Salman Khan movies are a pan India phenomenon: Manish Kalra, ZEE5
Kalra, ZEE5 India Chief Business Officer, talks about the platform's special combi offer with ZEEPlex ahead of 'Radhe' release
ZEEL-owned video streaming platform ZEE5 has launched a special combo offer with ZEEPlex ahead of the multi-platform release of Salman Khan-starrer 'Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai'. With theatres in most parts of the country closed, the platform wants to leverage the popularity of Salman Khan to scale up its paid subscriber base.
Priced at Rs 499 annually, the Radhe Combo Offer is designed to attract new users with a promise of 1.25 lakh+ hours of content across 12 Indian languages on ZEE5. The subscribers of the value combo pack will also get access to 50+ theatricals across diverse languages and 40+ Originals that are planned in 2021.
"We are launching a combo offer priced at Rs 499. Subscriber will get access to our existing library of 4000 movies and 200+ web series. This year, we have big plans. There are 50+ theatrical releases which will come on ZEE5 across languages as well as 40-50 web series across languages," said ZEE5 India Chief Business Officer Manish Kalra.
Kalra said that the platform is expecting to onboard new subscribers from across India as Salman Khan's films generally do well nationally including South India. "We looked at where do Salman movies do most of their business from. So it is markets like NCR, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. You will be pleasantly surprised that South contributes double-digit numbers to Salman Khan movies. So actually it is a Pan-India phenomenon," he stated.
Apart from ZEE5, users can also watch 'Radhe' on pay-per-view mode on ZEEPlex for Rs 249. ZEE Studios has devised a simultaneous multiplatform strategy for the film’s release. The movie will release on 13th May in theatres worldwide and on ZEE5 with ZEE’s pay-per-view service ZEEPlex which rests on India’s leading OTT platform ZEE5 and is also available on all leading DTH operators.
"Salman Khan is one of the biggest brands in the country that can sell and his movies and followers are quite significant. Also, Radhe is available for viewing from the comfort of your home if the theatres are not open. The movie is available for viewing anytime, anywhere. So there is convenience and the fact remains that the country remains starved of good quality big film in so many months," Kalra noted.
Queried if IPL will impact ZEE5's strategy to grow its subscriber base on the back of 'Radhe', Kalra said audience tastes are different. He also said Bollywood is the second religion in India after Cricket. "IPL mainly attracts mainly cricket guys. There are people who have a love for Salman and there are people who have a love for Bollywood. On one side it's cricket and on another side, it is Salman and Bollywood. So I think it's just vying for people's attention. The premiere and IPL are also not overlapping since it is not that you only have to watch Radhe during an IPL match. You can watch it any time in the day. It is a convenience that a platform like ours brings. The industry and ecosystem are evolving so are we," he explained.
ZEE5 will do strategic marketing to promote the new pack. "You don't need to do big bang marketing since it is a Salman movie. In order to ensure that we get the message out to our viewers, we will go 360-degree. We will go big on digital. The objective is to reach wherever a Salman fan is. Whichever media is working whether it is TV or digital, we will leverage it to our advantage," Kalra stated.
"We are launching a combo offer priced at Rs 499. Subscriber will get access to our existing library of 4000 movies and 200+ web series. This year, we have big plans. There are 50+ theatrical releases which will come on ZEE5 across languages as well as 40-50 web series across languages," said ZEE5 India Chief Business Officer Manish Kalra.
Kalra said that the platform is expecting to onboard new subscribers from across India as Salman Khan's films generally do well nationally including South India. "We looked at where do Salman movies do most of their business from. So it is markets like NCR, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. You will be pleasantly surprised that South contributes double-digit numbers to Salman Khan movies. So actually it is a Pan-India phenomenon," he stated.
Apart from ZEE5, users can also watch 'Radhe' on pay-per-view mode on ZEEPlex for Rs 249. ZEE Studios has devised a simultaneous multiplatform strategy for the film’s release. The movie will release on 13th May in theatres worldwide and on ZEE5 with ZEE’s pay-per-view service ZEEPlex which rests on India’s leading OTT platform ZEE5 and is also available on all leading DTH operators.
"Salman Khan is one of the biggest brands in the country that can sell and his movies and followers are quite significant. Also, Radhe is available for viewing from the comfort of your home if the theatres are not open. The movie is available for viewing anytime, anywhere. So there is convenience and the fact remains that the country remains starved of good quality big film in so many months," Kalra noted.
Queried if IPL will impact ZEE5's strategy to grow its subscriber base on the back of 'Radhe', Kalra said audience tastes are different. He also said Bollywood is the second religion in India after Cricket. "IPL mainly attracts mainly cricket guys. There are people who have a love for Salman and there are people who have a love for Bollywood. On one side it's cricket and on another side, it is Salman and Bollywood. So I think it's just vying for people's attention. The premiere and IPL are also not overlapping since it is not that you only have to watch Radhe during an IPL match. You can watch it any time in the day. It is a convenience that a platform like ours brings. The industry and ecosystem are evolving so are we," he explained.
ZEE5 will do strategic marketing to promote the new pack. "You don't need to do big bang marketing since it is a Salman movie. In order to ensure that we get the message out to our viewers, we will go 360-degree. We will go big on digital. The objective is to reach wherever a Salman fan is. Whichever media is working whether it is TV or digital, we will leverage it to our advantage," Kalra stated.
