DNA ON ZEE

7/30/2019 DNA ON ZEE

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The milestone of complet-ing 20 glorious years issurely a reason for me and

the entire ZEE family to rejoice.It is a proud moment to see thepioneering steps taken by ZEEtwo decades back grow into anINR 350 billion TV broadcastIndustry today.

This very special anniver-

sary day, is the perfect timeto focus on the future forZEE. I believe the business of entertainment is a good oneto be in and there has neverbeen a better time than nowfor us, especially in Coun-tries where discretionaryincomes are rising and peo-ple are seeking quality fam-ily entertainment while InIndia it is poised to grow

significantly riding on thedigitization wave.

We see no limit for brandZEE and our products. We areexpanding in key international& regional markets, in new ver-ticals and want to be a domi-nant global media enterprisein the next 5 years.

At the 20 year mark, I can say

that not only does ZEE have ahistory of connecting peopleinto a unified family with con-tent, but we have a clear roadahead to keep this journey go-ing for the next twenty yearsand beyond.

I take this opportunity tothank all our stakeholders,especially viewers for con-tinuing to repose faith in usover the years.

Next 20 years and beyond...MESSAGE FROM SUBHASH CHANDRA, CHAIRMAN ZEE ENTERTAINMENT

C

ongratulations ZEE on turningtwenty! How time flies? Itseems only the other day that I

watched “Tara” on Zee TV, discussedwith an advertiser whether he qual-ified to advertise on ZEE and under-stood the complexities of payingtwo separate parties for the samespot on air!

My hearty congratulations to Sub-hash Chandra for having the vision,foresight and guts for bringing Satel-lite TV to India, which has provideda new dimension and meaning toEntertainment and TV; for startingan Industry that is dominant, vibrantand growing and today enamors atleast half of India who watch it everyday for two hours; for innovativelybranding the channel Zee TV (thelast word in Television / Entertain-ment!) and growing it to a bouquetwith offerings in virtually everygenre and every language.

I met the now famous and enig-matic man at the Nehru Center oneevening way back in the early 90swhen ZEE was celebrating its 1st An-

niversary. I saw him on stage tryingto open a bottle of Champagne tomark the anniversary.

Little do housewives of todayknow that it was the baby steps tak-en by ZEE 20 years ago that has ledthem today to spend two hours of their lives each day with their telly,making them laugh or cry or getemotional or anxious; little do mediaplanners of today know that it is ZEEwho helped create virtually the me-

dia agency industry with a cadre of professionals who pride themselvesas masters of media sitting in front

of their desktops, using both theirleft-brain and right-brain faculties.ZEE rules the roost today and Zee

TV occasionally even comes in at thetop of the heap in ratings despite itsdisciplined approach to program-ming in terms of costs. It has suc-ceeded in creating a sustainable,profitable model that keeps on grow-ing, harnessing revenue from boththe subscriber and advertiser andprobably has the best Resource-to-

Result ratio in the industry.Satellite Television Advertising is

today over a 10,000 crore industry

and to think that in those early daysonly an exporter could advertise onZee TV! Of course ZEE’s ingenuityhelped and everyone did, well al-most everyone!

The saying goes: Fools rush in,where Angels fear to tread; it wouldseem that Subhash Chandra, thefounder of ZEE has proved this axiomwrong. No man, I know has fathereda string of so many successful busi-ness ideas in so many unrelatedfields, in such a short time, that havechanged lives of people, their habitsand the way we do business.

The ZEE Group needs to be con-gratulated for initiating a string of radical new businesses in hitherto,uncharted territory where no Indianhas ventured into, without fear of failure: India’s 1st Satellite Channel(Zee TV), India’s 1st AmusementPark (ESSEL WORLD), India’s 1st andnow the world’s largest Plastic Col-lapsible Tube manufacturer, India’s

1st Cricket League (ICL), India’s 1stDirect to Home Service (DISH TV),India’s 1st Electronic Lotteries(PLAYWIN) and God knows howmany more firsts, that I am notaware of.

Kudos to Subhash Chandra andZEE, lots of good luck for the future.

Keep walking, nay running.

(The writer is CMD,Madison World)

Great Going ZEE: SamIt’s raining greetings for ZEE, as the entertainment giant is stepping into its third decade.Advertising doyen Sam Balsara wishes Subhash Chandra and his team on this happy occasion



The ZEE Group has heralded a new era in television-viewing habits inIndia. Under the visionary stewardship of Subhash ji, ZEE has nowtransformed into a complete entertainment, infotainment and newsCompany. I cherish my friendship with him for his uprightness, vision,and genuine concern for the society. The height of Global VipasanaPagoda that he has built is a reflection of the stature he has reachedin humanitarianism. It is creditable that ZEE has been producingquality programmes over the last two decades. I congratulate ZEEGroup on this stupendous achievement and wish them all success in

the years to come.

—Shashi Ruia, Chairman, Essar Group

Industry Wishes ZEEZEE is a shiningexample of Indianentrepreneurialsuccess afterliberalisation, in asector that hadconsumersyearning for more.ZEE played acritical role increating thefoundations of themodern Indian

media sector and in moulding

consumer preferences. As itcontinues its innings into a thirddecade, I wish the team at ZEEtremendous success. May it continueto enliven our drawing rooms formany more decades to come.

—Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman,Mahindra Group

“I would like tocongratulateZEE forcompleting 20yearsentertainingIndians aroundthe globe. Theyhave had aninspirational journey in theentertainmentspace in India –

from pioneering the concept of

satellite television 20 years ago totoday reaching 650 million viewers across 168 countries! I wish them every success as theyleapfrog into the next era of growth.”

—Mr. Adi Godrej,Chairman, Godrej Group

The ZEE Group has great visionand intellectual prowess aboutthe media industry. I recollect anincident 20 years ago, there wassome programme being shownon Doordarshan on the New Year’s Eve, which I didn’t reallyenjoy. Zee TV was also featuringa programme on the sameoccasion and I could see there was a huge difference in theirquality of content whencompared to Doordarshan. It

clearly marked the era of home entertainment being

pioneered by Subhash Chandra for the country. Overthe last two decades ZEE Group has emerged as aleading diversified conglomerate and Zee TV the topgeneral entertainment channel (GEC). We wish thatby the 25th year, Zee will become No.1 televisionchannel in every genre.

—Mr. Venugopal Nandlal Dhoot,Chairman, Videocon Group

Television has played an important role not onlyin distributing information but also in influenc-ing and changing people’s belief and opinions.

With 61% television penetration and growing, itsimpact transcends social and educational back-

ground of its viewers. Today, television is the pre-ferred choice of entertainment.

When ZEE started operations in 1992, it was theturning point for viewers, who were used to watchingprograms on Doordarshan. The economy was openingto the outside world, ZEE captured the mood and in-troduced content and style encompassing viewer’spreference and tastes. Till this point, ZEE is groundedto its roots and creating content and formats relevantto Indian audiences across different genres. The view-er today is not only looking for new stories but is alsovery quality conscious. The need for differentiated andfresh content is on an all time high.

ZEE’s programming has always been one whereviewers forge strong friendships with the charactersand create great memories while sharing quality timewith their families. Content created for the entire fam-ily, sets ZEE apart from others.

With its long-standing heritage and strong content,flagship channel Zee TV has bridged the gap betweenthe older and emerging paradigms at the same timechampioning new beliefs through its stories and char-acters. Zee TV shows like Saat Phere, Betiyaan, Antra,Kasam Se… caught the pulse of changing ethos of Indian audiences. Shows such as Tara, Pavitra Rishta,

Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya hi Kijo… championed perti-nent social issues. Zee TV has constantly created homegrown realty formats like SA RE GA MA PA, DanceIndia Dance, which have cached the imagination of the

masses. Dance India Dance is one of the most watchednon-fiction show year on year.

Zee Marathi created cult programming over theyears. It pioneered the concept of a daily soap in Mar-athi in 1999 through Aabhaalmaaya’. Channel intro-duced non-fiction shows from Monday throughFriday, a pattern that continues till date across Mar-athi channels. Zee Talkies produced and distributed14 films in span of 4 years. Some of the films likeNatarang, De Dhakka, Kaksparsh are among the high-est box office grossers. Natrang received NationalAward in 2010.

ZEE’s presence in English Entertainment genrehas been substantial with Zee Café and Zee Studio,which telecast the latest movies and shows respec-tively. Zee Cafe has genre leadership in the EnglishEntertainment Space. Knowing the pulse of themarket, ZEE was the first to offer sub titling for Eng-lish content, making it easier for the Indian audi-ences to understand the accent. Tie ups with someof the best Hollywood studios, Zee Studio bringshome the best of the movie titles. Zee Café broad-casts shows within 24 hours from the US telecast,offering the Indian viewers the latest international

entertainment. Quality content has always been thefocus of delivery at ZEE, and hence the content of-fered is extremely premium in nature and differen-tiated from the clutter.

From humble beginnings to its huge popularity, ZeeBangla has moved forward magnificiently bringingBengali culture to the world. Zee Bangla, the secondregional GEC by ZEE focuses on giving Bengalis, enter-tainment they crave for the most. ZEE Bangla serialsand reality shows are greatly watched and followed.The protagonists in the serials have become householdnames. Millions turn up to take part in auditions toshowcase their talent and earn fame and popularity.

Expanding regionally, ZEE created a strong bou-

quet for Southern Markets -Zee Telugu, Zee Kannadaand Zee Tamiz. Each one of them, consolidating theirviewership and aiming for leadership position.

With path-breaking content initiatives like dancerealty show Aata on Zee Telugu, ZEE touched the livesof audiences in Southern India. Popular shows likeMee Inti Vanta, Bhakti Samacharam, Ayurvedam, andGopuram have completed 2500 episodes in their re-spective genres. The long duration, demonstrates ZEE’scapability of engaging with viewers.

Zee Kannada, redefined the concept of entertain-ment with its trendsetting programming, whichcame as whiff of fresh air to the viewers throughhugely successful shows like Kunuyonu Baara, Kom-edy Kiladigalu, Guna Gaana, Baduku Jataka Bandi,and Ragale with Rishika.

ZEE attained leadership position in sports business,operating under TEN Brand. It operates five channels,dedicated for different sports. Channels are dedicatedto cricket, football, golf and one high definition chan-nel. Strategy of Segmentation, has allowed TEN to cre-ate differentiation among various sports and helpedbuild a dedicated fan base. The TEN Channels com-mand around 70% of market share of non cricket sportsprogramming.

ZEE, will continue to innovate across its bouquet of channels, guage the pulse of its audiences around theworld and entertain them with the best content, creat-ing programming which is entertaining and engaging.

Pulse of the AudienceFor twenty years ZEE has been dedicatedto creating and showcasing engagingcontent that can be enjoyed by families

DID sets a new benchmark



Istill reminisce about thegrating of metal rollersagainst the old wooden

frame. I still remember theloud click. I still have memo-ries of the flickering imagesthat came alive in black andwhite, etched in my mind.

I still remember the mo-ment when I sat on thecouch at my neighbour ShahAuntie’s home in Nainital, asthe TV was switched on. Asmall but magical worldcame alive for me, when thatwooden box became a kalei-doscope through which Ipeered into worlds I hadnever seen before.

When Malcom Marshallstarted his run-up to bowl toSrikkanth, my twin brotherShailesh and I were trans-ported to the stadium on awintry day. When JasoosKaramchand investigated acase and snapped at hischatty secretary Kitty, wesmiled and felt bad for her.When Lajoji wept in Buni-yaad, we had a lump in ourthroat. When Chitrahaarstopped at the fifth song, we

craved for one more.It was the Doordarshan

era, an era that shaped livesof millions of Indians. As In-dia’s pre-eminent commu-nicator, Doordarshan reflect-ed the moral bearings of anation steeped in centuries

old culture. Its broadcastingwas not just entertainment,it had a sense of right andwrong, a sense of responsi-bility towards the audiencesit was creating content for.

Then, one day, as I addedup to open the batting formy Charminar Club at theGovernment Girls’ InterCollege grounds in Nainital,a friend of mine told methat a new form of TV wasabout to come to Nainital. Itwas called Cable TV and onecould watch many morechannels.

For me, it was the mo-ment when India began tochange, the moment whenthe Doordarshan era end-ed. Soon we were watch-ing something new calledZee TV. There was Antak-shari and Hum Paanch,

there was Tara and later SaRe Ga Ma Pa …

Zee TV came riding on ahuge opportunity – and ahuge responsibility. While itwas opening up glitzy, spar-kling new worlds to millionsof viewers – and millionsmore who were buying newTV sets each year – it alsohad to live up to the richnessof content of Doordarshan.

The pioneer of SatelliteTV, that was much superiorand entertaining, lived up toits responsibility well, and it

straddled two worlds. Itsstrength has been that it isrooted and in sync with theemotional depth of the realIndia even as it looks at thecountry through a contem-porary prism. The 20th an-niversary of ZEE is importantnot just for the company buta key landmark for India’scommunication, especiallyas we enter the age wherethe TV screen is shrinkinginto the mobile phone.

The challenges though,remain the same.

As I discovered during my journey of the last two yearsas a radio storyteller and thehead of a content company,you can serve it as muchgimmickry as you want, butin the end this countrycraves for innovative content– which often boils down tosimple, old fashioned story-telling, with its roots in In-dian emotions, joys, painand drama.

ZEE is the pioneer of con-stantly evolving journey of

content in India, and I hopethe next 20 years will wit-ness new and exciting inno-vations in content and pro-gramming concepts from itsstable, because as a viewer, Iwant to remain excitedabout the world of TV, justlike I used to be as a child.

Because I still remem-ber the grating of metalrollers against the oldwooden frame. I still re-member the loud click. Istill remember the flicker-ing images that came alivein black and white.

(Neelesh Misra is a Bolly-wood scriptwriter/lyricist,

radio storyteller, author,Founder and CEO of Content Project and Editorial Direc-tor, Gaon Connection rural

newspaper)

I miss that small wooden box of memory As ZEE completes two decades, multifacetedpersonality Neelesh Mishra takes a trip downthe memory lane when India began tochange with ZEE

Here’s wishing Zee TV the best on completion of 20years. As child, I grew up watching many of Zee TV’sshows, be it Banegi Apni Baat, Hum Paanch or Sa Re GaMa Pa. I am extremely glad to be associated with Zee TVthrough ‘Punarvivaah’. May the channel continue tobring wholesome entertainment into our lives forseveral decades to come!

—Gurmeet Choudhary

/ZEECorporateZEE’S PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA... FOLLOW US



ZEE has always been a firm believer in in-novation and keeping pace with change.As it steps into the third decade of its

operation, transformation across ZEE verticalsis visible, adapting to the changing businessenvironment. Expansion in Indian Regionalmarkets by offering varied content, embrac-ing of new media and technology and reach-

ing out to viewers beyond the South Asiancommunities internationally , will be top inthe radar of ZEE in coming years.

With, general entertainment categoryfiercely competitive, growth is coming fromother spaces, especially regional television.Regional channels account for approximately33% of the all-India cable and satellite televi-sion viewership, with Bengali, Marathi and allthe south Indian channels gaining viewership.This provides ZEE with opportunity to capi-talise on its bouquet of regional channels andexpand regional footprint in a big way. Re-gional television market will also help ZEEincrease its international operations , As itbecome one of the key drivers. Zee launchedtwo of its regional channels, Zee Marathi andZee Kannada, in the US.

The demand for more specific content - hasset the stage for next level of growth and tran-sition across the television value chain forZEE. In line with this, ZEE is offering completechannel portfolio in each of the regional mar-ket it operate in. Starting with Marathi lan-guage where it launched Marathi movie chan-

nel ZEE Talkies , complementing exiting ZEEMarathi GEC, ZEE launched India’s only 24 hrsBangla movie channel , ZEE Bangla Cinema.Bengali films market is one of the fastestgrowing regional film market in the countryand ZEE has acquired rights for some of the

best Bangla Movies.ZEE has already ventured into the next gen-

eration viewing experience space. ZEE NewMedia, the digital arm of Zee Entertainmentlaunched an OTT (Over-The-Top TV) distribu-tion platform, Ditto TV, with an aim to offerLive TV Channels and On demand Video Con-tent to consumers on their mobile phones,tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainmentboxes and connected TVs.

Ditto TV offers features such as adaptivestreaming, an elaborative electronic pro-gramme guide, robust digital rights manage-ment system, intelligent content recommen-dation engine and an elegant user interface,all of which will be integral to enhance theuser experience.

Equipped with a robust technology plat-

form from Siemens, this offering heralds awelcome break away from appointment TVviewing to a more f lexible, customizable wayof enjoying TV and VOD content- my screen,my time, my video, a concept that has fun-damentally turned appointment TV viewing

on its head.With advent of technology, ZEE is redefin-

ing itself from pure broadcaster to a contentprovider. It will focus on reaching out to audi-ences at the end of any screen that they areavailable on. Be a TV screen, mobile phone,smart device, tablets or Internet. There willbe several technologies and platforms that are

going to emerge in coming years and ZEE willbe at the forefront to adopt them

ZEE is working on a strategy, to reach out to1 billion viewers from the current 650 millionviewers in the next 5 years and become aglobal Media and Entertainment company. Inline with this, ZEE is looking at viewers be-yond the South Asian diaspora in Internation-al markets. ZEE will be offering viewers showsin their own languages shot and produced intheir studios.

For Middle East audience, ZEE has launchedits second offering ZEE Alwan in Arabic lan-guage. It has already launched Russian lan-guage programming in Russia and has re-ceived considerable success. ZEE will be look-ing at opportunities in Indonesia, Malaysia,Middle East and Africa.

Digitisation is going to become a reality.With digitisation, new genres of content willemerge. People will pay for content they wantto watch. Over period of time dependence onAdvertising will come down significantly andsubscription will play a very key role in themedia industry going forward. To capitalise

on the same, ZEE strategically launched TenGolf and ZEE Khana Khazana.Going forward, innovation will play a key

role in setting the pace for next ten years. ZEEhas all the elements in place to move forwardand capture hearts and mind of people.

ZEE - leadership strategiesWith the onset of digitisation, arrival of 4G, a positive industry growth is in sight, and ZEE will implement all theplanned strategies to capitalise on the opportunities.



ZEE leads the pack among Indianmedia and entertainmentbrands commanding a 65 per

cent market share in the global TVbroadcast medium. Also, ZEE has thelargest international spread amongall South Asian channels in the world.It currently operates 23 international

beams outside India.ZEE recently launched Zee Alwan(Alwan means colours in Arabic), ageneral entertainment channelwhich has Indian and Bollywood con-tent loved by the viewers in the Mid-dle East. ZEE has already tasted suc-cess in Zee Aflam in Arabic (Aflammeans movies in Arabic) in the Mid-dle East market.

Zee Aflam, a Bollywood moviechannel for the whole Middle Eastmarket, is one of the top channels inmovie genre in Middle-East withinArab population. Similarly, ZEE has aMalay product, Zee Variasi in Malay-sia (Variasi means variety).

Broadly, there are four variables

which have been driving ZEE’s suc-cess internationally.ZEE was the first to invest in local

content and local infrastructureacross the international market andcreated local channels on all thesemarkets like the USA, UK, Africa,Middle-East, Asia patch and so on.

ZEE has a very strong understand-ing of the consumer behaviour. It has

heavily invested in R&D.ZEE’s marketing scheme in the in-

ternational market has been throughlocalised events. These events havebeen ZEE’s USP and now all the otherchannels are trying to follow that.

The fourth strategy which has reallyworked for ZEE is ‘localised channels’.

Designing channels with Indian con-tent packaged with local audience interms of sub-titling or dubbed for localaudiences or overall packaging. For in-stance, there is a channel, dubbed inRussian, called Zee Russia, which is verypopular to those audiences.

In the global operations ZEE’s newthrust area is syndication where ZEEis trying to take Indian content across

the world. ZEE’s library has more thana hundred thousand hours of contentand 3000 movie titles.

In USA, ZEE was the first Asianchannel to be rated by Nielsen. ZEEhas ratings from Russia, Middle-East,Malaysia and Africa. These ratingsprovide information on how the

product is performing, which pro-gramme is performing well and whatis the profile of viewers. This helps intaking programming decisions. Theprogramming team is also develop-ing and generating local programmesin all these markets.

ZEE recently became the first In-dian company to be granted the land-ing rights in China.

ZEE – Taking Entertainment PlacesThough the journey is global, the content is always local for ZEE. By investing in local content and localinfrastructure across International markets, ZEE has created local channels in USA, UK, Africa, Middle-East and Asia

Bollywood Wishes ZEEI still remember the day, Sonu Nigam called me and saidthat he is going to host Sa Re Ga Ma, a Zee TV show, aplatform for young singers. He asked me to be a part of it. I agreed as Sonu is a dear friend. It was a wonderfulexperience with ZEE and I wish them many moredecades of success.

—Kunal Ganjawala

ZEE provides entertainment to millions worldwide and isthe pioneer in satellite television. Even my mom ishooked to it! I have been lucky to be a part of ZEE’spioneering years and I am really proud that it hascompleted two decades.

—Archana Puran Singh

The journey of thechannel for the last 20years have beenStupendo FantabulousFantastically Magical. My journey from being achoreographer to theNation’s mother, GeetaMa is nothing short of adream journey. HappyBirthday to You!

—Geeta Kapur

We have been associated with Zee TV in earlier seasonsof Sa Re Ga Ma and its has been an honor to beassociated with such an iconic show again. ZEE has notonly created superstars but also created iconic shows in

its 20 years of existence. May the dream run continue forthe next 100 years

—Sajid-Wajid

Some of my best work I have done is with ZEE. I’ve doneso many love stories like R ishtey and Sailaab with Zee TV which was really appreciated by everybody. Even the re-runs of all the serials on other channels of ZEE is veryheartening to watch. It keeps the memory alive!

—Renuka Shahane

In his seminal book, Un-derstanding Media, Mar-shall McLuhan catego-

rizes media as ‘hot’ and‘cold’. He explains thatmedia that involved read-ers / viewers / listeners canbe termed, ‘hot’; while me-dia that evokes passiveviewing/reading/ listeningcan be termed ‘cold’. In hisbook radio is termed ‘hot’because as a medium it in-volved listeners, whilenewspapers were ‘cold’. Alot of these definitions mayhave to be relooked in thelight of mushrooming me-dia options and social me-dia tools that provoke in-volvement. In McLuhan’sbook television wastermed ‘cold’.

In India too televisioncould have been broadly

termed ‘cold’. The ASIADhad taken terrestrial televi-sion to many parts of thecountry but it was passiveviewing that Indians in-dulged in, for an hour or soa day, and on weekends.

All that changed in 1992.Possibly the most definingmoment in Indian televi-sion media happenedtwenty years ago with thelaunch of Zee TV, a satellitetelevision channel that of-fered 24 hour entertain-ment in a language thatspoke to the ordinary con-sumer. At that time somepundits were unsure of itslong term potential.Shouldn’t the channel be inEnglish, since Doordarshanwas already offering greatHindi entertainment, wentthe argument. Mind youStar Plus had beenlaunched as the super dup-er English channel andCNN had grown in statureafter the Gulf War.

As the dust settled, theIndian viewers voted withtheir remote control. Theystarted thronging to Zee TVfor the continuous enter-tainment it offered in theirown language. As viewersthronged to Zee TV a num-ber of collateral effectsstarted taking shape. Manynew Indian language satel-lite channels got launchedwithin a few years [andsome English channels be-came Hindi]. Many newservices were born andmany thousands foundgainful employment. Thesatellite cable operator in-dustry was born. The con-tent creation industry was

born. The reality televisionmania, talent hunt search-

es and many more avenuesfor gainful employmentopened up.

From the marketing andadvertising standpoint thebirth of Hindi language sat-ellite television created awhole new opportunity forreaching out to audiences,through a multitude of time slots, priced attrac-tively, flexibly. Instead of

just craving for a few pro-grammes on Doordarshan,now advertisers could

reach millions of consum-ers through satellite televi-sion, sponsor program-ming, and even get brand-ed programming on air.And in the process a wholenew consumer revolutionwas unleashed by Zee TVand satellite television. It isinteresting to see howbrand choices have multi-plied in industry after in-dustry since 1992. Be ittelevision sets, motorcy-cles, cars, soaps, shampoos,detergents etc. And allthese have benefited insome way from the audi-ences delivered by satellitetelevision. Many new in-dustries have been born inthe last two decades, mo-bile being the most top of mind. And here too with-out the reach and impact of satellite television the mo-bile revolution may havestayed only in the big cities.

Finally with the generalpublic, satellite televisionhas opened new areas of not

just entertainment but alsoeducation and enlighten-ment. Research studies haveshown that there is broadcorrelation between theway women are treated andthe exposure to satellite tel-evision, say the experts.

What started as a loneHindi satellite channeltwenty years ago hasbrought about a wholerevolution in the way Indi-ans and Indian marketerssee television. And therevolution is set to contin-ue as Indians embrace newways of consuming televi-sion content.

M G Parameswaran – ED

& CEO; Draftfcb Ulka Ad-vertising Mumbai

How Television

Became HOT!Two decades back, Doordarshan was thesole entertainment provider for Indianviewers. But the game changed after theentry of ZEE



ZEE has put in place a Corpo-rate Social Responsibility(CSR) policy which is based

on a belief that a business can-not succeed in a society that failsand therefore it is imperative forbusiness houses to invest in thefuture by taking part in social-building activities.

ZEE has put 9 “Wish Trees”across offices in Mumbai, Delhi,Bengaluru, Hyderabad, andChennai encouraging its em-ployees to come together anddonate generously for this causethat the brand strongly believesin. As a corporate, ZEE supports‘The Friends of Tribal Society’

which runs with the contribu-tions made by Ekal VidyalayaFoundation led by SubhashChandra, Chairman, ZEE.

The Joy of Giving Week(JGW) initiative encouragesemployees, across ZEE officesto donate and make a differ-ence in the lives of school chil-

dren in villages. The proceedsof the collection will be givento ‘Friends of Tribals Society’and used for the upliftment of over one million children inmore than 36,000 schools rununder Ekal Vidyalaya Founda-tion across India.

Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation

of India (EVFI) offers free edu-cation to over one million ruralchildren, as part of a drive tohelp eradicate illiteracy. Thecurriculum of these schools

(36,783 in number) is tailoredto teach children basic literacyand life skills to inculcate self-confidence to pursue highereducation or rural occupations.In short, Ekal extends health-care, education and empower-ment to the marginalised sec-tions of society.

The ‘joy’of ZEEZEE Celebrate its 20th Anniversary with the Joyof Giving Week from October 2 to 8, 2012

What does ZEE Entertainment stand for?We are a family entertainment company.Three generations of a family can sit to-gether and watch our programmes. Weare the most profitable in the mediaand entertainment space in India. No-body in this country can deliver the

profitability that ZEE delivers. Inviewership terms, we may not benumber one in our flagship channel.But overall, we are the largest group.There are few TV media companiesin the world that can boast of profitmargins upwards of 25 per cent.We will continue to deliver thatkind of returns to our shareholders.

What are the few things that ZEE will look at in the coming years?

Our focus in India will be on theregional markets. We believe that mar-

ket is ready to explode. The growth levelsin the regional markets are far higher than

the National markets. New Media will beanother focus area. We have aspirations togo from our current 650 million viewers to1 billion viewers in the next three years. Wehave to go beyond the South Asian Dias-pora in the International markets and ourstrategy for launching Arabic, Russian andother language products is in that direction.

What is the biggest challenge right now

for ZEE?There are a few big challenges. Our busi-

ness is all about human capital. Hav-ing the right talent and retention of

that talent is very critical for us. Lastly,content is evolving so fast that it is a chal-lenge to keep pace.

How has the audience in India changed?The biggest change that has happened is,

lifespan of shows has decreased. You hadshows running for six years continuouslyearlier, whereas today an average life of ashow is less than a year. That tells us that theviewer no longer accepts whatever you feed

him. Also, the success rate of programmesis one-third of what it used to be earlier.

Many say TV will soon die or is about to...TV will not die. We have redefined our-

selves from a broadcaster to a content pro-vider. We will focus on reaching out to audi-ences at the end of any screen that they areavailable on. Be it a TV screen, mobile phone,smart device (tablets), or the internet. Evenif one screen may die, but there will beother screens that will emerge. Our life willcontinue. I think there will be several tech-nologies and platforms that are going toemerge that we have to consider and mi-grate. Ditto TV is something that we haveforeseen and we do believe that it is goingto be a big opportunity for us and hence, wehave launched it even before its time.

How is ZEE positioned for the future?

We need to continuously learn. If we donot evolve, do not continuously learn, re-learn, and unlearn the old, we will not besuccessful. The day we stop doing that wewill become complacent. There is no over-

night success formula in this business. Eve-rything is hard work in this industry.

Do you see room for further growth inIndia broadcast space?

There are yet 100 million homes withouttelevision. Penetration of TV in India is just

61 per cent and it is growing at five per centannually, while Cable and satellite is grow-ing at 8 per cent. We have not yet seen thereal growth levels in this industry. Advertis-ing is 0.4 per cent of our GDP whereas theglobal average is at 0.8 per cent. This means,we have room to grow 100 per cent in ad-

vertising alone.

How successful is ZEE in creating homegrown formats? What made you thinkthat this format worked for you?

It is our belief in the way we do things.Let us take our latest format Dance IndiaDance. We conceptualised this format, re-searched and found that it is a high risk forHindi GEC. We actually made it first in theBangla market and called it Dance BanglaDance. When it succeeded there, we got thatto Hindi GEC.

The regional markets give you an advan-tage of testing out formats and today, it ishappening with serials. Take an idea whichworks in the regional market and adapt it tothe Hindi market. That’s a low risk, high re-ward game. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is running for17 years successfully. We believe in the con-cept that we can develop formats in-houseand we can execute them well. We stick tothe core value of the format and deliver it.

Do you get the same level playing field which the foreign media gets in India

when you venture into new territories?Yes. The important thing in those markets

is to play by the rules. There are no reasonsfor us to say that some m arkets are restric-tive or do not allow outsiders to come in andoperate. Rules and regulations are whatthey are and one has to abide by that.

Future looks bright for ZEEAs ZEE completes 20 years, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO of ZEE Entertainment, shares the company’s future

plans and its determination to attract more eyeballs, from all over the world



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