Zee launches free VOD platform, OZEE

The online platform, set to go live on mobile application in the first week of March, will offer the entire network's content, except for sports and English content that will be made available later

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | February 26, 2016

Zee Network announced its first free offering on the VOD platform, named OZEE, to go live in the first week of March. The mobile application will offer all the 'entertainment' content of the entire network, other than sports and English content which will soon be made available. The platform will offer video-on-demand content available right after the television telecast.

Zee Network enjoys a first mover advantage in the paid OTT offering - Ditto TV - which was launched in 2012, offering content from all the broadcasters. Other than this, the network had different websites and mobile apps to give away content of each channel. Zee TV's independent vertical attracts close to 6.8 million viewers, while each of the Zee Bangla, Zee Tamil, Zee Marathi and Zee Kannada enjoy traffic of about a million viewers.

The network is looking at redirecting few pages of these websites to OZEE. The content shared on OZEE initially will also be restricted to a few shows of each channel and later expanded.

Karan Jaitapkar

When asked about the traffic expectation in the first year of launch, Karan Jaitapkar, Business Head and Head of Technology, OZEE and ZEEL, said there were no targets. “We are just aiming at successful diversion of the existing traffic on the network to come to OZEE. On top of it, branding is our motto and then we will think about conversions of non-audience to audience.”

It is pertinent to note that Star Network launched Hotstar around the same time in 2015 and has been able to garner close to 25 million users. As a direct competitor, Star has redirected all its websites and content offering urls to Hotstar, pushing the numbers further. The content on Hotstar is mostly available in HD format, while Zee will give out only few movies into HD quality, to start with.

Jaitapkar said, “We don't want to use up a lot of bandwidth on the consumer's mobile data as we are expecting that people will mostly use this service outside homes. Our complete focus is on technological strength so that a user can watch VODs without the compulsion of flashplayer or any other such software.”

Two of the unique features of OZEE will be music videos (mainly from Zee Music) and 'follow the show' feature. By the 'follow the show' feature, the user will get notifications about their favourite shows. The application will be focused for Indian markets alone and the expansion to international markets has no timeline for now.

The network offers a similar subscription-based platform in the US called ZFamily.

Punit Goenka

Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, ZEEL, said, "Living in the 'instant' era, OZEE will make content available within minutes of its telecast. It will offer a user friendly platform and the comfort of watching you favourite shows at your convenience."

Debashish Ghosh, CEO of ZEE Digital Convergence, said, "We believe that OZEE will define the future consumption benchmarks of entertainment content from ZEEL. We hope it delivers effortless and pleasurable experience to all viewers on demand content on OZEE – irrespective of location, age, ZEC and comfort with technology platforms."

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com