Broadbandindia Magazine

It was a ten-week wait. And at the end of it, Zee TV has knocked out Colors to grab the second spot in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space that has seen less of a volatile ratings battle this year. Zee TV is an Indiabased satellite television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, which broadcasts various programmes in Hindi and other regional languages of India. Broadcasting is also present in various nations of South Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, East Asia, Australasia and North America. It is a part of the Essel Group. This is the third time in the year that Zee TV has stood just behind the market leader for a week, lifted by a dance reality show or a big-ticket movie or an events property. While the fiction content has stayed rock solid, it is these spikes that have helped the Zee Network’s flagship channel to improve its ranking.

Zee TV was founded by Subhash Chandra and was launched in India in October 1992, becoming the first Hindi satellite channel. Zee formerly had a partnership  with STAR TV. However, STAR ended their partnership with ZEE TV when Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation acquired STAR TV. Zee TV was launched in the UK in 1995, which acquired TV Asia, the first Asian Channel to be launched in the UK and Europe. Zee TV was launched in the USA in 1998. In the USA, some programmes of Zee TV are subtitled in English, and some commercials are in English.

Zee TV’s scores

Zee TV has scores 265 GRPs, riding on a 37 GRP gain in 1^st week of July, while Colors weakened marginally with a dip in weekend movie ratings. Zee managed to surpass Colors (255 GRPs), which shed 14 GRPs during the week, while Star Plus (342 GRPs) still managed to enjoy the lead with a substantial gap even as it shed an additional 20 GRPs over the previous week. For Zee TV, the win was primarily led by its fiction properties and weekend event. The channel pocketed 21 GRPs from Gold Awards, which clocked a TVR of 3.2.

“I am happy that we are number two again and all credit goes to the programming. Without any gimick or huge marketing push, all our shows are getting good response,” says Zeel COO national channels and Zee TV business head Nitin Vaidya. As per Tam data, Pavitra Rishta at 9 pm continued to lead the charts with an average of 6.1 TVR (the only show averaging at over 6 TVR). The show’s average was 5.2 TVR. Additionally, Jhansi Ki Rani’s average too jumped from 3.7 TVR. Meanwhile, all other dailies- Chhoti Bahu, Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli, Agle Janam…, Karol Bagh and Do Saheliyan added 0.2 TVR. “Our focus is only on doing our core programming properly. I am confident that the new show, Mera Naam Karegi Roshan, and upcoming properties, will further grow the channel,” Vaidya adds.

Prior to this, Zee TV had reached number two spot in week 5 (week ended 30 January) and week 17 (week ended 24 April) on the back of Hindi movie All The Best and Dance India Dance 2 finale. However, as the spikes ended, Zee TV retreated from its new position. Talking about Star Plus, the channel’s newly launched 10 pm show Tere Liye saw a drop in average ratings by 0.4 TVR while Bidaai’s average fell from 5.3 TVR to 4.4 TVR. The one- hour special of Sasural Genda Phool clocked 3.7 TVR on 10 July. Colors, on the other hand, did not see any major rise or fall in its weekday programming. The slump came from weekend movies that clocked just 17 GRPs as against 37 GRPs in the previous week. The New Talent Awards, aired on Colors, clocked a TVR of 1.8. “The challenge for Zee TV will be to maintain the second position. It shouldn’t let this opportunity lapse like it did on the earlier two occasions this year,” says a media analyst.

Help of viewers

After filmmakers Karan Johar and Sudhir Mishra, television channel Zee TV is taking the help of viewers to finalize a title for their new show and decide on a hoarding for the outdoor marketing campaign. “This is just the beginning of an endeavour on our part to involve our viewers in shaping the contours of the entertainment we bring them,” said Akash Chawla, head (marketing), Zee TV. “When people spend their creative energies towards naming a show and selecting  the promotional hoardings, there will be an instant sense of belonging that will be instilled in their minds,” Chawla said in a press statement.

The romantic show will feature Iqbal Khan of Kaisa Ye Pyaar Hai in the male lead and it will be a launch pad for Binny Sharma, one of the finalists on dance reality show Dance India Dance 2. The story will revolve around Rudra, a man with everything in life but love, and Gauri, a girl who has no place for love in her life. Together they complete each other. The channel has declared this basic plot of the show to the audience on radio and its official website and has called for suggestions for the title. Viewers, who wish to participate in the naming of the new show may either e-mail their suggestions to response@zeenetwork.com or SMS ZEETV “your suggestion” to 57575. Once the name is finalised, the viewers will select the hoarding for the show.

Q1 net up 64% to Rs 150 cr

Media major Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) said net profit jumped 64.36% to Rs 150.1 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2010, on account of higher advertising revenue. This is against a net profit of Rs 91.32 crore for the same period last year, ZEE said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. ZEE posted an increase of 42.24% in revenue to Rs 676.99 crore in Q1, FY2010-11, from Rs 475.93 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The numbers include the financials of Taj TV and ETC Networks. They also include the results of the regional general entertainment channels that it acquired from Zee News. The company’s advertising revenue grew 90.39% to Rs 376.91 crore in the June quarter, while subscription revenue increased 8.48% to Rs 261.42 crore, it said. “The Indian economy continues to grow at a healthy pace and we look forward to robust growth in all sectors. The revival in advertising spends in the country is a clear sign of buoyancy,” ZEE Chairman Subhash Chandra said.

Geodesic & Zee Form JV

The Zee Group and Geodesic Ltd, a digital solutions company, have formed a new company called ITM Digital Private Ltd to offer applications for delivery of content to mobile and Internet devices. The joint venture, which has been inked between Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) and Geodesic, will be headquartered in Mumbai. So what should be expect from this partnership ?

• On Demand content: IITM Digital will launch Internet TV on the mobile, desktop and the web, streaming 20 live platforms and several on-demand video channels. The application will allow consumers to discover, and schedule content.
• ZEEL has rights to over 3000 movie titles, and over 80,000 hours of TV content. Remember that Zee has tried to do both technology and content by itself in the past, and the initiative just didn’t take off: DMCL launched a mobile content service with BSNL called ISEE, which just didn’t off. Last we checked, around a year ago, DMCL was restructuring and looking to raise funds. Zee also has an Internet focused partnership with Mail.com for an Internet focused venture, with Arvindra Kanwal at the helm. Geodesic already has the tools for streaming and discovery of content – they’ve been piloting Mundu.tv for a while now (there’s a free download here). They also have an IMDB-like service called FilmOrbit, which has been in alpha for 10 months now. FilmOrbit has extensive tagging and categorization of content, and is likely to be used to enable discovery of content. The partnership is  clearly about Zee’s content (the biggest recurring cost for a platform service provider) and Geodesic’s technology. ITM will also look to also partner with  other properties within the Zee group, which should be a cinch. To be honest, we’re quite surprised by this deal for two reasons:

1. Content deals are often on a revenue share basis: whether online or mobile streaming, content owners have realized that minimum guarantees usually lead to unsustainable business – example: Tinselvision, JumpTV. So Geodesic could have looked to strike similar deals with companies.

2. Platforms with vested media interests (Geodesic-Zee) might find it difficult to partner with other media companies.