iWorld
Ad Suite designed to help advertisers meet business objectives: ZEE5’s Yogesh Manwani
MUMBAI: While digital advertising spend in India has been traditionally mostly concentrated with Google and Facebook, OTT platforms with their massive user base have also started attracting brands lately. ZEE5, with a huge library of catch-up content from its parent network, has been focusing not only on curating the library but also its Ad Suite offering to enable advertisers to effectively meet their business objectives.
In 2019, ZEE5 launched tools like INFONOMIX, Ampli5, Ad Vault, PLAY5 under its AD Suite which clearly indicated the platform’s aggressiveness to increase ad revenue. ZEE5 India head AVOD, SEO, news and stories Yogesh Manwani spoke on the relevance of Ad Suite and the increasing interest and investment of brands on OTT platforms in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com.
“Our attempt is to enable brand or advertising partners to leverage the platform to reach their consumers, get their brand message out and meet their brand and business objectives. At the consumer level, we are investing and we always say that it is the power of content and technology that will help us deliver superior,” Manwani said.
“At a consumer level we are using hyper-personalisation and using AI and ML. We are also deploying the same thing for advertisers. The idea is to leverage the best of content and technology to give our advertisers the ability to meet their goals and objectives. We designed this Ad Suite, which has a whole host of products that any advertiser, depending on their brand objectives, can choose,” he added.
Advertisers can pick banners, videos, live streaming and a host of other options. FMCG, consumer durables, mobile handsets and telecom partners are their largest clients. Regional brands are also showing interest along with national brands.
HSM is a large market but Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are growing markets while Bengal is emerging as a strong one as well.
“We have one of the strongest AVOD content portfolios. We have content across 12 languages. We have strong characters people love and connect with and strong shows. We don’t have any plans to change that but we constantly look at how we allow consumers to discover and enjoy from old content as well,” he commented on the AVOD content strategy.
“The marketing approach to AVOD content, considering the distinction of duration, frequency and nature of content, is different. It is more from a curator’s perspective other than a creator’s. The tools we use may be similar in terms of whether you are doing performance marketing, social media marketing or digital marketing but the way you approach the product is creator vs curator,” he added.
The marketing mix also depends on the stage of the show. The platform also leverages the power of multimedia to create awareness for original offerings and to get consumers on the platform.
“Digital is a big medium because it allows targeting consumers with the help of Consumer Life Cycle Management Techniques. It is a multimedia mix but it completely depends upon the main goals and objectives that we want to achieve,” he added.
While many reports have predicted that the Indian OTT ecosystem will be skewed towards advertising revenue, there is no unified measurement system. Manwani said that a unified currency always works for all stakeholders and for it to work all stakeholders have to come on-board. But he mentioned that until that happens, they will work closely with their advertiser partners to ensure there is full transparency.
iWorld
Epic Company launches unified Epic Studio for films and OTT
Vivek Krishnani to head films business; Samar Khan leads OTT & Television.
MUMBAI: Epic just merged its creative superheroes under one cape because when films and OTT need to fight for attention together, you don’t keep them in separate universes. The Epic Company has launched Epic Studio, a next-generation creative and production powerhouse that unites Juggernaut Productions and Movieverse Studio under a single banner. The move creates a streamlined, scalable platform for premium storytelling across theatrical films, OTT originals, television, digital-first formats and branded content.
Vivek Krishnani has been appointed chief executive officer, Epic Studio (Films), overseeing the theatrical and film business with a focus on culturally resonant narratives across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam cinema. Samar Khan continues as chief executive officer, Epic Studio (OTT & Television) and retains his role as chief content officer for Docubay and Epic On.
The Epic Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “Epic Studio brings together our entire creative ecosystem under one unified studio vision. This is not just an integration of verticals, but the creation of a collaborative environment where writers, filmmakers, creators, and brand partners can seamlessly develop and scale stories across formats and screens.”
Vivek Krishnani added, “We are building an audience-focused mainstream film studio committed to delivering fresh, engaging, and innovative stories for both theatrical and streaming platforms.”
Samar Khan commented, “This alignment allows us to approach storytelling with a unified studio mindset. We are building IP under one creative umbrella, with scale and longevity in mind from inception.”
The unified structure eliminates silos, enabling ideas to flow fluidly from concept to screen while adapting to evolving audience behaviour. Epic Studio positions itself as a creator-led ecosystem championing purposeful, resonant storytelling with commercial strength.
In an entertainment landscape where stories now leap between screens faster than plot twists, Epic isn’t just building a studio, it’s crafting a single launchpad where every tale gets the best shot at soaring across every platform.
