SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE: Indian television and media company Zee
Entertainment has had a presence in Africa for over 16 years with their flagship
channel Zee TV, which still has 60% market share of South Asian audiences in
Africa. On 3 February Zee launched a new channel, Zee World, on DStv channel
166, with a further diverse line-up of shows for viewers in Sub Saharan Africa.
CEO of Zee TV South Africa Harish Goyal said that extensive research had been
done to cater to local viewers, who show a number of similarities with their Indian
counterparts. “South Africa and Africa were our first international territories as
there was an immediate pull from the African market only a few years after our
launch in India,’ commented Goyal.
“We underwent extensive research over a period of three years, or even longer, to understand African viewer’s preferences.There were very interesting findings, revealing that there is a close cultural connect between viewers in Africa and India. We also did content testing which gave us very good inputs and insights as to what content will do well in this market.’ he added. Part of this content customisation is the English dubbing of content, which has been done by South Africans.
Globally, Indian television has been limited to a few genres, namely soap operas
and fiction series, but in recent years as demand grows and content consumption
splits across multiple devices, there has been a move towards more diverse
programming. Goyal said that Zee World will follow on this trend, offering an
array of shows ranging from Bollywood films to talent and cooking shows. “While
the content on the channel during this phase is largely from India, the channel will
evolve. We will initially feature Bollywood movies and series, but in time we will
feature genres such as lifestyle and wellness shows, reality series and children’s
programming. There are different phases we have designed for the roll-out of
programming – the objective is to reach the heart of mainstream African audiences,’ Goyal concluded.
Zee World is available on DStv Premium, Extra, Compact and Family pack in South
Africa and the Access pack within the rest of Africa. It is also be available on the
MultiChoice Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) GOtv platform.
