iWorld
ZEE5 takes lead in global digital entertainment with diverse and innovative narratives
Mumbai: In an ever-evolving landscape of digital entertainment, streaming platforms like ZEE5 are at the forefront of delivering diverse and innovative narratives to a global audience.
ZEE5, a subscription-based video-on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, is operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, an Indian media conglomerate. Launched on 14 February 2018, in India, the platform offers content in multiple languages. The ZEE5 mobile application is accessible across various platforms including Web, Android, iOS, and Smart TVs. As of December 2019, ZEE5 reported 56 million monthly active users.
Indiantelevision caught up with ZEE5 chief content officer – Hindi Originals Nimisha Pandey provided insights into the platform’s strategic approach, long-term planning for series, collaborations with content creators, and the nuanced process of creating content that resonates authentically with global audiences while respecting cultural nuances. The platform’s commitment to understanding evolving viewer preferences, fostering creative collaborations, and staying true to the essence of diverse stories positions ZEE5 as a dynamic force shaping the future of digital entertainment on a global scale.
On ZEE5 navigating the delicate balance between meeting existing viewer expectations and introducing fresh, innovative narratives that might challenge the status quo
With streaming platforms expanding their reach globally, there is an increased demand for content that reflects diverse cultures and perspectives. Also important to note is that OTT consumption patterns have undergone a paradigm shift. When we started off, it was largely led by individual viewing on a personal device but there has been a sharp uptick in C-TV viewing leading to the introduction of new narratives and themes that are better suited to co-viewing as a family unit. Moreover, the need for targeting specific demographics and age groups with content customized to suit their diverse palates has led us to invest significantly in originals and experiment with stories that have never been attempted before. Our content portfolio is truly reflective of this diversity. Ranging from inspiring narratives of ordinary turning extraordinary such as ‘Saas Bahu aur Achaar Pvt Ltd’ and Janbaaz, to escape-worthy historicals like Taj to a spy thriller such as ‘Mukhbir’ or the cult favourites with a strong millennial connect such as Tripling, Pitchers, Humorously Yours and Aam Aadmi Family, we want to make sure that every show reaches its right audience. Today, we are proud of a rich roster of franchise properties that the audience eagerly awaits the next season of – ‘Sunflower’, ‘Broken News’, ‘Mithya’ and ‘Rangbaaz’, ‘Mukhbir’. We believe in challenging the status quo with every story we choose to tell!
On ZEE5’s long-term planning approach for series
At ZEE5, we invest considerable time and resources towards understanding our evolving viewer, their preferences and tastes through an entire gamut of fieldwork by our brand and research teams in the space of deep dialoguing, video usage and attitude studies, digging into content trends basis social and digital consumption, deep-diving into a specific market or a consumer segment.
Moreover, we are navigating times where the audience has begun to prefer staying ‘work in progress’ as opposed to a unidimensional identity in life – meaning that the viewer is increasingly becoming self-aware and wants different content to dial into different dimensions of their personality each day. So, on one day the same viewer switches on a breezy rom-com on another day, she is looking for a gripping, intense narrative laced with dark humour. The viewer today refuses to be put in a box!
All of this combined with the creative vision that we collectively share with some of the most talented and passionate content creators in the space informs our content strategy. From immersive dramas to light-hearted comedies to dark thrillers, adaptations of popular global content franchises, from rom-coms and catch-up TV content to blockbuster movies, the idea is to make ZEE5 an all-inclusive platform which has something to offer for every entertainment need. For an OTT platform, the trust and faith of the viewers are among the key pillars to achieve long-term growth. Consistent delivery of rich content pieces drives a strong sense of relatability and belief in the platform among viewers. We aim to continue pushing creative boundaries and producing ground-breaking content for our audiences globally.
On ZEE5’s approach to collaborations and partnerships with other content creators or platforms to bring fresh perspectives and innovative content to its audience
At ZEE5, our ‘content and creator-first approach’ has revolutionized the way we curate content. We believe in the power of identifying and collaborating with the finest, creative minds and talent in the fraternity. While we are governed like any other player by business goals, we believe it is equally important to respect the creative vision of our content partners. This healthy creative approach has led us to empower diverse voices and foster innovation in our content offerings. We want to enable them to do their best work with us. Needless to say, it has played a huge role in attracting the right kind of collaborations with content powerhouses be it Guneet (Monga), Umesh (Bist) and Dharma for Gyaarah Gyaarah, BBC and Vinay Waikul for Broken News, Goldie Behl, Charudutt (Acharya) and Rohan (Sippy) for Duranga, Shivam Nair and Victor Tango for Mukhbir, Srijit Mukherjee and Juggernaut (Productions) for Jaanbaaz, Ron (Scalpello), Abhimanyu (Singh) and Vibhu (Puri) for Taj, Vikas Bahl for Sunflower, Apurva Singh Karki for Banda and Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt Ltd or the content powerhouses like Applause Entertainment, The Viral Fever (TVF). Each of these partnerships has yielded iconic stories as well as built existing IPs which have received phenomenal responses from our viewers across India and beyond. We’re equally proud of the diverse on-screen talent that has made ZEE5 their home – from Sunil Grover to Jaideep Ahlawat, from Sonali Bendre to Amruta Subhash, Huma Qureshi to Gulshan Devaiah, Vineet Singh to Regina Cassandra, Manoj Bajpayee to Shriya Pilgaonkar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui to Pankaj Tripathi. They have built a deep connection with our viewers in the last few years and played a crucial role in the turn-around of the platform.
On the platform approaching content creation to ensure that stories resonate authentically with global audiences while respecting cultural nuances
We recognize the importance of striking a balance between hyperlocal worlds and human emotions that have universal appeal. We believe in staying true to the soul of a story and not retro-fitting narratives to make the content travel. Collaborating with creators who are in touch with the ground realities and the social fabric of the story plays a key role in telling global stories. As we’ve expanded our international footprint and market share, we’ve proudly taken on the role of a cultural ambassador for the Indian subcontinent. Becoming the No.1 South Asian platform in key international markets such as the US, UAE, Australia, and Canada, and securing a significant position in the UK, reflects our dedication to entertaining diverse audiences worldwide. This is a testament to the fact that it is the authentic local stories that travel globally.
eNews
How short, addictive story videos quietly colonised the Indian smartphone
A landmark Meta-Ormax study of 2,000 viewers reveals a format that is growing fast, paying slowly and consumed almost entirely in secret
CALIFORNIA, MUMBAI: India has a new entertainment habit, and it arrived without anyone really noticing. Micro dramas, those short, cliffhanger-driven episodic stories built for the smartphone screen, have quietly embedded themselves into the daily routines of millions of Indians, discovered not by design but by algorithmic accident, watched not in living rooms but in bedrooms, on commutes and in the five minutes before sleep.
That, in essence, is the finding of a sweeping new audience study released by Meta and media insights firm Ormax Media at Meta’s inaugural Marketing Summit: Micro-Drama Edition. Titled “Micro Dramas: The India Story” and based on 2,000 personal interviews and 50 depth interviews conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 across 14 states, it is the most comprehensive study of the category in India to date, and its findings are striking.
Sixty-five per cent of viewers discovered micro dramas within the last year. Of those, 89 per cent stumbled upon the format through social media feeds, primarily Instagram and Facebook, without ever searching for it. The algorithm did the heavy lifting. Discovery, as the report puts it bluntly, is algorithm-led, not intent-led.
The typical viewer journey begins with accidental exposure while scrolling, moves through a cliffhanger-driven incompletion hook that makes stopping feel unfinished, and is reinforced by algorithmic repetition until habitual consumption sets in. Only then, when a platform asks for an app download or a payment, does the viewer pause. Trust, not content quality, determines what happens next, and many simply return to the free feed rather than pay. It is a funnel with a wide mouth and a narrow neck.
The numbers on consumption tell their own story. Viewers spend a median of 3.5 hours per week watching micro dramas, spread across seven to eight sessions of roughly 30 minutes each, peaking sharply between 8pm and midnight. Daytime viewing is snackable and low-commitment, squeezed into morning commutes, work breaks and coffee pauses. Night-time is where the format truly lives: private, uninterrupted and, for many viewers, socially invisible. Ninety per cent watch alone, compared to just 43 per cent for long-form OTT content. Half the audience watches during their commute, well above the 37 per cent figure for streaming platforms, a direct reflection of the format’s low time investment advantage.
The audience itself breaks into three segments. Incidental viewers, comprising 39 per cent of the total, are passive consumers who stumble in and rarely seek content actively. Intent-building viewers, the largest group at 43 per cent, are beginning to form habits and seek out episodes but remain cautious. High-intent viewers, just 18 per cent, are the ones who download apps, tolerate ads and occasionally pay: skewing male, younger and urban.
What audiences want from the content is revealing. The top three genres are romance at 72 per cent, family drama at 64 per cent and comedy at 63 per cent, precisely the same top three as Hindi general entertainment television. The format rewards emotional familiarity over complexity. Romance in particular thrives because it demands low cognitive investment, needs no elaborate world-building and plays naturally into the private, pre-sleep viewing window where inhibitions lower and emotional intimacy feels safe.
The most-recalled shows, led by Kuku TV titles such as The Lady Boss Returns, The Billionaire Husband and Kiss My Luck, share a common narrative DNA: rich-poor conflict, hidden identities, power imbalances, melodrama and cliffhangers that make stopping feel physically uncomfortable. Predictability, the research warns, is fatal. Each episode must re-earn attention from scratch.
The terminology question is telling. Despite the industry’s embrace of the phrase “micro drama,” viewers have not adopted it. They call the content “short story videos,” “short dramas,” “reels with stories” or simply “serials.” One respondent from Chennai said bluntly that “micro sounds like a scientific word.” The category is at the stage that OTT occupied in 2019 and podcasts in the same year: widely consumed, poorly named and not yet crystallised in the public imagination.
Platform awareness remains alarmingly thin. Only three platforms, Kuku TV at 78 per cent, Story TV at 46 per cent and Quick TV at 28 per cent, have crossed the 20 per cent awareness threshold. The rest languish in single digits. This creates a trust deficit that directly throttles monetisation: viewers who cannot remember which app they used are hardly primed to enter their payment details.
Yet the appetite is clearly there. Sixty-five per cent of viewers watch only Indian content, drawn by the TV-serial familiarity of the storytelling, the comfort of Hindi as a shared language and the sight of actors they half-recognise from decades of television. South languages are rising fast: Tamil, Telugu and Kannada together account for 24 per cent of first-choice viewing. And AI-generated content, still a novelty, has landed better than expected: 47 per cent of viewers call it creative and unique, with only 6 per cent actively rejecting it.
Shweta Bajpai, director, media and entertainment (India) at Meta, called micro drama “a category that is rewriting the rules of Indian entertainment,” adding that the discovery engine being social distinguishes this wave from previous content formats. Shailesh Kapoor, founder and chief executive of Ormax Media, was characteristically measured: the format, he said, is showing “the early signs of becoming a distinct content category” and, given how closely it aligns with natural mobile behaviour, “has the potential to scale very quickly.”
The format’s fundamental mechanics are working. It enters lives quietly, through boredom and a scrolling thumb, and burrows in through incompletion and habit. The challenge now is monetisation: converting a category of highly engaged but deeply anonymous viewers into paying customers who trust the platform enough to hand over their UPI credentials. The story, as any micro-drama writer knows, is only as good as the next cliffhanger. India’s platforms had better have one ready.
