ZEE5 TURNS 1: WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE PLATFORM IN THE PAST YEAR

ZEE5 turns 1: What I loved about the platform in the past year?

Exactly a year ago, as the world celebrated Valentine’s Day, ZEE gifted cinephiles an online streaming platform like no other - ZEE5. It was an exciting moment with one of India’s most viewed entertainment brand going all out in the OTT space. Having watched their content on TV for a good portion of my life, I was intrigued to know what their online streaming service was going to be like.





Right from its launch, ZEE5 made itself known as a platform that has something for everyone. This first became evident with their brand anthem. Directed by Dangal fame Nitesh Tiwari and music by Amit Trivedi, the video #ApniBhashaMeinFeelHai soon hit the trends. The idea was clear - India is a diverse nation with multiple spoken languages and ZEE5 has something for its viewers across India, in their own language. This further became evident with the anthem being released in two versions - Hindi and South Indian languages.

Watch #ApniBhashaMeinFeelHai:


Watch #EveryLanguageHasASuperFeel:



The hopes were high and I was excited as I am someone who loves to experiment with my watchlist and ZEE5 did not disappoint. By announcing to target 90 originals in FY 2019, they made an entry into the OTT space with a bang. The list included web series, feature-length movies, docudramas and short films across a range of genres as wide as their language base.

With their Originals, ZEE5 ventured into stories that were fresh and bold, something viewers like me craved for. That is why their original series like Karenjit Kaur - The Untold Story of Sunny, Kallachirippu and original movies like Cabaret and Sigai were warmly received by critics and audiences alike. Many of their original content, especially web series, also got dubbed in multiple Indian languages, thereby, breaking down the proverbial language barrier in entertainment.

Another factor that got ZEE5 a lot of attention was the digital release of some of most popular Bollywood movies like Akshay Kumar’s Pad Man, John Abraham’s Parmanu to name a few. They followed suit with regional languages with the release of NTR Jr’s Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava and Vijay Devarakonda’s Geetha Govindam while Hollywood enthusiasts rejoiced with the release of Oscar winner Moonlight. In short, the platform became home to the best movies from various languages and genres for cinephiles to enjoy.

Also, their massive collection of TV content too found a new home on the platform. Whether it was ZEE TV’s Kumkum Bhagya or ZEE Tamizh’s Sembaruthi, TV enthusiasts found a platform to catch up on the latest episodes of their favourite shows. Towards the latter half of 2018, they even came up with ‘Before TV’ releases where the latest episodes of popular TV shows were aired on ZEE5, 8 hours before their TV broadcast. This proved to be a massive relief for people like me who tend to miss out on primetime TV due to our hectic schedules.

Apart from their extensive content catalogue, ZEE5 even offered ‘Live TV’ channels from different niches such as ZEE TV HD, & TV, & Flix, 9XM, ZEE News etc. So, even if you are away from home, you have the power to watch TV live on your mobile devices anywhere, anytime.

While ZEE5 keep viewers hands full with incredible entertainment options, the platform also kept people up-to-date with the latest updates from across the globe with its News section. With short videos to briefly cover trending topics and live news channel feeds, staying in-sync with current affairs got a whole lot easier with ZEE5.

But for me, the biggest highlight of ZEE5 was its pricing options. Initially, the platform offered an all-access pack at Rs 99 per month, Rs 499 for 6 months and Rs 999 for a year. Over the course of the year, they begin to offer language-centric packs for Tamil, Telugu and Kannada at Rs 49 per month and Rs 499 for a year. To add to the sweet offers, subscribers also got a 50% cashback on payments via PayTM. This made ZEE5 subscriptions more affordable than a movie ticket and I rejoiced at this fact like everyone else.

Over the first year of its existence, ZEE5 has grown to be a popular online streaming platform that proudly wears a pan-India identity. As it continues to win hearts with exciting releases in the coming year, expectations from ZEE5 is only going up with time.

So, tell me what do you think about ZEE5? Let me know about your views about this platform in the comments below.

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