ZEE5 Global will further expand aggressively in Canada and Europe: Archana Anand

ZEE5 Global, the entity that looks after media conglomerate ZEEL's OTT business globally, has set aggressive targets for itself in 2021. After launching originals in Bangladesh and Pakistan, ZEE5 Global has set its eyes on expanding presence in Canada and Europe.

ZEE5 Global's strategy is to reach out to South Asian as well as mainstream audiences in global markets. The platform aims to attain leadership in key markets and then go the whole hog with revenue monetisation in those markets.

ZEE5 Global Chief Business Officer Archana Anand is spearheading the company's global OTT expansion. In an interaction with exchange4media, Anand spelled out ZEE5 Global's plan for 2021 and the journey covered by the platform so far.

Excerpts:

What are ZEE5 Global's plans for 2021?

2021 is shaping up to be a very exciting year. ZEE5 today has a well built out international presence, standing strong as the destination of rich stories from not only India but across South Asia. We will look to build this out further in 2021 with an even richer, bigger, brighter content slate, key partnerships being built out across countries and deeper audience connects.

Among the key plans we have lined up for 2021 include the rollout of a slate of local Originals in Bangladesh which we will also take across markets as we did our first Bangla Original, Mainkar Chipay. Besides Bangladesh, we are further expanding aggressively in Canada and Europe. We also have a lineup of partnerships that will go live over the next few months across geographies.

Have you decided on your content slate for 2021?

Yes. We have an excessively exciting content lineup for 2021, with a lot of new-age content and bold narratives that will resonate with our younger audiences across countries.

How has the revenue monetisation been for ZEE5 Global? What kind of targets have you set for 2021?

2020 has built out extremely well for us and we expect that trend to continue in 2021 as well. We have set aggressive targets for this year, with a strong focus on attaining leadership positions in our key markets.

How was the year 2020 for ZEE5 Global?

2020 turned out to be a very exciting year for us, though not in the way we had originally imagined. The lockdown forced us to push out many of our initiatives, including the launch of a Talent Hunt and the shoot of our first two Originals in Bangladesh. However, we quickly changed our perspective to focus on what we could do in the new environment rather than what we couldn’t, and that was a gamechanger.

To kickstart our Local-for-local initiatives in Bangladesh, we launched ‘Biswa Obak Cheye Robe’, a recreation of a much-loved old Bangladeshi folk song. Featuring the top artists of Bangladesh in a made at home video coordinated by teams sitting at home in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Dhaka. The song instantly went viral, touching a chord with people across the nation.

As the lockdown progressed, we also launched an Annual pack offer across global markets to encourage people to stay home, stay safe, and this saw a massive 80% uptake in new subscriptions, driving up viewership across the board. We also undertook various initiatives to improve content discovery to drive up viewership and swapped out on-ground events for online partnerships. We went on to win the ‘Digital Content and Streaming Service of the Year’ Award at the 2020 Telecoms World Middle East Awards - for the second year in a row.

We’ve had some fantastic content rolling out this year, from movies like Mee Raqsam and Chintu Ka Birthday to our first Pakistani Original Churails, much-lauded for its feistiness as well as our first Bangladeshi Original Mainkar Chipay, which was launched to a massive response.

What are the content consumption trends on the platform?

The year has thrown up some very interesting content consumption patterns. We’ve seen people experimenting more with the content that they watch, enjoying not only old favourites like classic movies and TV shows but also dubbed/subtitled international content. Also, prior to lockdown, viewership typically spiked during weekends and in the evening post office hours. This changed drastically during the lockdown period with a significant spike in daytime viewing, and interestingly that’s a trend we continue to see. We also saw a jump in the viewership of kids’ content by nearly 80% during this period as schools remained shut and outdoor activities were restricted.

What are the trends in the global OTT market for Indian content?

Indian content is well-loved by not only diaspora audiences globally but also mainstream audiences in many countries. We see demand for content across genres and categories from TV shows to originals and of course Bollywood and regional movies. Our latest originals such as Black Widows, Nail Polish, Kaagaz, and Jeet Ki Zid have done extremely well. In individual markets, we also see substantial demand for regional content driven by specific segments of diaspora audiences.

For example, we see a lot of regional content being consumed in MENA, with nearly as much viewership coming in for Malayalam and Tamil Shows as for Hindi content. Shows like Sembaruthi, Pookalam Varavayi, and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Keralam have been some of the most popular shows on our platform in MENA. Similarly, Punjabi shows see a strong uptake in Canada and UK.

How competitive is the OTT market for Indian content globally?

While Indian content and Bollywood movies, in particular, have always been well-loved in international markets by the 40 million diaspora audience, South Asian content has really exploded onto the global scene in recent times with Bollywood artists also crossing over to Hollywood. With the increasing demand for this content, we see the market also becoming more competitive.

Who is ZEE5 Global's core TG and is there any plan to expand it?

We’ve built an entire spectrum of content catering to all audiences. We’ve got everything from crime, drama, comedy to even biopics. So we cater to all demographics. Of course, given the nature of audiences consuming more online content, our content is very youth-centric.

Is the Indian diaspora ditching linear platforms in favour of OTT? Which markets have been impacted most by this phenomenon?

The shift to online consumption is a larger phenomenon that we see happening across markets, but it is more predominant in the Western markets.

Will ZEE5 Global follow the strategy of its parent company by catering to local audiences in foreign markets?

We are already creating deep inroads into some of our key markets with hyperlocal content. We started off local content production in Bangladesh in Nov with the launch of our very first Original, Mainkar Chipay. We’ve further got a slate of content ready to be rolled out till March in collaboration with National Award-winning Directors and the top stars of Bangladesh.

How different is ZEE5 Global's content strategy from ZEE5 India's?

We’re catering to two audience sets in global markets - South Asian and mainstream, and these audiences, by virtue of being more exposed to international content are more discerning and experimentalise about what they watch. Therefore, we essentially look at bringing them stories that can travel, and they can resonate with.