Streaming platform Zee5, which has a good library of South Asian content, is now available in the US, and it hopes to offer a world of multicultural entertainment to the South Asian diaspora there.
It has an existing library of 130,000 hours of content, and it has announced 50+ theatrical releases and 40+ originals this year.
“The launch of Zee5 in the US is a very significant moment for us,” said Amit Goenka, President, Digital Businesses & Platforms, Zee Entertainment.
Zee5 currently has 72.6 million monthly active users (MAUs) and 6.1 million daily active users (DAUs). It is estimated that Zee5 has around four to five million subscribers.
South Asian content will get the spotlight: Priyanka
Zee5’s launch announcement was made by Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, Zee5 Global, at a virtual event in which Priyanka Chopra Jonas was a special guest.
Priyanka and Archana unveiled Zee5’s upcoming content slate and its new global brand campaign “Welcome to South Asia: Stories from our world.” The campaign spotlights stories from South Asia.
Priyanka, who is now living with her husband in the US, said the streaming services have changed the landscape of content viewing. She spoke about the hunger among South Asian communities to watch their own hyperlocal content and see themselves being represented to international audiences.
Archana Anand said she was confident that Zee5 will become the preferred destination for South Asian content and woo both TV and streaming loyalists across all age groups across both South Asian and mainstream audiences.
New films in Zee5’s kitty
As part of the launch, Zee5 announced the line up of releases in its kitty. It includes RRR from Baahubali filmmaker SS Rajamouli, starring NT Rama Rao Jr, Ram Charan, and Bollywood superstars Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt, in all South Indian languages, and Akshaye Khanna’s OTT debut State of Siege: Temple Attack.
New seasons of Zee5’s originals Abhay 3, Rangbaaz 3, The Test Case S2, and Code-M S2 are also in the list.
Zee5 content is available in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi, as well as Malay, Thai, Bahasa, Arabic, Urdu, and Bangla (Bangladeshi) with key titles dubbed and/or subtitled in English.
Zee5 to target Canada, too
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Users can download the Zee5 app from Google Play Store or iOS App Store, on Roku devices, Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TVs, Android TVs, and Amazon Fire Stick.
Zee5 will be available at $6.99 for a monthly pack, and an annual pack from $84 to $49.99 as an introductory offer. The platform also announced a special discount for the student community with the monthly pack priced at $4.99 instead of $6.99.
Zee5 has tied up with NAAIS (North American Association of Indian Students) to connect with the younger audience.
Stating that Canada is another of its focus market, Zee5 also announced that it was available for Canadian audiences and that it would also be launching its campaign in Canada.
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