New Delhi: ZEE5 Global, the video streaming platform owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd operating in more than 190 countries, has launched its services as an aggregator in the US, offering subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services of South Asian origin. within their app.
The ZEE5 Global Add-ons positions itself as a single window for US audiences to explore South Asian entertainment platforms, including Simply South (all South Indian languages), Oho Gujarati, Chaupal (Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi), Namma Flix (Kannada), istream ( Malayalam) and EPIC ON (Hindi). The add-ons come with prices starting at $1.49. Six more rigs are likely to be commissioned. However, users will need a ZEE5 subscription to purchase the additional packages, and the billing process will consolidate all costs into a single bill at the end of the cycle, along the lines of Amazon’s Prime Video Channels launched in India in 2021, offering. other streaming services in the app and the website.
“ZEE5 provides programming in 12 languages, and we have data and an understanding of consumer preferences that gives us the ability to cross-sell and up-sell content. It’s a tough market for a niche player. In this case, we do the heavy lifting with technology and distribution,” said Archana Anand, chief commercial officer, ZEE5 Global.
According to Anand, the global streaming business is under stress, with the cost of content creation and customer acquisition hitting the roof. ZEE5 Global Add-ons will be available at prices lower than what the customer would have to pay if they directly subscribed to the services already operating in the United States, she said. In fact, some platforms will cease direct services and will only be available as part of ZEE5 Global’s Add-on packages. Anand said the customer acquisition cost for South Asian OTTs in the US is $90, but did not say whether the aggregator service will be in India. .
India is home to aggregator platforms such as Prime Video Channels, Tata Play, JioFiber and Airtel XStream Premium. Aggregators offer smaller platforms better reach and a larger subscriber base. Many over-the-top (OTT) platforms have said they are focusing on content, as aggregators take care of user experience and product. Aggregation also helps both reach a wider audience and into new markets, in addition to increasing revenue and engagement, experts said.
Neeraj Sharma, managing director for communications, media and technology at Accenture India, in a recent interview said the aggregation trend will grow due to changing consumers and a tough economy. “For consumers, aggregation simplifies content discovery, as they receive more recommendations from platforms on a single service. As incremental cost of customer acquisition increases, aggregators provide OTT platforms with a faster monetization opportunity, and at scale. Aggregators will emerge and grow more prominent because they are crucial to solving customer frustration around the broken viewing experience, and helping to realize reward in the cord-cutting vision.”
Amit Goenka, president, digital businesses and platforms, ZEE Entertainment, said accessibility and affordability will be key.
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Updated: 28 Nov 2023, 23:21 IST