ZEE5 Global Aims To Be U.S. Aggregator After Striking Deals With South Asian Streamers
ZEE5 Global has struck a series of deals to carry several smaller Indian streamers in the U.S. on its service, as it bids to become the top aggregator from South Asia in the States.
The deals add several new languages to the Zee5 Global streaming service, which is available internationally. Simply South (all Indian languages), Oho Gujarati (Gujarati), Chaupal (Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi), NammaFlix (Kannada), EPIC ON (Hindi) and iStream (Malayalam) have been added, with at least six more being onboarded in coming months. We hear there’s an ambition to announce at least one more each month.
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Billing and payment will be made through the single ZEE5 platform, which will offer personalized recommendations across languages.
The services will be made available as part of a branded ZEE5 Global Add-ons options. ZEE5 Global, soon to be part of the merged Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Sony Pictures India business, is holding a major event in Mumbai attended by Bollywood stars and industry figures today to announce the news. ZEE5 Global currently offers around 250,000 hours of acquired movies, TV shows and originals.
“As digital entertainment consumption and delivery models evolve in the global landscape, addressing the growing consumer demand for engaging content and a seamless, personalized experience that combines accessibility and affordability is the need of the hour,” said Amit Goenka, President – Digital Businesses & Platforms, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises.
“With the launch of our aggregator platform ZEE5 Add-ons, we aim to unite the entertainment ecosystem for the discerning viewer to build a robust monetization opportunity for multiple players in the global markets. We are pleased to have on board some of the most renowned names offering South Asian content to the diaspora audience, and we look forward to building a healthy partnership by enhancing capabilities in the realm of content creation and distribution by establishing ZEE5 Global Add-ons as the single destination for all South Asian content.”
“Our announcement is happening on the back something unique that’s happened to us – insane leadership in the U.S. market,” said Archana Anand, ZEE5 Global’s Chief Business Officer Archana Anand We have gotten to a leadership 10 to 15 times ahead of the nearest competition. No one else was even remotely able to do that. It’s been tough for a niche ethnic brand to try to create this brand there, where there are more than 250 streaming apps, targeting just the 2-3% market.”
ZEE5 Global has established a strong position in the U.S. market after targeting the country’s large Indian student population and striking a marketing deal with grocery chain Patels. On top of that, S.S. Rajamouli’s action thriller RRR and The Kashmir Files, which attracted heat over its depicting the events leading up to the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus as genocide, have become major hits with the Indian diaspora.
RRR event cut through to mainstream audiences, with Anand noting students and Indian immigrants holding ‘watch parties’ with friends and families back home. “In the Bay Area, they were holding the parties with the same fervour as Marvel movies,” she said. “We deeply want to lead the charge of South Asian content going mainstream.”
“We also want to change the narrative. Most western sitcoms there’s always the brown guy shown in a certain way, but it has been quite a year for South Asian — Rishi Sunak is the British Prime Minister and three South Asians are running in the Presidential race in the U.S. We want to tell the stories that are more relevant and authentic of real life.”
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