iWorld
Zee5 rolls out in the US, announces Canada as another focus market
KOLKATA: Zee5, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has forayed into the US market on Tuesday eyeing over five million South Asia diaspora audiences. The service has been priced at $6.99 per month, and at $84 per year. The streaming platform also announced a special discount for the student community, with the monthly pack priced at $4.99 instead of $6.99.
Zee5 has clinched a few key partnerships as well. It has joined hands with the North American Association of Indian Students to strike a chord with the young audience. It will also be partnering with MassMutual in the US to reach the latter’s extensive South Asian customer database.
The launch was announced by Zee5 Global chief business officer Archana Anand along with actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas as the latter attended the event as a special guest. Along with unveiling the platform’s upcoming content slate, the duo revealed the global brand campaign – ‘Welcome to South Asia: Stories from our world.”
Zee Entertainment Digital Businesses & Platforms president Amit Goenka said: “We’ve had a long association of over two decades with this market, bringing our viewers here the best of Indian entertainment through our channels. With Zee5, we now look to offer both these audiences and the younger demographic access to a much wider choice of premium content with our Originals, digital premieres, and more, on any screen of their choice and with a completely personalized viewing experience.”
In the coming months, Zee5 will release a number of movies, new shows, returning seasons of popular shows. RRR from filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, Sunil Grover starrer Sunflower, Rangbaaz 3, Oka Chinna Family, returning seasons of recently acquired TVF Originals Pitchers, Tripling. Moreover, the platform has lined up Pakistani shows like Churails, Ek Jhooti Love Story, and Dhoop ki Deewar.
Zee5 Global’s Archana Anand said: “Bringing Zee5 into the U.S. is so much more than just providing the South Asian diaspora here with a mega entertainment platform through which they can access a vast library of stories. It is a powerful bridge between them, their culture, and their languages.”
This content is available in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi, as well as Malay, Thai, Bahasa, Arabic, Urdu, and Bangla (Bangladeshi) with key titles dubbed and/or subtitled in English.
Terming Canada as another focus market, Zee5 also emphasised that it is available for Canadian audiences and that it will also be launching its campaign in Canada, thereby kicking off its marketing in the country. Zee5 sees much potential in the country, given that it has a tremendous amount of content across languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu, perfect for key diaspora audiences within the Canadian landscape.
e-commerce
Instamart and Duolingo launch street spell check campaign for Instaprint
Duo the owl fixes signboard typos across cities to showcase instant printing.
MUMBAI: If spelling mistakes had a sworn enemy, it might just be a bright green owl with a printer. Instamart has teamed up with language learning platform Duolingo for a quirky nationwide campaign that turns everyday spelling errors into a public spectacle while promoting its instant printing service, InstaPrint. The playful activation takes aim at the many misspelled shop boards and public signs scattered across Indian streets. From “saloons” that promise haircuts rather than drinks to menus and posters peppered with punctuation mishaps, the campaign sends Duolingo’s mascot Duo on a mission to restore linguistic order.
Armed with Instamart’s instant printing feature, Duo prints corrected versions of the mistakes on the spot and pastes them over the originals. The result is a series of humorous street interventions that have quickly begun circulating on social media.
Photos and videos of the grammar correcting owl have been widely shared online, with amused users reacting to the unexpected spell check patrol. One user joked, “Ab ayega na maza bhidu,” capturing the internet’s delight at the unusual campaign.
Behind the humour lies a practical message. The activation is designed to showcase the capabilities of Instaprint, Instamart’s printing service that allows users to print documents and posters almost instantly.
The company says the feature is meant for everyday needs such as printing resumes, visa documents or last minute posters without the usual scramble to locate a print shop.
Instamart introduced Instaprint in 2025 across select metropolitan cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. The service allows users to order printed materials directly through the platform, extending the quick commerce model beyond groceries and household essentials.
By combining Duolingo’s famously persistent owl with India’s street level spelling quirks, the campaign taps into the internet’s long running fascination with grammar mistakes while demonstrating a real world use case for instant printing.
After all, in a world full of typos, sometimes what you really need is a quick printer and a very determined language teacher.
