Zee Entertainment eyes 500 m foreign viewership base by 2021

Media major Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) is looking to grow its foreign viewership over two fold with a base of over 500 million by 2021 as it scales up its global operations.
The company, which operates in several languages including Arabic, Russian and German, has plans to start content in French language very soon.
"Now, we have 200-220 million viewers of foreign language in foreign countries. We have a target of reaching around 500 million by 2021," said ZEEL Chairman Subhash Chandra.
He hoped that this will enhance India's soft power around the globe and help in trade and commerce as well.

"And if we attain that target, then the western world would benefit from the Indian culture, system and ethos and our country would also benefit," said Chandra here while delivering the keynote address at a symposium.
"Our soft power would go up in foreign countries along with Zee's business."

According to him, Hollywood is dominating the entertainment space globally.
"Around 35 years back, around 80-90 per cent revenue used to come from the North American market and now, North America contributes only 35 per cent and the rest 65 per cent comes from other region," added Chandra.
Inspired by the trend, Zee had started its global programming in Indonesia by dubbing its content.

"After that we started in Arabic, Russian and then in English language in the US, European and African countries. We have started latest in the German language and our next destination is French," he added.
The company today has announced to launched Telugu movie channel Zee Cinemalu in the US market. With this launch, the total offering of Zee channels in the US has reached 37, making it the biggest multi-cultural broadcaster in the US market.
Last week, the Zee group had launched FM radio channel in the UAE. It has presence worldwide across 171 countries.