MUMBAI: Bollywood’s youngest superstars Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput joined the Charity concert held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in Delhi for the flood victims of Kashmir and Assam. A total of 35 Zee channels will simulcast this initiative on 26 October. Also, Zee Marathi, Zee Kannada and Zee Telegu will air the event on 2 November. This fund-raiser campaign, “Hum Hain… Umeed-e-Kashmir” is an initiative to raise funds and awareness for flood-stricken Kashmir that has devastated and unhinged the lives of many leaving, many casualties and loss of homes, property and livelihoods in its wake.
This evening, 18 October, Hum Hain…Ummeed e Kashmir was hosted by the Zee TV’s Jamai Raja; Ravi Dubey and the charming Sameer Kochchar at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in Delhi and featured a veritable who’s who: Farhan Akhtar, Amir Khan, Shaan, Shantanu Moitra, Mohit Chauhan, Anupam Kher, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Neha Dhupia, Aditi Rao Hydari, Vivek Oberoi, Daler Mehendi, Neeti Mohan, Aditi Singh Sharma and Harsheep Kaur to perform and appealed to viewers to donate graciously to rebuilt Kashmir.
Send your donations to www.zeetv.com/humhain/
Tag: Zee Marathi
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‘Hum Hain… Umeed-e-Kashmir’ says Zee TV
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Zee Marathi: Sustaining values, evolving expressions
MUMBAI: One of the strongest channels in the Zee Entertainment stable, Zee Marathi, has been a leader of the genre for quite some time. Nearly 15 years in the genre, it has seen itself transform from Alpha Marathi to Zee Marathi.
With high TAM ratings to back it, the channel has sustained its values over time through the kind of story telling that it does to viewers. While now, the channel has turned its focus to get younger audiences hooked to its shows, it faces several challenges.
Zee Marathi business head Deepak Rajadhyaksha says that over the years the Marathi general entertainment channel (GEC) has managed to keep its values intact as time progressed. Two new shows launched by the channel are proof of the same. Ka Re Durava is a story about a married couple in an office who have to pretend to be unmarried for some reasons while Honar Sun Mi Ya Gharachi is about a woman from a nuclear family who gets married into a joint family with six mother-in-laws and how she deals with them.
“We are a youth inclusive show. Our survey in Maharashtra led us to understand what today’s youth is interested in, how is his lifestyle, thought process and TV consumption, which we incorporate in our shows. The youth of today will be our main target tomorrow,” says Rajadhyaksha. He goes on to add, “Ka re Durava has a young married modern couple. If a similar story was there in the previous generation shows, the same understanding and support system would have been missing.”
The in-house research showed some important findings for the channel- the youth had the ability to take risks, extremely smart and not stuck in complexities of relationships and are very social media savvy. These findings were similar for both urban and rural areas.
Another show Julun Yeti Reshamgathi shows the lead woman leaving her boyfriend and getting married to a man chosen by her parents. When she tells her husband about him, he asks her if she wants to go back to him, but she stays on and slowly falls in love with him. While the family comes to know of it and starts doubting her, she has her husband’s support. “We deal with issues in a non-dramatic way but such is the pattern of storytelling that we follow,” says Rajadhyaksha.
Regional channels usually end up taking shows from Hindi and showing it to its viewers. But Zee Marathi says that in its case, it’s the reverse. Honar Sun Mi Ya Gharachi has been adapted for Zee Kannada with a request to also adapt Eka Lagnachi Dusri Goshta. Zee Telugu has also asked to adapt some shows from the Marathi GEC while the network’s flagship channel Zee Marathi has also pitched in for Honar Sun Mi.
Budget restrictions disallow them from experimenting too much with non-fiction but it does as much as it can. The recently launched Jai Malhar is the first mythological show in the genre costing nearly Rs 10 crore for the series. Home Minister and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are famous in-house properties with the former in its eleventh year, since the channel does not believe in remaking international formats.
While most Hindi GECs still work on the endless show format, Zee Marathi has kept the 9pm slot as a finite story band. Rajadhyaksha says that its viewers are now acquainted to this slot and are smart enough to understand the time period of shows. A month before the show ends, viewers are informed, either indirectly or directly, about it.
However, even though TAM considers a Maharashtra population of 4.72 crore viewers, it still has to penetrate 25 per cent of the state. Digitisation has helped it reach metros well, but they along with LC1 markets still remain a challenge. “The borders are the toughest market for us to crack, near Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Hindi is widely spoken here and it’s difficult to pull Hindi viewers to Marathi because Hindi shows are grander than ours. But slowly and gradually we will be in a position to capture them too,” says Rajadhyaksha.
Digitisation and implementation of the 12 minute ad cap has allowed them to increase ad rates by around 20 to 25 per cent overall and around 35 per cent for primetime. Subscription rates have increased by 13 per cent since last financial year.
Currently about 15 per cent of its viewers are youth. For the tech savvy generation, all its shows are available online with two people employed for the digital medium. At the same time, out of India markets such as the UK, South East Asia, UAE, Mauritius, Australia and the US are prominent pockets.
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Bringing home Lord Ganesha
He is the ‘Dukh Harta’ and the one who removes obstacles. So be it any new project, a new house or a new car, everything starts with his blessings. The western part of the country is now gearing to welcome home the most loved Lord Ganesha. And starting 29 August, one will see huge pandals housing Ganapati at every nook and corner of Maharashtra. His aura is such, that devotees while immersing the Lord, ask him to come back soon, as they chant, ‘Agle Varsh Jaldi Aa’.
From Lalbaug Cha Raja, to the pandals in localities to households are all busy with the last minute preparations. Right from cleaning the house, to making modaks (his favourite sweet), to decorating the house, the stage is set to welcome him home.
While it is a 11-day festival, immersions take place after one and a half days, three days, five days, seven days, nine days and the eleventh day. Host of activities are lined up in the pandals and even at homes for the duration. The day starts with morning aarti, it progresses with hawan, bhajans and then concludes with evening aarti. People, who bring him home, invite family and friends for darshan and treat the Lord like a guest, with morning and evening aarti.
On the occasion, we at indiantelevision.com ask the industry about their preparations for the 11 day festival and how they celebrate it.
MCOF president, Arvind Prabhoo
We have been bringing home Lord Ganesha for the last 45 years. While the celebrations were restricted only to my mother’s house, it was some 45 years ago, when my brother was some two to three years old, when he got fascinated towards the whole festival and we decided to also bring home the Lord. We bring the Lord home for five days.
The preparations start almost one year in advance, as the order for the idol has to be made. We get an eco-friendly Ganapati. For the past 15 days, the entire family has been busy with cleaning the house, getting ingredients for the Prasad etc.
On day one we have modaks for the Lord and also lunch arranged, on the third day we arrange for bhajan in Gujarati and Marathi, while on the fifth day, my mother makes close to 200 puran poli’s.
We immerse the Lord in the municipal ground next to our house in Villeparle, where the municipality creates an artificial pond.
Star India SVP programming Ashish Golwalkar
We have been getting Lord Ganesha for more than 20 years. Celebrations and preparations start in full swing almost a week or 10 days in advance. We get Ganapati for seven days. This year, the celebration is going to be on a larger scale as all the families will come under one roof and are celebrating this occasion. We get clay Ganapati and immerse the Lord in the nearby pond.
Zee 24 Taas business head Bhushan Khot
We have been celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi since the past 12 years at our home. We keep for one and a half days and the immersion takes place at an artificially created pond near our home so as to not pollute the water. We have been doing this from my childhood as a joint family and when we moved out to our own place, we continued the tradition.
Zee Marathi business head Deepak Rajadhyaksha
The occasion is very important because it is being celebrated at our home since the last 60 years. My father had started the tradition and we followed suit of bringing home Ganesha for one and a half days and immersion is done at the nearby pond. Along with it, we also prepare Lord Ganesha’s favourite modak and shrikhand and other such sweets.
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Unch Maza Zoka Awards 2014
MUMBAI: Zee Marathi, Maharashtra’s leading Marathi channel, media and entertainment conglomerate with its entire spirits takes pride to announce Lux Presents Unch Maza Zoka Puraskar 2014, which is a unique step taken by the channel in recognizing the women achievers of Maharashtra.
Zee Marathi is one of the most popular Marathi channels in regional space and number one channel in Maharashtra. It has carved a niche for itself by creating pioneering content that engages audiences. Zee Marathi has created shows that have inspired and shown the way to society at large.
Continuing with this legacy, Zee Marathi had launched ‘Unch Maza Zoka’ based on the life and mission of the great social reformer Ramabai Ranade. As we all are aware, Ramabai Ranade was an awe inspiring activist who pledged her life for the cause of the betterment of women. Through our serial we gave a fresh perspective to the meaning of ‘women empowerment’ and with a view to laud the efforts of women who have worked tirelessly and fearlessly for others, we take another initiative to recognize their efforts.
After successfully touching millions of lives with Unch Maza Zoka Award’s initiated last year, Zee Marathi continued to aim at highlighting women achievers who had the zeal to think out of the box and go the extra mile to realize their dreams for the society. It is a platform to recognize the work of women across various fields and to bring out their outstanding stories that would enlighten and enrich the people. The awards have been adjudged by an esteemed panel of experts; noted journalist Mr.Kumar Ketkar, Ex-Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University Dr. Snehalata Deshmukh & noted writer Smt. Vijaya Rajadhyaksha respectively and it features women achievers from varying fields including Social work, education, healthcare, sports, arts & literature, science, environment, agriculture etc.
Deepak Rajadhyaksha, Business Head, Zee Marathi has expressed his feelings on UMZ Awards 2014, “Our endeavor is to encourage the creation of future opinion leaders and inspire them to fulfill their destinies. After a successful first year, our thrust will be to encourage women more towards action and inspire them to chase their dreams and achieve them. It gives us immense pride and great pleasure to announce the winners of Unch Maza Zoka Awards for the women achievers. It was undoubtedly a colossal task to identify women achievers across sectors and spheres, more so, given the proven fact that people from Maharashtra’s are best known for their dedication and knowledge-driven pursuit way ahead of other priorities in life. Thanks to the collective acumen of our esteemed advisory board, we selected our winners based on the criteria following profound deliberation and articulation. The judicious blend of subjective and objective factors included decisive elements like the achiever’s commitment to cause, conviction and purpose, depth of work for the society and also the larger impact of achievements and accomplishments. From the creative and attentive churn of the selection criteria, we have established the following 14 categories of awards for this year.” The Award function will be televised on Sunday, 24th Aug, 2014 @7pm only on ZEE MARATHI.
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Zee Marathi beefs up its late prime time slot
MUMBAI: Zee Marathi, the no 1 channel in Maharashtra has beefed up its late prime time slot with the launch of 2 new shows at the 9 PM and 9.30 PM slot. The new shows will launch on 18th August 2014 and are expected to further fuel the growth of Zee Marathi. The show at 9 PM called ‘Ka Re Durava’ is a story of a married couple who work in the same organization but are unable to disclose the fact that they are married due to the rules of the organization. The 9.30 PM show; a light hearted non-fiction comedy Chala Hava Yeu Dya is a story of a mad family comprising of amnesic father played by Bhau Kadam and his 2 sons Nilesh Sable and Kushal Badrike. The show will have guests from the movie and theatre fraternity visiting the show and will be interspersed with interesting comic characters. Ka Re Durava airs Monday to Saturday while Chala Hava Yeu Dya will continue in the regular non-fiction slot of Monday & Tuesday.
The channel has launched an extensive marketing campaign for both shows with heavy promotions across TV, print, radio and outdoor apart from focus on the digital medium. The campaign has an interesting hook to it which shows a happily married couple behaving like complete strangers once they step into their office space. An engagement initiative with the Mumbai Dabbawalas is planned in the city which sees the most incidences of married couple feeling the pain of distance and lack on time in their marriage.
For Chala Hava Yeu Dya, the channel promo team has penned and shot a rap song that has quickly caught on with the masses. The song has been sung by Nilesh Sable and presents the characters in a never seen before avatar.
Speaking on the launch of the 2 shows, Zee Marathi business head Deepak Rajadhyaksha said “Zee Marathi has always ensured that shows are not dragged beyond their life and have aimed at ending shows at a high always. The shows previously on these slots were coming to a natural end and we needed an apt replacement for the slots.”
He added, “21:00 has always been a slot where we have got novel and very progressive concepts and the show Ka Re Durava is an attempt to highlight the status of today’s generation where a married couple has to balance their professional and personal lives. The show captures the modern day couple who both work with little or no time for each other and to top it they work in the same organization which adds to the complexity”. While Ka Re Durava is a love story; speaking on the new non-fiction comedy show Chala Hava Yeu Dya, Deepak adds “The show gives us the platform to add further muscle to the strong comedy franchise we have built. With this show we will not only provide unmatched humour to the viewers but also bring celebrities from the Marathi cinema and theatre fraternity to be part of the show”.
Zee Marathi is aiming that the 2 shows will enrich its offerings and believes that adding another emotion to the existing range will strike a chord with the audience. The channel currently boasts of numbers that has put daylight between them and the nearest competitor and recently completed one year at the helm with no other Marathi channel able to reach the heights the channel achieved through successful show launches, events and big ticket movie premieres. Adding to the aura of the channel was the launch of a special slot for theatre which has proven yet again that Zee Marathi leads not just in numbers but in innovative programming and marketing initiatives which have propelled the channel to greater heights.
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Zee Marathi’s Unch Maza Zoka Awards 2014
MUMBAI: Zee Marathi takes pride to announce lifetime achievement Award of UNCH MAZA ZOKA AWARDS 2014 to committed and motivated life activist SumanTai Bang for this year. Sumantai Bang is a a founder member of the NGO “Chetana-Vikas”, and great activist’ for social development and women empowerment. She has been a leading participant in National Movement for village republics and voluntary land reform movement (Bhoodan movement). She is a current trustee and executive member of Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust – a national organization for women and rural development. She is also a pioneer activist on various issues related to self-reliant and holistic empowerment of rural women.
Zee Marathi, Maharashtra’s leading Marathi channel, media and entertainment conglomerate with its entire spirits takes pride to announce Unch Maza Zoka Puraskar 2014, which is an unique step taken by the channel in recognizing the women achievers of Maharashtra. Zee Marathi is one of the most popular Marathi channels in regional space and number one channel in Maharashtra has carved a niche for itself by creating pioneering content that engages audiences. Zee Marathi has created shows that have inspired and shown the way to society at large.
Continuing with this legacy, Zee Marathi had launched ‘Unch Maza Zoka’ based on the life and mission of great social reformer Ramabai Ranade. As we are all aware, Ramabai Ranade was an awe inspiring activist who pledged her life for the cause of women. Through our serial we gave a fresh perspective to the meaning of ‘women empowerment’ and with a view to laud the efforts of women who have worked tirelessly and fearlessly for others we take another initiative to recognize their efforts.
Deepak Rajadhyaksha, Business Head, Zee Marathi has expressed his feelings on UMZ Awards 2014, “ After successfully touching millions of lives with Unch Maza Zoka Award’s initiated last year, Zee Marathi continued to aim at highlighting women achievers who had the zeal to think out of the box and go the extra mile to realize their dreams for the society. It gives us immense pride and great pleasure to announce the “UNCH MAZA ZOKA”s Lifetime Achievement Award to the Great social activist Smt Sumantai Bang for this year.
The awards have been adjudged by an esteemed panel of experts; noted journalist Mr.Kumar Ketkar, Ex-Vice-Chancellor of Mumbai University Dr. Snehalata Deshmukh & noted writer Smt. Vijaya Rajadhyaksha and features women achievers from varying fields including Social work, education, healthcare, sports, arts & literature, science, environment, agriculture etc.
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Zee Marathi achieves 1 year of consistent leadership
MUMBAI: Zee Marathi today completes 1 year of undisputable leadership in the Marathi General Entertainment Genre. It is consistently the No. 1 channel from Week 31 {2013} till date.
Zee Marathi has the highest Avg Weekly GTVT across Marathi and Hindi GEC in Maharashtra market in the last 53 weeks.
Zee Marathi is connecting with 1.92 crs (Avg Weekly Reach) audiences on a weekly basis which is the highest reach across Marathi genre.
Zee Marathi is clocking 76657 Avg Weekly GTVTs in 15+ ABC which is higher than any Hindi or Marathi GEC in Maharashtra market.
The channel has had an eventful year marked with many milestones:
• Zee Marathi’s shows top the charts
o It has gained slot leadership across slots
o Honaar Sunn Mee Hya Gharchi has a 62% share of the 8:00 PM slot & Julun Yeti Reshimgaathi has a 50% share of the 8:30 PM slot with respect to other Marathi GECs.
o Honaar Sunn Mee Hya Gharchi- 2 hour wedding episode clocked 4130 TVTs– the highest viewership delivered by any fiction special across all GECs since the last five years and collectively with the marathon got 10 Mn viewers.
• Movies see a new high on Zee Marathi
o Duniyadari rated 4475 TVTs the highest movie rating since the last five years in the genre.
o Parents and children collectively watched a film about growing up Balak Palak garnering 2734 TVTs.
o Fandry’s WTP with its campaign for social change managed to create viewership for parallel cinema with the film getting 3172 TVTs.
• Events of unmatched scale and impact
o Zee Marathi Awards was the highest rated event across all GECs in FY 14
o Uncha Majha Zokha Puruskaar – women’s achiever awards in its first year rated 1385 TVTs.
• Creating premium content for premium audiences
o Nakshatra the afternoon slot created to feature best of the best Marathi Plays rates higher than the Avg ratings of Prime Time of competition in SEC AB 15+& almost at par in 15+ABC.
Zee Marathi has relentlessly strived to maintain the legacy the channel has built, and foster the relationships we have with our audiences. We seek to grow that legacy and entertain the people of Maharashtra with constant innovation and excellence.
Data Source:
TAM, All Mah, CS4+, CS 15+ ABC, CS 15+ AB, Time Frame: Wk 31{13}- Wk 31{14} *TAM Data, CS AB15+, All Mah, ZM :Avg TVTs wk 19-30, Sunday, Nakshtra (Drama) 1300 , EM:Avg TVTs, 30 Min, Wk19-30’14, Mon-Sat,18:30-22:29, SP:Avg TVTs, 30 Min, Wk19-30’14, Mon-Sat,19:00-23:59.
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Zee Marathi – World Television Premiere of ‘Fandry’ acts as a catalyst for social awakening & change
MUMBAI: The National Award Winning and critically acclaimed movie ‘Fandry’ will premiere on Maharashtra’s number 1 Marathi channel ‘Zee Marathi’ on 29th June 2014. This time its not just content with just high ratings from blockbusters like Duniyadari, Mee Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy, Natarang and Balak Palak amongst others in the past, the channel has gone one step ahead this time with the film Fandry.
Going beyond the gamut of vanilla promotions, Zee Marathi has endeavored to make a difference through Fandry. For starters, the channel has embarked on a mission to bring about change. The campaign woven around the concept ‘Jaaniv Zhali, Badal Havaa’ aims at bringing about change in society and making a difference in the lives of children. The channel has tied up with 10 NGOs that work in the area of children development and protection and will raise funds for these NGOs through the movie. This will be done through special break content that has been created for the movie. The channel has roped in some of the most popular Marathi actors to pledge their support for this cause and thereby create awareness and raise funds towards the cause of these NGOs. Some of the celebrities who will be part of this campaign include Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Urmila Matondkar, Sachin Khedekar, Makarand Deshpande, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Atul Kulkarni, Amol Gupte alongwith vereteran Artists Vikram Gokhale and Dilip Prabhavalkar. These artists will support NGOs across Maharashtra; working towards the cause of children in varied areas. Some of these NGOs include Lokbiradari Prakalp (Gadchiroli), Snehankur (Ahmednagar) Eklavya Nyas (Pune), Narmadalay , Qest : Quality Education Support Trust (Solapur), Punrutthan Samarasata Gurukaul (Pimpari Chinchwad), Hamara Foundation (Mumbai) to name a few.
The film’s campaign including the promos have been adeptly designed to communicate the strength of the content, the awards accolades and the cause in a smart and impactful manner.
In addition to the above, the channel has also started a social media campaign through Facebook titled as ‘Jaaniv Zhali, Badal Havaa’. As part of this initiative, all the Facebook users have to do is click on pledge tab called ‘Nirdhar Badlacha’ (Pledge for CHANGE) and register their support for the campaign. For each pledge Rupee 1 will be contributed towards the cause of these NGOs by Zee Marathi. Through this initiative Zee Marathi aims at building the reach of the campaign as there is no cost involved to the user.
Speaking on the Fandry ‘Jaaniv Zhali, Badal Havaa’ initiative, Mr. Deepak Rajadhyaksha, Business Head, Zee Marathi said “Blockbusters have always rated well on Zee Marathi and this has been established beyond doubt. It is not often that one gets a chance to make a difference to someone’s life and hence we have gone beyond the regular model of a movie premiere and decided to make a difference. We have always taken up interesting initiatives; one’s that we believe in and feel we can strongly support. With the reach and viewership we enjoy in Maharashtra it was imperative for us to create a drive that would force people to think and pledge their support to change. We have always associated ourselves with movements to make a change and the Fandry campaign for change is just another step in that direction.” While the viewers will be voluntarily donating to the NGOs, the channel will definitely contribute to the cause. Mr. Rajadhyaksha adds “Charity begins at home and hence the Zee Marathi family felt it was right for us to donate a sum of Rs 5 lakhs towards the cause. We believe our viewers will support this noble cause and add a smile on the faces of the many Jabya’s (character name of the lead protagonist of the movie) across Maharashtra.”
The channel creative and marketing teams have been working round the clock to ensure that there is no stone unturned in bringing about change. Pledging support to this cause is Zee 24 Taas who will run a few special features on the NGOs and interview the artists associated with the cause. Also lined up is the interview with Nagraj Manjule, the director of the movie who based this story on true happenings in his native village. The movie produced by Esselvision stars Somnath Avaghade as Jabya apart from Kishor Kadam and Nagraj Manjule who plays a cameo in the movie. Based in the heartland of rural Ahmednagar, the movie is about the rampant caste discrimination in society and its ill effect on school going Jabya who wishes to live like just another child. ‘Fandry’ has won critical acclaim and won awards at many international film festivals apart from the coveted National Award.
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Zee Marathi to launch Jai Malhar
MUMBAI: If Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) are treating audiences to a growing number of mythology-based shows, why should regional channels be far behind?
Following in the footsteps of Mahabharat, Mahadev and Maa Durga will be Zee Marathi’s Jai Malhar, a mythological show based on the reincarnation of Lord Shiva as Lord Khandoba aka Lord Malhar, Maharashtra’s most revered warrior god.
Produced by actor-filmmaker and head of Kothare Vision, Mahesh Kothare, the show has been mounted on a lavish scale and promises to be like none other before it. Slated to premiere on 18 May, Jai Malhar will replace Tu Tithe Mee at 7:00 pm. Only the first episode will be for one hour and will be beamed on a Sunday.
Zee Marathi business head Deepak Rajadhyaksha says, “Mythology has always appealed to Indian audiences but nobody in the Marathi industry has touched the subject owing to the extensive research and heavy investment involved in recreating it. Zee Marathi has made an ambitious attempt to transform the saga of Maharashtra’s Lord Khandoba into a gripping and thoughtful show with state-of-the-art visual effects and presentation. The original mythological narrative hasn’t been disturbed but what has been modified is the style of storytelling, making it riveting and in tune with contemporary screen techniques.”
Jai Malhar has Kartik Kende as executive director, Rupesh Tatkari as director of photography, Nilima Kothare and Neeta Khandke as costume designers, Santosh Ayachit as creative head and scriptwriter, Pankaj Padghan as music director and Chandrabhan and Abhijat in charge of graphics. The 60-strong team is largely constituted by young and promising talent.
For now, a deal for producing 312 episodes has been signed. With shooting having commenced on 31 March at Film City in Goregaon, the plan is to can seven to eight episodes by the end of this month, with 12-hour shooting schedules. For a show of such epic proportions, set designer Satish Panchal has re-created elements from Lord Khandoba’s palace, the fort of Jejuri, temples and ashrams to make it look as real as possible. Sources say nearly Rs 1.3 crore has been spent on the set itself. As for the central characters of Lord Khandoba and his two consorts, Mhalsa and Banai, were selected from more than 2,000 participants who auditioned in the cities of Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik and Kolhapur among others. The names of the protagonists have not yet been revealed. Two cameras are being used on the set for shooting in HD. In keeping with regulations, a medical officer is available on the set every day to oversee that the animals used for the shoot are treated ethically and not harmed in any way.
“Once we were firm on the idea, we approached Zee Marathi and they instantly said yes to it,” says Kothare. “The show will appeal to all. For youngsters it’s a tale of a lover; for the elderly, it’s the tale of a God; and for kids, it’s the tale of a superhero. No show has ever been made on this scale in the Marathi genre.”
Apparently, Kothare has been conceptualising the idea for the past three years and has been in talks with the channel for about a year and a half. Sources say that each episode could cost anywhere between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, pegging a year’s exercise at approximately Rs 10 crore to Rs 12 crore. Nearly Rs 50 lakh has gone into costumes alone including clothes, headgear and weapons.
A marketing campaign has already begun in TV and print. On-air promos have already begun while a full-page ad spread was already published in leading Marathi newspapers such as Maharashtra Times and Divya Bhaskar. The full-fledged campaign will break approximately 10 days before the launch of the show on 18 May. The creative agency for the show is FCB Ulka while media planning has been done by GroupM.
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Zee Entertainment notches up stellar results in FY 2013
MUMBAI: The folks at Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd (Zeel) have been working with a lot of zeal, it would seem. Especially if one looks at its latest Q4-2013 financials and also its results for the financial year ended 31 March 2013. A big upward tick of 21.6 per cent in its net profit to Rs 718.2 crore on 31 March 2013 over the previous year‘s Rs 591 crore is a hallmark of the Zeel performance.
As far as its Q4-FY-2013 results were concerned they were in line with various analysts’ bullish expectations. Commanding an astounding 670 million plus viewers worldwide, a scale of operations across 169 countries with 32 channels and over 100,000 hours of programming to its credit, it has maintained its leading position in most of its major business operations including television broadcasting, cable distribution, DTH services etc.
Says Zeel chairman Subhash Chandra: “FY 2013 was a defining year for the media sector in many ways. The biggest transformation was the implementation of DAS in 42 cities nationally. There were 33 million DTH subscribers and 16 digital cable TV homes as fiscal 2013 ended as against 29 million DTH and 4 million DAS homes in the previous year. We believe we can continue to return meaningful amount of capital even as we strengthen our business and invest in the growth of our businesses. We will continue to pursue growth opportunities which would enhance long term shareholder value.‘
“DAS phase 2 has been implemented across the country. Industry ARPUs on DTH seem to be growing with exciting consumer offers being provided by operators on premium channel subscriptions,” adds Zeel managing director and chief executive officer Punit Goenka. “We believe similar effort by digital cable operators will ensure a robust growth of the industry for all stakeholders. The improving economic outlook augurs well for the media and entertainment sector. We are hopeful that a steady growth in ratings will help Zee deliver better performance in the coming quarters. Our content focus approach combined with better monetisation of subscription revenues, especailly from digital markets, will contribute to the company delivering steady and sustainable returns in the year ahead.”
Let us look at the consolidated Q4-2013 financials as against the corresponding Q4-2012
The Q4-2013 financials report a fair positive trend with the operating revenues for the quarter standing at Rs 964.3 crore, an increase of 11 per cent from the previous year‘s corresponding quarter’s (Q4-2012) which stood at Rs 869 crore. Q4-2013 ad revenues at 479.2 crore are up 15.5 per cent over Q4-2012‘s Rs 415 crore. Subscription revenues have surged to Rs 454.5 crore as against Q4-2012’s Rs 402.1 crore, a 13 per cent increase, courtesy the spread of digitisation and the fact that it was able to draw further benefits of its distribution joint venture with Star India – MediaPro. Of this, domestic subscription revenues rose to Rs 337.4 crore in Q4 2013 (its accounting treatment for MediaPro changed in Q4 2012 hence it says the figures can‘t be compared with Q4 2012). International subscription revenues climbed 11.7 per cent to Rs 117.2 crore in Q4 2013.
Zeel has managed to tighten the screws on its total expenses, allowing these to rise by only 2.2 per cent over the previous corresponding quarter. As a result, its EBITDA skyrocketed 51 per cent to Rs 242.3 crore as against Rs 160 crore in the last corresponding fiscal quarter. At those numbers, its EBITDA margin is a fat 25.1 per cent. Even its PAT numbers are looking good. They are up 10.7 per cent in Q4-2013to Rs 180.35 crore as against the corresponding last Q4-2012’s Rs 163 crore.
On the business front, Zeel‘s flagship Zee TV, the flagship Zeel channel had an average of 220 GRPs in Q4 and a 19 per cent market share, and was placed among the top six Hindi GECs.
As far as its regional language offerings are concerned, all its channels including Zee Marathi, Zee Bangla, Zee Telegu and Zee Kannada have reported good growths in average GRPs.
While the sports business has yet to breakeven, an improving and promising trend is anticipated with various events and leagues lined up for telecast. The sports business revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 107.2 crore. Dish TV, the largest DTH service provider reported an ARPU of over Rs 159, significantly higher than its peers in the segment.
Let us look at the consolidated results for FY-2013
Thanks to the sharp rise in net profit in the full fiscal year and its net margin of 19.4 per cent, its earnings per share (EPS) too climbed up to a handsome Rs 7.51 as against last fiscal’s Rs 6.08.
Zeel‘s total income for the year to 31 March 2013 (advertising sales and subscription revenues) registered healthy growth with FY-2013’s total revenues standing at Rs 3669.57 crore, up by 19.7 per cent from last year’s Rs 3040.56 crore.
Its full year domestic subscription revenues were up to Rs 116.48 crore, and international subscription revenues were Rs 458.6 crore, a growth of 26.3 per cent and 14 per cent respectively, over the previous fiscal year‘s revenues. Overall ad revenues for the full year have shown a double digit growth of 24 per cent to Rs 1963.9 crore from the last fiscal’s Rs 1584 crore.
The YOY expenses have sharply risen 19.4 per cent, with FY-2013’s expenses standing at Rs 2785.18 crore. This increase is majorly contributed by a 21.5 per cent increase in its operating cost and its employee benefit expenses rising over 19 per cent. The latter cost is justified for a conglomerate commanding an employee base of over 2050 employees.
Zeel‘s EBITDA (operating profit) for the full year FY-2013 stands at Rs 954.3 crore, growing 29 per cent YoY as against Rs 739.6 crore in FY 2012.
With this fiscal year marking the 20 years of Brand Zee in the industry, the Board has recommended a cash dividend of Rs 2 on a face value of Re 1 per share. In addition to this the board has also announced a distribution Rs 2,000 crore through a bonus issue of redeemable preference shares.
The company’s share is currently being traded at Rs 241. Many analysts have predicted that the stock will cross Rs 270, as it starts deriving more and more subscription revenues courtesy cable TV digitisation.
The outlook for the media conglomerate is extremely bright. It has a loyal viewer base for its GEC channels, it has a presence in cable TV through Siticable, then its DTH operation DishTV has a huge subscriber base of 13-14 million. It recently announced it would take a stab at the movies through its subsidiary Zee Motion Pictures which plans a couple of film launches in the near future. In the television space, Zee reported a decent market-share for the full year FY-2013, while revenues significantly poured in from its international operations, especially with the launch of Zee TV across several networks in Canada. Zee TV and Zee Cinema did well in the UAE and were the No 1 TV channel among south Asians for the March 2013 quarter.
Meanwhile, Zeel’s board has said it would be approaching shareholders to approve its plan to increase the FII investment limit in the company to beyond the existing 49 per cent and to the maximum allowed under the government’s FDI norms for the media sector.