Zee picks a cue from its viewership gains, raises bet on regional channels

Media major Zee Entertainment has sets its sight on growing its regional portfolio of channels following viewership gains over the past three years in the segment. 

Nearly 70 per cent of share gains for Zee came from its regional network; the broadcaster’s domestic business Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Punit Misra said prompting the company to deep dive further into the category.

Almost 15 channels of the 59 within its overall network are regional-language channels, with plans to fill key gaps in the future, Misra said. The first tranche of launches will happen shortly, covering the Punjabi general entertainment space as well as the movie genre in Tamil, Kannada, and Bhojpuri, respectively.

“Our effort is to make sure that every consumer segment, which is sizeable, is covered. We also want to give a differentiated offering in these segments and garner leadership share positions within a reasonable period of time,” Misra said.

Apart from the Hindi regional space, such as Bhojpuri where Zee has seen share gains of nearly 1.3 per cent in three years, the south regional pack, including entertainment and movies have been among the fastest growing for the broadcaster. 

Data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) shows Zee has seen share gains of nearly 0.8 per cent and 0.5 per cent for southern entertainment and movies, respectively in three years.

As such, Marathi remains the strongest regional-language channel for Zee, with the broadcaster commanding a 56 per cent share in Maharashtra, according to BARC data. Leader Zee Marathi alone has control of 50.7 per cent of the Marathi television market, with second channel Yuva adding incremental share of 5.4 per cent, BARC data shows.

West Bengal and Orissa, too, are markets where Zee enjoys leadership positions, with viewership shares of 45.6 per cent and 41.5 per cent for Zee Bangla and Oriya, respectively.

In the southern markets, barring Karnataka where the broadcaster is the leader with a share of 35.4 per cent (for Zee Kannada), in key markets such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra/Telangana, Zee trails the leaders, including Sun (Tamil Nadu) and Star Maa (in Andhra/Telangana), respectively.

Misra said the company was working on improving viewership shares in these markets, including increasing its movie content in the south, which is a large market for it.

“Nearly a quarter of our business comes from the south. We are now present in all markets of the south, including Kerala. We have also stopped thinking of regional channels as language channels, and rather as representatives of a culture. Television is a sticky habit, and people want what is close to their culture,” he said.

Apart from the south, Zee also proposes to add some more channels in the north, including a Punjabi movie channel in the future and may push its Bhojpuri channel further into Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as rural electrification grows.