iWorld
‘Radhe’ rush: Zee5 rolls out new Rs 499 plan to reel in viewers
KOLKATA: OTT platform Zee5, along with ZeePlex, has rolled out a special Radhe Combo Offer to make Salman Khan’s upcoming Eid release, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, accessible to the masses. The special one-year offer, available at an attractive price of Rs 499 will give viewers the opportunity to watch the much-awaited film on Zee5 with ZeePlex starting 13 May, in addition to giving audience access to the streaming service’s extensive and diverse premium content library.
The Rs 499 ‘Radhe Combo Offer’ will allow consumers to watch Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai on Zee5 with ZeePlex, along with access to Zee5 originals, movies, TV shows, live TV, ALTBalaji shows, ad-free catch-up TV, Zindagi TV shows, kids content, and much more for one year. This subscription plan will also give consumers access to the new 50+ theatricals across diverse languages and 40+ originals slated for the year.
Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra said, “Salman Khan’s films are thorough family entertainers which appeal to audiences across demographics. Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai is one of the biggest releases of the year and we are proud to launch this on Zee5 in a multi-format model. A Salman Khan film with its mass appeal becomes the perfect choice to launch our specially designed annual value proposition of Rs 499, to unify India and Bharat through our shared love for films.
He went on to describe the Rs 499 plan as the most attractive value proposition for a user, and that it will also help the OTT platform cast a wider net into the country by tapping into newer audience segments.
The first ever multi-platform release of its kind, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai will be available on Zee5 with ZeePlex, theatres worldwide keeping the Covid protocols in mind, and across all leading DTH operators – Dish, D2H, Tata Sky and Airtel Digital TV. The film’s trailer has already amassed 65 million+ views across all platforms and the recently released song, Seeti Maar, is topping charts, having accumulated 49 million+ views and counting.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
