The milestone of complet-ing 20 glorious years is surely a reason for me and

the entire ZEE family to rejoice. It is a proud moment to see the pioneering steps taken by ZEE two decades back grow into an INR 350 billion TV broadcast Industry today.

This very special anniver-sary day, is the perfect time to focus on the future for ZEE. I believe the business of entertainment is a good one to be in and there has never been a better time than now for us, especially in Coun-tries where discretionary incomes are rising and peo-ple are seeking quality fam-ily entertainment while In India it is poised to grow

significantly riding on the digitization wave.

We see no limit for brand ZEE and our products. We are expanding in key international & regional markets, in new ver-ticals and want to be a domi-nant global media enterprise in the next 5 years.

At the 20 year mark, I can say that not only does ZEE have a history of connecting people into a unified family with con-tent, but we have a clear road ahead to keep this journey go-ing for the next twenty years and beyond.

I take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders, especially viewers for con-tinuing to repose faith in us over the years.

Next 20 years and beyond...MESSAGE FROM SUBHASH CHANDRA, CHAIRMAN ZEE ENTERTAINMENT

Congratulations ZEE on turning twenty! How time flies? It seems only the other day that I

watched “Tara” on Zee TV, discussed with an advertiser whether he qual-ified to advertise on ZEE and under-stood the complexities of paying two separate parties for the same spot on air!

My hearty congratulations to Sub-hash Chandra for having the vision, foresight and guts for bringing Satel-lite TV to India, which has provided a new dimension and meaning to Entertainment and TV; for starting an Industry that is dominant, vibrant and growing and today enamors at least half of India who watch it every day for two hours; for innovatively branding the channel Zee TV (the last word in Television / Entertain-ment!) and growing it to a bouquet with offerings in virtually every genre and every language.

I met the now famous and enig-matic man at the Nehru Center one evening way back in the early 90s when ZEE was celebrating its 1st An-niversary. I saw him on stage trying to open a bottle of Champagne to mark the anniversary.

Little do housewives of today know that it was the baby steps tak-en by ZEE 20 years ago that has led them today to spend two hours of their lives each day with their telly, making them laugh or cry or get emotional or anxious; little do media planners of today know that it is ZEE who helped create virtually the me-

dia agency industry with a cadre of professionals who pride themselves as masters of media sitting in front of their desktops, using both their left-brain and right-brain faculties.

ZEE rules the roost today and Zee TV occasionally even comes in at the top of the heap in ratings despite its disciplined approach to program-ming in terms of costs. It has suc-ceeded in creating a sustainable, profitable model that keeps on grow-ing, harnessing revenue from both the subscriber and advertiser and probably has the best Resource-to-

Result ratio in the industry.Satellite Television Advertising is

today over a 10,000 crore industry and to think that in those early days only an exporter could advertise on Zee TV! Of course ZEE’s ingenuity helped and everyone did, well al-most everyone!

The saying goes: Fools rush in, where Angels fear to tread; it would seem that Subhash Chandra, the founder of ZEE has proved this axiom wrong. No man, I know has fathered a string of so many successful busi-ness ideas in so many unrelated fields, in such a short time, that have changed lives of people, their habits and the way we do business.

The ZEE Group needs to be con-gratulated for initiating a string of radical new businesses in hitherto, uncharted territory where no Indian has ventured into, without fear of failure: India’s 1st Satellite Channel (Zee TV), India’s 1st Amusement Park (ESSEL WORLD), India’s 1st and now the world’s largest Plastic Col-lapsible Tube manufacturer, India’s 1st Cricket League (ICL), India’s 1st Direct to Home Service (DISH TV), India’s 1st Electronic Lotteries (PLAYWIN) and God knows how many more firsts, that I am not aware of.

Kudos to Subhash Chandra and ZEE, lots of good luck for the future.

Keep walking, nay running.

(The writer is CMD, Madison World)

Great Going ZEE: SamIt’s raining greetings for ZEE, as the entertainment giant is stepping into its third decade. Advertising doyen Sam Balsara wishes Subhash Chandra and his team on this happy occasion

The ZEE Group has heralded a new era in television-viewing habits in India. Under the visionary stewardship of Subhash ji, ZEE has now transformed into a complete entertainment, infotainment and news Company. I cherish my friendship with him for his uprightness, vision, and genuine concern for the society. The height of Global Vipasana Pagoda that he has built is a reflection of the stature he has reached in humanitarianism. It is creditable that ZEE has been producing quality programmes over the last two decades. I congratulate ZEE Group on this stupendous achievement and wish them all success in the years to come.

—Shashi Ruia, Chairman, Essar Group

Industry Wishes ZEEZEE is a shining example of Indian entrepreneurial success after liberalisation, in a sector that had consumers yearning for more. ZEE played a critical role in creating the foundations of the modern Indian

media sector and in moulding consumer preferences. As it continues its innings into a third decade, I wish the team at ZEE tremendous success. May it continue to enliven our drawing rooms for many more decades to come.

—Mr. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group

“I would like to congratulate ZEE for completing 20 years entertaining Indians around the globe. They have had an inspirational journey in the entertainment space in India –

from pioneering the concept of satellite television 20 years ago to today reaching 650 million viewers across 168 countries! I wish them every success as they leapfrog into the next era of growth.”

—Mr. Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Group

The ZEE Group has great vision and intellectual prowess about the media industry. I recollect an incident 20 years ago, there was some programme being shown on Doordarshan on the New Year’s Eve, which I didn’t really enjoy. Zee TV was also featuring a programme on the same occasion and I could see there was a huge difference in their quality of content when compared to Doordarshan. It

clearly marked the era of home entertainment being pioneered by Subhash Chandra for the country. Over the last two decades ZEE Group has emerged as a leading diversified conglomerate and Zee TV the top general entertainment channel (GEC). We wish that by the 25th year, Zee will become No.1 television channel in every genre.

—Mr. Venugopal Nandlal Dhoot, Chairman, Videocon Group

Television has played an important role not only in distributing information but also in influenc-ing and changing people’s belief and opinions.

With 61% television penetration and growing, its impact transcends social and educational back-ground of its viewers. Today, television is the pre-ferred choice of entertainment.

When ZEE started operations in 1992, it was the turning point for viewers, who were used to watching programs on Doordarshan. The economy was opening to the outside world, ZEE captured the mood and in-troduced content and style encompassing viewer’s preference and tastes. Till this point, ZEE is grounded to its roots and creating content and formats relevant to Indian audiences across different genres. The view-er today is not only looking for new stories but is also very quality conscious. The need for differentiated and fresh content is on an all time high.

ZEE’s programming has always been one where viewers forge strong friendships with the characters and create great memories while sharing quality time with their families. Content created for the entire fam-ily, sets ZEE apart from others.

With its long-standing heritage and strong content, flagship channel Zee TV has bridged the gap between the older and emerging paradigms at the same time championing new beliefs through its stories and char-acters. Zee TV shows like Saat Phere, Betiyaan, Antra, Kasam Se… caught the pulse of changing ethos of Indian audiences. Shows such as Tara, Pavitra Rishta, Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya hi Kijo… championed perti-nent social issues. Zee TV has constantly created home grown realty formats like SA RE GA MA PA, Dance India Dance, which have cached the imagination of the

masses. Dance India Dance is one of the most watched non-fiction show year on year.

Zee Marathi created cult programming over the years. It pioneered the concept of a daily soap in Mar-athi in 1999 through Aabhaalmaaya’. Channel intro-duced non-fiction shows from Monday through Friday, a pattern that continues till date across Mar-athi channels. Zee Talkies produced and distributed 14 films in span of 4 years. Some of the films like Natarang, De Dhakka, Kaksparsh are among the high-est box office grossers. Natrang received National Award in 2010.

ZEE’s presence in English Entertainment genre has been substantial with Zee Café and Zee Studio, which telecast the latest movies and shows respec-tively. Zee Cafe has genre leadership in the English Entertainment Space. Knowing the pulse of the market, ZEE was the first to offer sub titling for Eng-lish content, making it easier for the Indian audi-ences to understand the accent. Tie ups with some of the best Hollywood studios, Zee Studio brings home the best of the movie titles. Zee Café broad-casts shows within 24 hours from the US telecast, offering the Indian viewers the latest international entertainment. Quality content has always been the focus of delivery at ZEE, and hence the content of-fered is extremely premium in nature and differen-tiated from the clutter.

From humble beginnings to its huge popularity, Zee Bangla has moved forward magnificiently bringing Bengali culture to the world. Zee Bangla, the second regional GEC by ZEE focuses on giving Bengalis, enter-tainment they crave for the most. ZEE Bangla serials and reality shows are greatly watched and followed. The protagonists in the serials have become household names. Millions turn up to take part in auditions to showcase their talent and earn fame and popularity.

Expanding regionally, ZEE created a strong bou-quet for Southern Markets -Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada and Zee Tamiz. Each one of them, consolidating their viewership and aiming for leadership position.

With path-breaking content initiatives like dance realty show Aata on Zee Telugu, ZEE touched the lives of audiences in Southern India. Popular shows like Mee Inti Vanta, Bhakti Samacharam, Ayurvedam, and Gopuram have completed 2500 episodes in their re-spective genres. The long duration, demonstrates ZEE’s capability of engaging with viewers.

Zee Kannada, redefined the concept of entertain-ment with its trendsetting programming, which came as whiff of fresh air to the viewers through hugely successful shows like Kunuyonu Baara, Kom-edy Kiladigalu, Guna Gaana, Baduku Jataka Bandi, and Ragale with Rishika.

ZEE attained leadership position in sports business, operating under TEN Brand. It operates five channels, dedicated for different sports. Channels are dedicated to cricket, football, golf and one high definition chan-nel. Strategy of Segmentation, has allowed TEN to cre-ate differentiation among various sports and helped build a dedicated fan base. The TEN Channels com-mand around 70% of market share of non cricket sports programming.

ZEE, will continue to innovate across its bouquet of channels, guage the pulse of its audiences around the world and entertain them with the best content, creat-ing programming which is entertaining and engaging.

Pulse of the Audience For twenty years ZEE has been dedicated to creating and showcasing engaging content that can be enjoyed by families

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I still reminisce about the grating of metal rollers against the old wooden

frame. I still remember the loud click. I still have memo-ries of the flickering images that came alive in black and white, etched in my mind.

I still remember the mo-ment when I sat on the couch at my neighbour Shah Auntie’s home in Nainital, as the TV was switched on. A small but magical world came alive for me, when that wooden box became a kalei-doscope through which I peered into worlds I had never seen before.

When Malcom Marshall started his run-up to bowl to Srikkanth, my twin brother Shailesh and I were trans-ported to the stadium on a wintry day. When Jasoos Karamchand investigated a case and snapped at his chatty secretary Kitty, we smiled and felt bad for her. When Lajoji wept in Buni-yaad, we had a lump in our throat. When Chitrahaar stopped at the fifth song, we

craved for one more.It was the Doordarshan

era, an era that shaped lives of millions of Indians. As In-dia’s pre-eminent commu-nicator, Doordarshan reflect-ed the moral bearings of a nation steeped in centuries old culture. Its broadcasting was not just entertainment, it had a sense of right and wrong, a sense of responsi-bility towards the audiences it was creating content for.

Then, one day, as I added up to open the batting for my Charminar Club at the Government Girls’ Inter College grounds in Nainital, a friend of mine told me that a new form of TV was about to come to Nainital. It was called Cable TV and one could watch many more channels.

For me, it was the mo-ment when India began to change, the moment when the Doordarshan era end-ed. Soon we were watch-ing something new called Zee TV. There was Antak-shari and Hum Paanch,

there was Tara and later Sa Re Ga Ma Pa …

Zee TV came riding on a huge opportunity – and a huge responsibility. While it was opening up glitzy, spar-kling new worlds to millions of viewers – and millions more who were buying new TV sets each year – it also had to live up to the richness of content of Doordarshan.

The pioneer of Satellite TV, that was much superior and entertaining, lived up to its responsibility well, and it

straddled two worlds. Its strength has been that it is rooted and in sync with the emotional depth of the real India even as it looks at the country through a contem-porary prism. The 20th an-niversary of ZEE is important not just for the company but a key landmark for India’s communication, especially as we enter the age where the TV screen is shrinking into the mobile phone.

The challenges though, remain the same.

As I discovered during my journey of the last two years as a radio storyteller and the head of a content company, you can serve it as much gimmickry as you want, but in the end this country craves for innovative content – which often boils down to simple, old fashioned story-telling, with its roots in In-dian emotions, joys, pain and drama.

ZEE is the pioneer of con-stantly evolving journey of content in India, and I hope the next 20 years will wit-ness new and exciting inno-vations in content and pro-gramming concepts from its stable, because as a viewer, I want to remain excited about the world of TV, just like I used to be as a child.

Because I still remem-ber the grating of metal rollers against the old wooden frame. I still re-member the loud click. I still remember the flicker-ing images that came alive in black and white.

(Neelesh Misra is a Bolly-wood scriptwriter/lyricist,

radio storyteller, author, Founder and CEO of Content Project and Editorial Direc-tor, Gaon Connection rural

newspaper)

I miss that small wooden box of memoryAs ZEE completes two decades, multifaceted personality Neelesh Mishra takes a trip down the memory lane when India began to change with ZEE

Here’s wishing Zee TV the best on completion of 20 years. As child, I grew up watching many of Zee TV’s shows, be it Banegi Apni Baat, Hum Paanch or Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. I am extremely glad to be associated with Zee TV through ‘Punarvivaah’. May the channel continue to bring wholesome entertainment into our lives for several decades to come!

—Gurmeet Choudhary

ZEE’S PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA... FOLLOW US

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ZEE has always been a firm believer in in-novation and keeping pace with change. As it steps into the third decade of its

operation, transformation across ZEE verticals is visible, adapting to the changing business environment. Expansion in Indian Regional markets by offering varied content, embrac-ing of new media and technology and reach-ing out to viewers beyond the South Asian communities internationally , will be top in the radar of ZEE in coming years.

With, general entertainment category fiercely competitive, growth is coming from other spaces, especially regional television. Regional channels account for approximately 33% of the all-India cable and satellite televi-sion viewership, with Bengali, Marathi and all the south Indian channels gaining viewership. This provides ZEE with opportunity to capi-talise on its bouquet of regional channels and expand regional footprint in a big way. Re-gional television market will also help ZEE increase its international operations , As it become one of the key drivers. Zee launched two of its regional channels, Zee Marathi and Zee Kannada, in the US.

The demand for more specific content - has set the stage for next level of growth and tran-sition across the television value chain for ZEE. In line with this, ZEE is offering complete channel portfolio in each of the regional mar-ket it operate in. Starting with Marathi lan-guage where it launched Marathi movie chan-nel ZEE Talkies , complementing exiting ZEE Marathi GEC, ZEE launched India’s only 24 hrs Bangla movie channel , ZEE Bangla Cinema. Bengali films market is one of the fastest growing regional film market in the country and ZEE has acquired rights for some of the

best Bangla Movies. ZEE has already ventured into the next gen-

eration viewing experience space. ZEE New Media, the digital arm of Zee Entertainment launched an OTT (Over-The-Top TV) distribu-tion platform, Ditto TV, with an aim to offer Live TV Channels and On demand Video Con-tent to consumers on their mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainment boxes and connected TVs.

Ditto TV offers features such as adaptive streaming, an elaborative electronic pro-gramme guide, robust digital rights manage-ment system, intelligent content recommen-dation engine and an elegant user interface, all of which will be integral to enhance the user experience.

Equipped with a robust technology plat-form from Siemens, this offering heralds a welcome break away from appointment TV viewing to a more flexible, customizable way of enjoying TV and VOD content- my screen, my time, my video, a concept that has fun-damentally turned appointment TV viewing

on its head.With advent of technology, ZEE is redefin-

ing itself from pure broadcaster to a content provider. It will focus on reaching out to audi-ences at the end of any screen that they are available on. Be a TV screen, mobile phone, smart device, tablets or Internet. There will be several technologies and platforms that are going to emerge in coming years and ZEE will be at the forefront to adopt them

ZEE is working on a strategy, to reach out to 1 billion viewers from the current 650 million viewers in the next 5 years and become a global Media and Entertainment company. In line with this, ZEE is looking at viewers be-yond the South Asian diaspora in Internation-al markets. ZEE will be offering viewers shows in their own languages shot and produced in their studios.

For Middle East audience, ZEE has launched its second offering ZEE Alwan in Arabic lan-guage. It has already launched Russian lan-guage programming in Russia and has re-ceived considerable success. ZEE will be look-ing at opportunities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Middle East and Africa.

Digitisation is going to become a reality. With digitisation, new genres of content will emerge. People will pay for content they want to watch. Over period of time dependence on Advertising will come down significantly and subscription will play a very key role in the media industry going forward. To capitalise on the same, ZEE strategically launched Ten Golf and ZEE Khana Khazana.

Going forward, innovation will play a key role in setting the pace for next ten years. ZEE has all the elements in place to move forward and capture hearts and mind of people.

ZEE - leadership strategiesWith the onset of digitisation, arrival of 4G, a positive industry growth is in sight, and ZEE will implement all the planned strategies to capitalise on the opportunities.

ZEE leads the pack among Indian media and entertainment brands commanding a 65 per

cent market share in the global TV broadcast medium. Also, ZEE has the largest international spread among all South Asian channels in the world. It currently operates 23 international beams outside India.

ZEE recently launched Zee Alwan (Alwan means colours in Arabic), a general entertainment channel which has Indian and Bollywood con-tent loved by the viewers in the Mid-dle East. ZEE has already tasted suc-cess in Zee Aflam in Arabic (Aflam means movies in Arabic) in the Mid-dle East market.

Zee Aflam, a Bollywood movie channel for the whole Middle East market, is one of the top channels in movie genre in Middle-East within Arab population. Similarly, ZEE has a Malay product, Zee Variasi in Malay-sia (Variasi means variety).

Broadly, there are four variables which have been driving ZEE’s suc-cess internationally.

ZEE was the first to invest in local content and local infrastructure across the international market and created local channels on all these markets like the USA, UK, Africa, Middle-East, Asia patch and so on.

ZEE has a very strong understand-ing of the consumer behaviour. It has

heavily invested in R&D. ZEE’s marketing scheme in the in-

ternational market has been through localised events. These events have been ZEE’s USP and now all the other channels are trying to follow that.

The fourth strategy which has really worked for ZEE is ‘localised channels’. Designing channels with Indian con-tent packaged with local audience in terms of sub-titling or dubbed for local audiences or overall packaging. For in-stance, there is a channel, dubbed in Russian, called Zee Russia, which is very popular to those audiences.

In the global operations ZEE’s new thrust area is syndication where ZEE is trying to take Indian content across

the world. ZEE’s library has more than a hundred thousand hours of content and 3000 movie titles.

In USA, ZEE was the first Asian channel to be rated by Nielsen. ZEE has ratings from Russia, Middle-East, Malaysia and Africa. These ratings provide information on how the product is performing, which pro-gramme is performing well and what is the profile of viewers. This helps in taking programming decisions. The programming team is also develop-ing and generating local programmes in all these markets.

ZEE recently became the first In-dian company to be granted the land-ing rights in China.

ZEE – Taking Entertainment PlacesThough the journey is global, the content is always local for ZEE. By investing in local content and local infrastructure across International markets, ZEE has created local channels in USA, UK, Africa, Middle-East and Asia

Bollywood Wishes ZEEI still remember the day, Sonu Nigam called me and said that he is going to host Sa Re Ga Ma, a Zee TV show, a platform for young singers. He asked me to be a part of it. I agreed as Sonu is a dear friend. It was a wonderful experience with ZEE and I wish them many more decades of success.

—Kunal Ganjawala

ZEE provides entertainment to millions worldwide and is the pioneer in satellite television. Even my mom is hooked to it! I have been lucky to be a part of ZEE’s pioneering years and I am really proud that it has completed two decades.

—Archana Puran Singh

The journey of the channel for the last 20 years have been Stupendo Fantabulous Fantastically Magical. My journey from being a choreographer to the Nation’s mother, Geeta Ma is nothing short of a dream journey. Happy Birthday to You!

—Geeta Kapur

We have been associated with Zee TV in earlier seasons of Sa Re Ga Ma and its has been an honor to be associated with such an iconic show again. ZEE has not only created superstars but also created iconic shows in its 20 years of existence. May the dream run continue for the next 100 years

—Sajid-Wajid

Some of my best work I have done is with ZEE. I’ve done so many love stories like Rishtey and Sailaab with Zee TV which was really appreciated by everybody. Even the re-runs of all the serials on other channels of ZEE is very heartening to watch. It keeps the memory alive!

—Renuka Shahane

In his seminal book, Un-derstanding Media, Mar-shall McLuhan catego-

rizes media as ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. He explains that media that involved read-ers / viewers / listeners can be termed, ‘hot’; while me-dia that evokes passive viewing/reading/ listening can be termed ‘cold’. In his book radio is termed ‘hot’ because as a medium it in-volved listeners, while newspapers were ‘cold’. A lot of these definitions may have to be relooked in the light of mushrooming me-dia options and social me-dia tools that provoke in-volvement. In McLuhan’s book television was termed ‘cold’.

In India too television could have been broadly termed ‘cold’. The ASIAD had taken terrestrial televi-sion to many parts of the country but it was passive viewing that Indians in-dulged in, for an hour or so a day, and on weekends.

All that changed in 1992. Possibly the most defining moment in Indian televi-sion media happened twenty years ago with the launch of Zee TV, a satellite television channel that of-fered 24 hour entertain-ment in a language that spoke to the ordinary con-sumer. At that time some pundits were unsure of its long term potential. Shouldn’t the channel be in English, since Doordarshan was already offering great Hindi entertainment, went the argument. Mind you Star Plus had been launched as the super dup-er English channel and CNN had grown in stature after the Gulf War.

As the dust settled, the Indian viewers voted with their remote control. They started thronging to Zee TV for the continuous enter-tainment it offered in their own language. As viewers thronged to Zee TV a num-ber of collateral effects started taking shape. Many new Indian language satel-lite channels got launched within a few years [and some English channels be-came Hindi]. Many new services were born and many thousands found gainful employment. The satellite cable operator in-dustry was born. The con-tent creation industry was born. The reality television mania, talent hunt search-

es and many more avenues for gainful employment opened up.

From the marketing and advertising standpoint the birth of Hindi language sat-ellite television created a whole new opportunity for reaching out to audiences, through a multitude of time slots, priced attrac-tively, flexibly. Instead of just craving for a few pro-grammes on Doordarshan, now advertisers could reach millions of consum-ers through satellite televi-sion, sponsor program-ming, and even get brand-ed programming on air. And in the process a whole new consumer revolution was unleashed by Zee TV and satellite television. It is interesting to see how brand choices have multi-plied in industry after in-dustry since 1992. Be it television sets, motorcy-cles, cars, soaps, shampoos, detergents etc. And all these have benefited in some way from the audi-ences delivered by satellite television. Many new in-dustries have been born in the last two decades, mo-bile being the most top of mind. And here too with-out the reach and impact of satellite television the mo-bile revolution may have stayed only in the big cities.

Finally with the general public, satellite television has opened new areas of not just entertainment but also education and enlighten-ment. Research studies have shown that there is broad correlation between the way women are treated and the exposure to satellite tel-evision, say the experts.

What started as a lone Hindi satellite channel twenty years ago has brought about a whole revolution in the way Indi-ans and Indian marketers see television. And the revolution is set to contin-ue as Indians embrace new ways of consuming televi-sion content.

M G Parameswaran – ED & CEO; Draftfcb Ulka Ad-

vertising Mumbai

How Television Became HOT!Two decades back, Doordarshan was the sole entertainment provider for Indian viewers. But the game changed after the entry of ZEE

ZEE has put in place a Corpo-rate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy which is based

on a belief that a business can-not succeed in a society that fails and therefore it is imperative for business houses to invest in the future by taking part in social-building activities.

ZEE has put 9 “Wish Trees” across offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai encouraging its em-ployees to come together and donate generously for this cause that the brand strongly believes in. As a corporate, ZEE supports ‘The Friends of Tribal Society’

which runs with the contribu-tions made by Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation led by Subhash Chandra, Chairman, ZEE.

The Joy of Giving Week (JGW) initiative encourages employees, across ZEE offices to donate and make a differ-ence in the lives of school chil-dren in villages. The proceeds of the collection will be given to ‘Friends of Tribals Society’ and used for the upliftment of over one million children in more than 36,000 schools run under Ekal Vidyalaya Founda-tion across India.

Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation

of India (EVFI) offers free edu-cation to over one million rural children, as part of a drive to help eradicate illiteracy. The curriculum of these schools (36,783 in number) is tailored to teach children basic literacy and life skills to inculcate self-confidence to pursue higher education or rural occupations. In short, Ekal extends health-care, education and empower-ment to the marginalised sec-tions of society.

The ‘joy’of ZEEZEE Celebrate its 20th Anniversary with the Joy of Giving Week from October 2 to 8, 2012

What does ZEE Entertainment stand for?We are a family entertainment company. Three generations of a family can sit to-gether and watch our programmes. We are the most profitable in the media and entertainment space in India. No-body in this country can deliver the profitability that ZEE delivers. In viewership terms, we may not be number one in our flagship channel. But overall, we are the largest group. There are few TV media companies in the world that can boast of profit margins upwards of 25 per cent. We will continue to deliver that kind of returns to our shareholders.

What are the few things that ZEE will look at in the coming years?

Our focus in India will be on the regional markets. We believe that mar-

ket is ready to explode. The growth levels in the regional markets are far higher than

the National markets. New Media will be another focus area. We have aspirations to go from our current 650 million viewers to 1 billion viewers in the next three years. We have to go beyond the South Asian Dias-pora in the International markets and our strategy for launching Arabic, Russian and other language products is in that direction.

What is the biggest challenge right now for ZEE?

There are a few big challenges. Our busi-ness is all about human capital. Hav-ing the right talent and retention of

that talent is very critical for us. Lastly, content is evolving so fast that it is a chal-lenge to keep pace.

How has the audience in India changed?The biggest change that has happened is,

lifespan of shows has decreased. You had shows running for six years continuously earlier, whereas today an average life of a show is less than a year. That tells us that the viewer no longer accepts whatever you feed him. Also, the success rate of programmes is one-third of what it used to be earlier.

Many say TV will soon die or is about to...TV will not die. We have redefined our-

selves from a broadcaster to a content pro-vider. We will focus on reaching out to audi-ences at the end of any screen that they are available on. Be it a TV screen, mobile phone, smart device (tablets), or the internet. Even if one screen may die, but there will be other screens that will emerge. Our life will continue. I think there will be several tech-nologies and platforms that are going to emerge that we have to consider and mi-grate. Ditto TV is something that we have foreseen and we do believe that it is going to be a big opportunity for us and hence, we have launched it even before its time.

How is ZEE positioned for the future?

We need to continuously learn. If we do not evolve, do not continuously learn, re-learn, and unlearn the old, we will not be successful. The day we stop doing that we will become complacent. There is no over-night success formula in this business. Eve-rything is hard work in this industry.

Do you see room for further growth in India broadcast space?

There are yet 100 million homes without television. Penetration of TV in India is just

61 per cent and it is growing at five per cent annually, while Cable and satellite is grow-ing at 8 per cent. We have not yet seen the real growth levels in this industry. Advertis-ing is 0.4 per cent of our GDP whereas the global average is at 0.8 per cent. This means, we have room to grow 100 per cent in ad-vertising alone.

How successful is ZEE in creating home grown formats? What made you think that this format worked for you?

It is our belief in the way we do things. Let us take our latest format Dance India Dance. We conceptualised this format, re-searched and found that it is a high risk for Hindi GEC. We actually made it first in the Bangla market and called it Dance Bangla Dance. When it succeeded there, we got that to Hindi GEC.

The regional markets give you an advan-tage of testing out formats and today, it is happening with serials. Take an idea which works in the regional market and adapt it to the Hindi market. That’s a low risk, high re-ward game. Sa Re Ga Ma Pa is running for 17 years successfully. We believe in the con-cept that we can develop formats in-house and we can execute them well. We stick to the core value of the format and deliver it.

Do you get the same level playing field which the foreign media gets in India when you venture into new territories?

Yes. The important thing in those markets is to play by the rules. There are no reasons for us to say that some m arkets are restric-tive or do not allow outsiders to come in and operate. Rules and regulations are what they are and one has to abide by that.

Future looks bright for ZEEAs ZEE completes 20 years, Punit Goenka, MD & CEO of ZEE Entertainment, shares the company’s future plans and its determination to attract more eyeballs, from all over the world