How ZEE5 Is Winning At Binge-Worthy Content Strategy

Zee Network’s OTT platform, ZEE5  began in February 2018 and has given us some of the best Original shows and movies. With some groundbreaking stories, both fictional and real, we get access to a variety of content. Be it a rom-com, a thriller, biopics, or a slice-of-life drama, ZEE5 has original content for every genre. Besides the plethora of original shows and movies, ZEE5 also has numerous exclusive films, and Bollywood releases available on it.

With its inception in 2018, ZEE5 gave us some groundbreaking stories like  Toba Tek Singh, and Tigers in the first year itself. Besides these trailblazing movies, we also got a satirical comedy show, Dhatt Teri Ki, and a coming of age comic series, Life Sahi Hai, thriller show Zero KMS, and the biography series Karenjit Kaur, all in its first year. There was also content spread out in multiple languages, like Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, and Malayalam.

After Zee ventured into the digital space, it managed to expand its horizon by signing talented celebs like Arjun Rampal, Richa Chadha, Amit Sadh, Kunal Kemmu and Dia Mirza who starred in different original shows and films. Among the extraordinary shows and films from 2019, the most loved shows were Kaafir (starring Dia Mirza and Mohit Raina), Abhay (a thriller show starring Kunal Kemmu), Line Of Descent (a crime drama starring Abhay Deol and Hollywood actor Brendan Fraser), The Final Call (starring Arjun Rampal) and Rangbaaz (season 1, starring Saqib Salim and season 2, starring Jimmy Sheirgill).

Kaafir was a social drama, based on a real story, The show had received a lot of critical acclaims. In the IWMBuzz Awards of 2019, by MTV, Dia Mirza won the Best Actress in a Web Series (Jury) Award for her lead role in Kaafir. In the same event, Arjun Rampal also won an award, for the Most Popular Actor in a Web Series for his role in The Final Call. Besides them, the short film Fatafat (starring Divyenndu Sharma), Rangbaaz, Tigers, 377 Ab Normal (social drama, starring Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Manvi Gagroo), and Auto Shankar (Tamil biopic), all won awards in the MTV IWMBuzz Awards of 2019.

When the world was facing a severe lockdown in 2020 and people were looking for content to stream to pass their time, ZEE5 gave the best of new content. Films like Ghoomketu, Chintu Ka Birthday, Yaara, Darbaan, Pareeksha, and London Confidential premiered, which engaged a wide number of audience and earned a lot of love and acclaim. At the same time, there were also shows like State Of Siege: 26/11, Code M, LalBazaar, Mafia, and Dark 7 White, the thrill of which, kept the audiences engaged.

Also read: Manoj Bajpayee, Monica Dogra And Other Celebs Discuss How Their New Shows Will #BreakTheBarriers At ZEE5 Calendar Launch March 2021

The most unique and widely reached content of 2020 was the Bejoy Nambiar directorial, Taish. It was released as both a movie and a show on the platform. Starring Pulkit Samrat, Harshvardhan Rane, Jim Sarbh, and Sanjeeda Sheikh, Taish won a lot of hearts for its story, direction, and novelty. We also got Paurashpur, the first historical fiction on an OTT platform, that revolved around a misogynistic kingdom.

With some powerful women-centric shows, ZEE5 got even more viewership and fan following. The women-centric shows that got the most attention were Black Widows, Churails and Kaali, which highlighted the trend of #WomenOnTop.

ZEE5 began the year 2021 with a mind-blowing courtroom thriller, Nail Polish, starring Arjun Rampal, Manav Kaul, Anand Tiwari, and Rajit Kapur. The movie has had its audience gasping at the shocking turn of events and revisiting it multiple times to get a better look at its thrilling climax.

ZEE5 has also come to excel at bringing us some of the best true stories. We got the Pankaj Tripathi starrer Kaagaz, Posham Pa and Jeet Ki Zid Jeet Ki Zid. The show starring Amit Sadh, Amrita Puri, and Sushant Singh, is based on the life of a Kargil war hero, Major Deependra Singh Sengar and has been inspiring a lot of people, including Indian Army aspirants, as shared by Sushant Singh in an interview. In January, the show had topped the list of most binge-watched shows across all platforms in India. Paurashpur secured the 5th position in that list. Take a look:

 

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Just like Jeet Ki Zid, all the ZEE5 Original shows and movies have excelled at gaining high viewerships. Recently, the show Dev DD 2, which premiered on ZEE5 on 20 February, also made it to the top-most viewed shows across all platforms. With such varied content, across all genres, featuring fan-favourite stars, the viewership of ZEE5 Originals has always been making records.

 

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Recently, we also got to watch Jamai 2.0 and its second season, which was a reboot of the Zee TV show, Jamai Raja. After the Ravi Dubey and Nia Sharma starrer had become a fan favourite, it was renewed for a thriller series on the OTT platform, with the same cast. Similarly, the show Qubool Hai is also set to get its OTT version as Qubool Hai 2.0. The TV show had earned a lot of fans, especially for the chemistry between its lead Zoya and Asad. The OTT show will mark the return of this iconic pair along with other prominent actors like Mandira Bedi and Lillete Dubey.

Very recently, on International Women’s Day, ZEE5 gave another groundbreaking content in the form of a series, named The Married Woman. Based on a novel, the show narrates the story of Aastha, a married woman, who wants to break free from the expectations that society has put on her for being a woman.

ZEE5 also its future plans sorted, with some really amazing Original films lined up to release next. We are going to get a murder mystery named Silence…Can You Hear It, starring Manoj Bajpayee, Prachi Desai, and Arjun Mathur. We are also getting a horror film, The Wife, starring Gurmeet Choudhary and Sayani Datta.

Apart from these originals, there are exclusive movies, like Omerta, Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari, Khaali Peeli, The Power, and The Tashkent Files, available on the platform. Also, Bollywood blockbusters like Simmba, Saand Ki Aankh, Pad Man, Uri: The Surgical Strike, Mulk, and a lot more, are available to watch on ZEE5.

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