into action or even newer ways crafted, after we analyse the data of a few more weeks of BARC ratings.

     

    04. Pardon our ignorance, but how is Anmol doing in terms of advertising? Will you now push the channel a lot more with advertisers?

    The channel has a dedicated sales team and has been in the mind space of advertisers since its inception & the BARC ratings only further substantiate that their investments have been right. I am positive that they will continue to patronise and support Zee Anmol.

     

    05. Zee Anmol has crossed the flagship Zee TV. Any sentiments on this, or are we in the media making much about it?

    It is a very encouraging and proud moment for Zee Anmol. Largely, the content that is shown on Zee Anmol is the rich quality shows produced by our Zee TV team and that makes us collective winners.

     

  • For the first time, viewers will be able to vote for their favorite reality TV contestant through Google Search

    Zee TV introduces voting through Google

    By A Correspondent

     

    Through its strong presence across social media, smartphone apps and innovations in the voting mechanism of its reality shows, Zee TV continues to be at the helm of digital innovation in the Hindi GEC space. This year, Zee is set to introduce yet another exciting voting mechanism as DID Season 5 enters its voting phase. For the first time, viewers will be able to vote for their favorite reality TV contestant through Google search.

     

    With the idea to make voting easy, technology-friendly and progressive, the channel has introduced a search-based mechanism that will only simplify the voting process of Dance India Dance Season 5. All one needs to do is go onto Google and just search for DID5 and just vote for a favourite contestant on the voting panel right below the search bar. Each Google account is permitted 20 votes per week to either one or many contestants. Starting Saturday 19th September, the mechanism will be active from 9pm on Saturday till Tuesday 8am every week.

     

    Sorbojeet Chatterjee, Marketing Head ZEE TV said, ‘With rapid penetration of smartphones and the growing digital audience, we are always trying to raise the bar in terms of engagement and DID Dream Team and Google Voting is testimony of Zee TV being ahead of the curve! With each successive season of DID the objective has been to simplify the voting process for our consumers. The innovation on a global platform like Google will not only encourage wider participation but also give them an enhanced brand experience. We are pleased to associate with the extremely committed team of Google for the cutting-edge thought and a quick turnaround for the same.”

     

    James Rothwell, Head of Social Marketing, Google Asia Pacific said, “We’ve partnered with ZEE TV  to launch Google Search Voting platform in India through the show Dance India Dance and you can vote for free, for your favorite contestants on Google from your phone, tablet, or desktop.”

     

     

  • Zee gets set for Season 5 of India’s #1 dance show with a new format and challenges on screen

    High Fives for DID

    Megastar ​Mithun Chakravarty and Zee TV Business Head Pradeep Hejmadi (extreme right) at a DID unveiling event in Mumbai

     

    By Dyanne Coelho

     

    The popular dance reality show on Zee TV, ‘Dance India Dance (DID)’is back after two long years with Season Five. The acclaimed show promises a brand new format featuring a fresh line-up of masters. “The new season will see new challenges and head to head combating between contestants. Besides, the masters are also of the younger generation who can choreograph, motivate and push talent into the industry,” Pradeep Hejmadi, Zee Business Head said.

     

    The panel of masters includes Mudassar Khan, the man behind the dance hits, HumkaPeeni Hai (Dabangg), Dhinka Chika (Ready) and Party All Night (Boss), Gaiti Siddiqui from the choreographer duo of Uma-Gaiti, known especially for the Sunny Leone hit Baby Doll, and Punit Pathak, who was first seen as a contestant on Season Two, then progressed to being a choreographer on the next season and now has returned as master on Season Five.

     

    The masters will mentor a group of contestants in this 15-week season of Dance India Dance, where they will run the contestants through rigorous training, workshops and choreography. Megastar Mithun Chakravarty will play Grandmaster and will act as a guide to the contestants. Jay Bhanushali returns on Season Five as host.

     

    The scout for talent began earlier this year across 17 cities in India, including Mumbai, Delhi, Indore, Ranchi, Guwahati, Raipur, Siliguri, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Nagpur and Vadodara. “Dance is like a form of prayer. And we like to give new talent a try always,” Chakravarty said.

     

    Akash Chawla, Business Head, Zee’s Creative and Production Studio, Essel Vision Productions Ltd said, “Season Five brings along with it a host of different dance styles and explores a new format, where contestants challenge each other on a battleground of dance.”

     

    While DID is an iconic show for not just Zee TV but Indian entertainment television as a whole, the question about what happens once it comes to an end looms high. “At Zee our consumers range from little toddlers to retired people. DID speaks to the demographic between 15 to 34 years of age. We also have DID Super Moms that reaches out to the older generation. There are other non-fiction formats which we have which connect with different segments. So we will create a new celebration of talent, a new texture of programming, and that’s how we will celebrate the brand,” Hejmadi says.

     

    From the marketing standpoint, Sorbojeet Chatterjee, Senior VP Marketing, Hindi GEC, ZEEL says, “DID gets a very high youth audience onto the channel, and we evolve as they evolve. So we focus on digital marketing a great deal. We have a 360-degree marketing strategy, but we have a lot of focus on digital. Our spends on digital are between 15 to 20 percent of the total marketing budget.”

     

    While a lot of other reality shows focus on the celeb star judges, DID is a show whose focus is on making a star. That’s the critical difference between DID and other shows, Chawla explains.

     

    The much-awaited Season Five of DID goes on air on Saturday, June 27 at 9pm on Zee TV.

     

  • Ten Sports, the exclusive broadcaster of Premier football content in the Indian sub-continent invites viewers to its #MidnightFootballParty

    Ten Sports Network to broadcast the Football Season Finale

    By A Correspondent

     

    With four major finals – the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the German Cup and the Italian Cup lined up over the next few weeks, the football season is approaching its grand finale.

     

    Ten Sports, the exclusive broadcaster of Premier football content in the Indian sub-continent invites viewers to its #MidnightFootballParty – an initiative that has constantly engaged the audiences.

     

    Ten Sports Network & ZEE channels will be used extensively to promote the events along with digital platforms with a two pronged approach – content-led & activation-led. Special programming is also being made where fans will relive the glorious moments of the contestants in this season’s Road to Glory

     

  • Viewers can look forward to some vibrant regional content from different parts of the country dubbed in Hindi on 'Ummeed ke Rang'

    Popular regional shows now occupy extended primetime slot on Zee

     

     

    Zee TV has announced the launch of the dubbed versions of regional shows on its channel. Two of Zee Marathi’s successful shows have been dubbed in Hindi - Julun Yeti Reshim Gaathi as Mohe Piya Milenge and Eka Lagnachi Teesri Goshta as Mile Sur Mera Tumhara. The shows will be aired from Monday-Friday in a new primetime slot ‘Ummeed Ke Naye Rang’.

     

    ‘Mohe Piya Milenge’ is the story of Meghana who ties the knot with Aditya, an impressive young man much sought after by parents as an ideal match for their daughters – only to reveal to him, post –marriage that she loves somebody else. The show captures how the mature, young man chooses to help her connect with the man she loves rather than exposing or humiliating her for this breach of faith. ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’, on the other hand, is a show that follows the lives of two young lawyers, Om and Isha, who fall in love with each other. Both the shows have some of the finest Marathi actors like Sukanya Kulkarni, Girish Oak, Umesh Kamat, Spruha Joshi, Lalit Badane amongst others.

     

    Pradeep Hejmadi, Business Head, Zee TV says “It has been our constant endeavor to enrich our content offering and bring more and more great stories and characters to our viewers and the extension of our primetime to 5 PM is a step in that direction.  There is no pecking order for ideas and stories. It’s archaic to think that only Hindi can come up with earth-shattering ideas. When we were generally looking at ideas, we realized that in Zee Marathi there were some really good stories, and when we tested a few of the stories in other markets, they were quite nice. So, we evaluated whether we should completely re-create or dub. When we dubbed the shows, they were well-received and people loved it that way. The two Marathi shows are a mere beginning – viewers can look forward to some vibrant regional content from different parts of the country dubbed in Hindi on ‘Ummeed ke Rang’ in the times to come.”