Zee News' rebranding aimed at attracting more viewers; offering a clutter-free screen: Abhay Ojha

Zee News’ new look aims to establish a distinctive brand identity by providing a clutter-free screen in order to create a more comfortable viewing experience for people, Abhay Ojha, Chief Business Officer, Zee Media, said.

In an exclusive conversation with BestMediaInfo.com, Ojha stated that the channel has made content changes as well, including introducing new programmes.

The rebranding was implemented to coincide with the upcoming election year and the news channel hopes to attract more viewers with the changes.

Abhay Ojha, Chief Business Officer, Zee Media, said, “We took this step when we realised that there is a lot of clutter on the channel. We went to the consumers and asked them whether they are comfortable or not and we did our own research which is purely logical. Like the movement of eyes, when the viewers are watching something, what kind of colours are soothing for their eyes, what stresses their eyes, what are the elements they are comfortable with when they see the screen.”

“So, we came up with the idea of a clutter-free screen. The colour combination we have chosen is absolutely soothing and perfectly alright for the viewer to watch endlessly without their eyes getting tired,” he added. 

Ojha stated that other than this technical reason, all the channels are more cluttered and there are a lot of things which you can't even read or understand while watching them.

“So, we thought that instead of having seven-eight bands from top to bottom we should reduce them to maximum three bands so that there is more clarity and the focus is on news. As a leader, we believe that now is the time we should bring a change in the industry. We want our viewers to be there with us all the time and they should also feel good about the screen,” Ojha stated. 

He then went on to speak about how the content too has been tweaked to better suit the audience's preferences, and to ensure they get the most information from the shows.

“After the rebranding, we have a couple of good things which have started and were not happening on the ‘Newsroom’ show earlier. So, this show gives an overall feel to the viewers about what is happening in the newsroom. Also, 'Aadha Din Poori Khabar' is the best programme which we started and then there is our main leading show 'DNA' where we are doing more people-centric stories. For example, we did a story for a plastic-free cause in J&K. We did this story and then it got traction from across the world,” Ojha said.

“We are also doing a lot of stories on health and one most important story that we started is 'Right to Repair' for which we are getting huge traction. So, these are the kind of content changes that we have done. Also, we have started a virtual studio called 'Zero Density',” he added.

He also stated that the changes have led to encouraging results for the channel, and the audience's reaction is proof of the same.

Ojha said, “When we do any activity it is first connected to the commercials and what we are going to achieve in terms of numbers, viewership of the channel and overall perception of the channel. So, perception-wise, we are getting a lot of feedback from consumers from across social media and even in emails. They are liking the new look and elements.” 

Ojha also stated that when it comes to the numbers, in terms of viewership, Zee News is not a part of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) ratings because of a number of reasons. 

“Being a leader, we opted to get out of BARC because BARC ratings are manipulated due to usage of landing page and barker. When we see other currencies in the market, like YouTube always gives real-time viewership. When we see the last eight weeks, since the rebranding took place, we are consecutively on number one on YouTube. These numbers show that my consumers are watching the channel in real-time and these numbers do not lie. Since we are the pioneer, we should always take the first step towards changes,” he added. 

Promoting new look through a 360-degree campaign

He further said that for the rebranding, a 360-degree campaign was planned and a couple of innovations were also done with Dainik Jagran and Radio City, along with some regular radio spots. Many states have also been covered using the print medium in order to promote the channel’s rebranding. Moreover, in the upcoming weeks, some celebrities might be seen promoting the channel's new look.

Ojha said, “The coming year is the election year, so the news has to be something which should be watched the most and that is what we are waiting for. Hopefully, this rebranding will give us more eyeballs. When you see the content-wise changes, we came up with a lot of positive news which is the major change. People are loving the new change; Zee News is different from other news channels when you look at it.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com