When Zero's promoters announced in mid-november that they were pitching for selling half their stake in the 42 percent they hold in Zee Entertainment they hold in Zee Entertainment Enterprises in limited (ZEEL), they where mainly seeking foreign entertainment major eyeing the subcontinent for the locrative and growing over-the-top (OOT) digital stermining market. This slice is so far free of cumbersome regulatory compliances, and it is the platform of the future.
with a wave of over 30 OTT digital platforms launching over the last 3 years in India traditional television viewing together with concepts such as 'prime time' and appointment viewing ,are on the wane. The growing army of young smartphone users prefer entertainment anytime anywhere.
Hotstar was the earliest of them launched from the star stable in February 2015,on the Workd cup cricket; and it was able to garner 1 million downloads of its app within 10 days of launch! When IPL cricket rights went to the block in September 2017,in the digital category star was competing category star was competing with a $600 million bid from Facebook. Star ultimately won, but it was heading.
There are widely divergent views on what is the size of the OOT market, but what they all agree is thaft revenue is galloping north. A Boston report consulting Group (BCG) report titled Entertainment Goes online estimates OOT currently generating around Re. 35,000
crore annual revenue; and they could outstrip Re.30,000 crore by 2023.
ZEE5 'S LATE LAUNCH
compared to others, Zee launched its OOT platform Zee5, rether late February last year. ZEEL's advantage though is its huge 25-year-old film and Tv series library,and its willingness to invest in local content."If we are late, we are making up with better technology ".says Tarun Katial CEO of zee5.
katial is firmly planted amongst a 'we work' floor full of laptop-punching young techies in Mumbai's suburb of Andheri, commissioning shows as if there is no tomorrow. He is also a seasoned campaigner, who has done time at both star and sony. Targets scribbled for his team on planning board are mind-bogling. He is launching 24 series last year in Hindi -two every month;also Tamil and Telugu 24 and 12 in Bengali. The next year will also see 12 made for zee5 movies in Hindi and four other regional languages -60 in all!
Zee5's offering ranges from voyeuristic biopics 'Karanjeet Kour-the untold story of sunny Leone' to a nine-episode crime thriller from UP's badlands 'Rangbazz' being made by Arjun Rampal. Also in the pipeline are stories based on Ruskin Bond's book and even one litled 'Repeal sec 377' based on LGBTQ rights.
"our focus is smartphone users in the 18-34 age group; and we have rolled out in 12 language.It is the regional markets that are the future ," says Katial. He claims that despite the late launch, Zee5 has 41.3 million monthly active users. The great driver is local, original content and affordable package starting at Re.49 a month, he adds.
SHARP COMPETITION
Katial is optimistic, but his task cut out, given the competition. According to mobile adversiting and Internet services provider jana , the first quarter of this year was dominated by Hotstar ; which had 70 per cent of video streaming app downloads.
This was changed substantially. Another survey for September-November last year by KalaGota said Hotstar continued to rule, albeit with lower market share of 40 percent, and with Jio Tv muscling in with 18 percent. One could see Zee5 too making a mark at third place with 15 percent share followed by Voot with 11 percent. Netfilix follows a different 'nos-mass' model considering its package are in the Re.400-800-per-month range. It has struggled for the last two years, but with the success of its eight-episode local production sacred game, and its international Naros, it has arrived in the 'luxury' market.In terms of time spent ,Metfilix seems to be ahead with around 51 minutes per day, followed by Voot with 50 minutes and Amazone Prime with 42 minutes and Hotstar 33 minutes.
However, Netfilix cannot compete with the kind of local content being generated by say a Zee5; and that's what is interesting about the Indian market. OOT is galloping , but that doesn't mean television and newspapers are not diverse, that there are always takers for a specific price point, a platform and a type of content.
it is the regional markets that future "
TARUN KATIAL, CEO, zee5
with a wave of over 30 OTT digital platforms launching over the last 3 years in India traditional television viewing together with concepts such as 'prime time' and appointment viewing ,are on the wane. The growing army of young smartphone users prefer entertainment anytime anywhere.
Hotstar was the earliest of them launched from the star stable in February 2015,on the Workd cup cricket; and it was able to garner 1 million downloads of its app within 10 days of launch! When IPL cricket rights went to the block in September 2017,in the digital category star was competing category star was competing with a $600 million bid from Facebook. Star ultimately won, but it was heading.
There are widely divergent views on what is the size of the OOT market, but what they all agree is thaft revenue is galloping north. A Boston report consulting Group (BCG) report titled Entertainment Goes online estimates OOT currently generating around Re. 35,000
crore annual revenue; and they could outstrip Re.30,000 crore by 2023.
ZEE5 'S LATE LAUNCH
compared to others, Zee launched its OOT platform Zee5, rether late February last year. ZEEL's advantage though is its huge 25-year-old film and Tv series library,and its willingness to invest in local content."If we are late, we are making up with better technology ".says Tarun Katial CEO of zee5.
katial is firmly planted amongst a 'we work' floor full of laptop-punching young techies in Mumbai's suburb of Andheri, commissioning shows as if there is no tomorrow. He is also a seasoned campaigner, who has done time at both star and sony. Targets scribbled for his team on planning board are mind-bogling. He is launching 24 series last year in Hindi -two every month;also Tamil and Telugu 24 and 12 in Bengali. The next year will also see 12 made for zee5 movies in Hindi and four other regional languages -60 in all!
Zee5's offering ranges from voyeuristic biopics 'Karanjeet Kour-the untold story of sunny Leone' to a nine-episode crime thriller from UP's badlands 'Rangbazz' being made by Arjun Rampal. Also in the pipeline are stories based on Ruskin Bond's book and even one litled 'Repeal sec 377' based on LGBTQ rights.
"our focus is smartphone users in the 18-34 age group; and we have rolled out in 12 language.It is the regional markets that are the future ," says Katial. He claims that despite the late launch, Zee5 has 41.3 million monthly active users. The great driver is local, original content and affordable package starting at Re.49 a month, he adds.
SHARP COMPETITION
Katial is optimistic, but his task cut out, given the competition. According to mobile adversiting and Internet services provider jana , the first quarter of this year was dominated by Hotstar ; which had 70 per cent of video streaming app downloads.
This was changed substantially. Another survey for September-November last year by KalaGota said Hotstar continued to rule, albeit with lower market share of 40 percent, and with Jio Tv muscling in with 18 percent. One could see Zee5 too making a mark at third place with 15 percent share followed by Voot with 11 percent. Netfilix follows a different 'nos-mass' model considering its package are in the Re.400-800-per-month range. It has struggled for the last two years, but with the success of its eight-episode local production sacred game, and its international Naros, it has arrived in the 'luxury' market.In terms of time spent ,Metfilix seems to be ahead with around 51 minutes per day, followed by Voot with 50 minutes and Amazone Prime with 42 minutes and Hotstar 33 minutes.
However, Netfilix cannot compete with the kind of local content being generated by say a Zee5; and that's what is interesting about the Indian market. OOT is galloping , but that doesn't mean television and newspapers are not diverse, that there are always takers for a specific price point, a platform and a type of content.
" our focus is smartphone users in the 18-34age group; and we have rolled out 12 languages.
it is the regional markets that future "
TARUN KATIAL, CEO, zee5
Comments
Post a Comment