‘Hollywood On Café’ has been propositioned as a premium property to advertisers: Aparna Bhosle, ZEEL
Aparna Bhosle, Business Cluster Head - Premium & FTA GEC channels - ZEEL, on its new property, sponsors, investment on acquisition and response to BBC First
After experimenting with British drama (read BBC First), Zee Cafe has upped its content strategy with a new offering, ‘Hollywood on Cafe.’ Launched this week, the property features acclaimed drama series like ‘The Young Pope,’ ‘Taboo,’ ‘11.22.63,’ and ‘The Son.’ Zee Cafe is currently in the third spot at BARC Week 40 with 0.2 million impressions. We spoke to Aparna Bhosle, Business Cluster Head - Premium & FTA GEC channels - Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) who shares more on the property, sponsors, investment on acquisition and response to BBC First. Excerpts:
What can viewers expect from the new property, Hollywood on Cafe?
Staying true to our promise of ‘All Eyes On New’, we are bringing the scale of Hollywood to Indian television with our new offering - Hollywood On Café. It will see some of the biggest names from Hollywood like Pierce Brosnan, Idris Elba, J.J. Abrams, Ridley Scott and Tom Hardy amongst others headlining five gripping new shows – ‘Taboo’, ‘The Son’, ‘The Young Pope,’ ‘11.22.63’ and ‘Guerrilla.’ With award-winning directors, producers, screenwriters and actors, each show pushes the boundaries with its avant-garde content and stellar performances.
Did you consciously make a decision to come out with this property during the festive period?
While we have been working on this property for some time now, it was not a conscious decision to launch it during the festive season. Having said that, coinciding with the festive period is surely an add on as it will help us in reaching out to more number of viewers. There was a lot of research that went into creating the structure of the entire property and curating the line-up of shows.
With an aim to present high quality content in one block, we acquired rights from different distributors. We have invested a lot of time to ensure our consumers truly get an unmatched Hollywood experience through these shows. Hence more than choosing an occasion to launch this property, we purely focused on curating a stellar line-up of shows.
How have you priced the ad spots for this content? Who are your advertisers?
Keeping the offering in mind, ‘Hollywood On Café’ has been propositioned as a premium property to advertisers. Brands like Renault Captur, Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour Music CDs, Nokia Smartphones and Engage Perfume Spray are associated with us.
How are you marketing 'Hollywood on Cafe' on your digital and linear platforms?
‘Hollywood On Café,’ has a high impact campaign, designed to reach out to discerning millennials who demand scale and quality in their content. We’re aiming to engage with these millennials with a holistic approach through TV, digital, radio, trade, OOH and print media with engaging content and striking visuals. Each medium has been explored keeping in mind the scale of shows and the unconventional storylines.
What's the ‘Rated H’ experience at Zee Cafe?
Rated H is a viewing experience that stands for premium content for an audience who believe in only watching superior quality content on television. It represents a benchmark for cinematic experience.
Give us an idea on the kind of investment that went into the technology and content acquisition?
We can confidently say that we have some really fruitful partnerships with international studios and production houses that allow us to air some of their best shows on our channel. Given these relationships, we also invest significantly to get absolutely premium content for Zee Café, so that we continue to be the most preferred destination in the English entertainment space by ably providing our viewers with shows that they wish to see.
How has the response been to BBC First?
The response to BBC First has been overwhelming. In the week of its launch, our viewership increased by 600 per cent (from 4.76 to 33.74 GVTs) and the TSV of the time band doubled (from 3 mins to 6.3 mins)
We witnessed a high decibel launch as it was loved by the consumers. British dramas gratified the voracious appetite of our viewers and garnered great response across mediums.
What have you planned for Zee Cafe?
At Zee Café, our endeavour has always been to bring riveting and engaging content for our viewers. We will continue to bring interesting properties, new shows and season premieres of popular shows for our loyal audience. While we are in the midst of planning some exciting new content line-up, we will announce it when the time is right.
What can viewers expect from the new property, Hollywood on Cafe?
Staying true to our promise of ‘All Eyes On New’, we are bringing the scale of Hollywood to Indian television with our new offering - Hollywood On Café. It will see some of the biggest names from Hollywood like Pierce Brosnan, Idris Elba, J.J. Abrams, Ridley Scott and Tom Hardy amongst others headlining five gripping new shows – ‘Taboo’, ‘The Son’, ‘The Young Pope,’ ‘11.22.63’ and ‘Guerrilla.’ With award-winning directors, producers, screenwriters and actors, each show pushes the boundaries with its avant-garde content and stellar performances.
Did you consciously make a decision to come out with this property during the festive period?
While we have been working on this property for some time now, it was not a conscious decision to launch it during the festive season. Having said that, coinciding with the festive period is surely an add on as it will help us in reaching out to more number of viewers. There was a lot of research that went into creating the structure of the entire property and curating the line-up of shows.
With an aim to present high quality content in one block, we acquired rights from different distributors. We have invested a lot of time to ensure our consumers truly get an unmatched Hollywood experience through these shows. Hence more than choosing an occasion to launch this property, we purely focused on curating a stellar line-up of shows.
How have you priced the ad spots for this content? Who are your advertisers?
Keeping the offering in mind, ‘Hollywood On Café’ has been propositioned as a premium property to advertisers. Brands like Renault Captur, Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour Music CDs, Nokia Smartphones and Engage Perfume Spray are associated with us.
How are you marketing 'Hollywood on Cafe' on your digital and linear platforms?
‘Hollywood On Café,’ has a high impact campaign, designed to reach out to discerning millennials who demand scale and quality in their content. We’re aiming to engage with these millennials with a holistic approach through TV, digital, radio, trade, OOH and print media with engaging content and striking visuals. Each medium has been explored keeping in mind the scale of shows and the unconventional storylines.
What's the ‘Rated H’ experience at Zee Cafe?
Rated H is a viewing experience that stands for premium content for an audience who believe in only watching superior quality content on television. It represents a benchmark for cinematic experience.
Give us an idea on the kind of investment that went into the technology and content acquisition?
We can confidently say that we have some really fruitful partnerships with international studios and production houses that allow us to air some of their best shows on our channel. Given these relationships, we also invest significantly to get absolutely premium content for Zee Café, so that we continue to be the most preferred destination in the English entertainment space by ably providing our viewers with shows that they wish to see.
How has the response been to BBC First?
The response to BBC First has been overwhelming. In the week of its launch, our viewership increased by 600 per cent (from 4.76 to 33.74 GVTs) and the TSV of the time band doubled (from 3 mins to 6.3 mins)
We witnessed a high decibel launch as it was loved by the consumers. British dramas gratified the voracious appetite of our viewers and garnered great response across mediums.
What have you planned for Zee Cafe?
At Zee Café, our endeavour has always been to bring riveting and engaging content for our viewers. We will continue to bring interesting properties, new shows and season premieres of popular shows for our loyal audience. While we are in the midst of planning some exciting new content line-up, we will announce it when the time is right.
