iWorld
Investment in Zee5 needed to protect future of ZeeL: Punit Goenka
KOLKATA: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (ZeeL) digital arm Zee5 has seen noticeable growth in users and engagement but revenue has gone up only marginally. Several factors like discontinuation of a telco deal, campaigns for Rs 365 pack, 25 original show launches have impacted cost structure leading to significantly higher losses. Although the road to profitability is not easy for a new business, the company is focused on breaking even at the end of FY24.
When Zee5 was launched in 2018, ZeeL CEO and MD Punit Goenka projected three-five years for the platform to break even. Asked in an earnings call after Q2 results if Zee5 would be able to maintain the timeline, Goenka said it is a “double-edged sword” as they are forecasting so much ahead in time. “In terms of our strategy, we are still focused that FY24 we exit the year with a break even kind of number but overall it may be delayed by over a year from the first forecast we gave in 2018,” he stated.
Talking about viewership growth, Goenka said a significant part of it is organic. While Zee5 is looking at international markets too, the revenue coming from the segment is not very significant. Goenka added that monetisation in international markets vary from market to market depending on ARPU level and consumption level. Zee5 intends to monetize both on subscription and ad revenue for the international market. While monetisation strategy is currently being planned, it will be executed later on. Goenka is of the belief that the strategy will help ZeeL’s expansion in the international market which has been stagnant for the last few years.
In Q2, Zee5 had 54.7 global million monthly active users, and 5.2 million global daily active users. Users spent 152 minutes per month on the platform. It recorded Rs 98.9 crore revenue, up by 4.2 per cent compared to Rs 94.9 crore in the last quarter. Losses stood at Rs 189.4 crore, an increase of 30.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Answering on tepid revenue growth, Goenka mentioned that the platform did not renew one of the telco deals that came to an end. The platform had to make up that effect through b2c subscriptions. As Zee5’s revenue is tilted more towards subscription, the overall revenue suffered for the digital business despite growth in advertising revenue, another spokesperson of ZeeL commented.
Goenka reemphasised that investment in Zee5 needs to be made to protect the future of the company. ZeeL will heavily invest in Zee5, and the platform has certainly not peaked. However, he stated that ZeeL will continue to focus on generating healthy EBIDTA margin in spite of all the investments.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
