The year is almost half gone. But Zee5 has announced a massive slate of 111 titles to celebrate their fifth anniversary.
This lineup caters to a diverse audience across various languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, Punjabi, and Marathi.
The content comes from big producers such as Dharma Productions, Salman Khan Films, Sikhya Entertainment led by Oscar winner Guneet Monga, Bhanushali Studios, The Viral Fever, Applause Entertainment, Rose Audio Visuals, and renowned directors like Vikas Bahl, Vivek Agnihotri, Nagraj Manjule, and Sudhir Mishra.
Some of the titles revealed so far include Manoj Bajpayee’s “Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai,” Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s “Haddi” and “Love is Blind,” Pankaj Tripathi’s “Kadak Singh,” Huma Qureshi’s “Tarla,” Sunny Deol’s “Gadar 2,” Vetrimaaran and Vijay Sethupathi’s “Viduthalai – Part 1,” Arya’s “Kathar Basha Endra Muthuramalingam,” Nagraj Manjule’s “Ghar Banduk Biryani,” Guneet Monga’s “Gyarah Gyarah,” and Sudhir Mishra’s “Crime Beat.”
Returning series include “Sunflower,” “Taj: Reign of Revenge,” “Humorously Yours,” “Aam Aadmi Family,” “The Kashmir Files Unreported,” “Duranga,” “Mithya,” “The Broken News,” and “Silence.”
Out of the 111 offerings, around 30 are original series commissioned by ZEE5 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Bangla. Half of these are in Hindi, including returning seasons. The rest of the lineup consists of a mix of direct-to-digital films and films that will premiere on the platform after their theatrical releases.
Given the vast and diverse market of India and the Indian diaspora, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for content commissioning. While ZEE5 relies on data, it plays a role in greenlighting subsequent seasons rather than being the sole determinant.
It is worth noting that ZEE5 and SonyLIV are soon set to merge, with the obstacles being cleared out. This merger is part of a $10 billion deal between the Zee group and Sony. However, the exact number of ZEE5 subscribers remains undisclosed as per company policy. SonyLIV, on the other hand, has 33 million subscribers for its streaming service, as revealed by India head NP Singh. Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer of ZEE5 India, stated that the number of ZEE5 subscribers is in the tens of millions.
ZEE5 and SonyLIV collectively account for 13% of India’s premium video-on-demand market, according to a recent report by Media Partners Asia.