iWorld
Revenue model of ZEE5-Airtel deal is cost per subscriber, duration viewed: Tarun Katial
MUMBAI: The OTT players in India seem to have found telecom partnerships fruitful. Recently, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) struck a three year deal with Airtel. Under the deal, the partners will do a co-branded promotion while the revenue model will be based on cost per subscriber and duration viewed.
“There is select premium content from ZEE5 library that will be available for Airtel consumers exclusively in addition to being available on the ZEE5 platform,” ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial says. Though this deal is unique, ZEE5 is open to striking deals with other telecom operators also.
“Revenue model is based on cost per subscriber and duration viewed for both in the three buckets. In the first bucket, it’s for cost per subscriber and there’s a minimum guarantee, in the second bucket it’s about volume deal for a subscription for a high-end Airtel consumer and the third model is about upscaling ZEE5 subscription packages,” he adds.
Katial thinks this co-branding promotion across platforms will enable to create an understanding of content among consumers of ZEE5 as well Airtel. “It’s also a really good opportunity to be able to do both consumer insight as well as big data and create a recommendation for Airtel TV consumers of ZEE5 premium content,” he says. The partners will leverage each other’s social media assets also.
Under the partnership, other than ZEE5 premium content, video content produced by ZEEL, including TV shows and movies will be available exclusively on Airtel’s digital properties like Airtel TV. Since ZEE5 already streams content produced by ZEEL along with its originals some of the selected curated content may be available on ZEE5 first while some will be concurrently available on both platforms but “deeper premium library” will be available only on its own OTT platform.
Recently ZEEL snipped its deal with Reliance Jio pulling off all its available content on Jio TV. Though this kind of incident happens due to the failure of negotiation of cost, both the companies remained tight-lipped about the problem.
However, the deal can boost Airtel also which has had its dominance in the telecom industry threatened after Jio’s entry. Reliance is already in a better position as it holds stakes in production companies like Eros International, Balaji Telefilms and Roy Kapur Films.
As ZEE5 is a late entrant in the market, it is still far behind other domestic players like Hotstar, Voot and Eros Now. Moreover, international rivals like Netflix and Amazon are also eying the same OTT market. Hence, the deal is very critical for ZEE5 to reach more consumers across the country as well as to increase the visibility of existing shows on the platform. The industry being in a nascent stage does not have any clear winner till now, hence, leaving enough scope for each of the players.
iWorld
Micro-Dramas Surge in India, Redefining Mobile Content Habits
Meta-Ormax study maps rapid rise of short-form storytelling among 18–44 audiences.
MUMBAI: Micro-dramas aren’t just short, they’re the snack that ate Indian entertainment, and now everyone’s bingeing between the sofa cushions. Meta, in partnership with Ormax Media, has released ‘Micro Dramas: The India Story’, a comprehensive study unveiled at the inaugural Meta Marketing Summit: Micro-Drama Edition. The report maps how the vertical, bite-sized format is reshaping content consumption for mobile-first audiences aged 18–44 across 14 states.
Conducted between November 2025 and January 2026 through 50 in-depth interviews and 2,000 personal surveys, the research reveals that 65 per cent of viewers discovered micro-dramas within the last year proof of explosive adoption. Nearly 89 per cent encounter the format through social feeds and recommendations, making algorithm-driven discovery the primary engine rather than active search.
Key viewing patterns show a median of 3.5 hours per week (about 30 minutes daily) spread across 7–8 short sessions. Consumption peaks between 8 pm and midnight, with additional spikes during commutes and work breaks classic “in-between moments” that the format fills perfectly. Around 57 per cent of viewing happens in ambient mode (while doing something else), and 90 per cent is solo, enabling more intimate, personal storytelling.
Romance, family drama and comedy lead genre preferences. Audiences show growing openness to AI-generated content, 47 per cent find it unique and creative, while only 6 per cent say they would avoid it entirely. Regional languages are surging after Hindi and English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada dominate consumption.
Meta, director, media & entertainment (India) Shweta Bajpai said, “Micro-drama isn’t a passing trend, it’s rewriting the rules of Indian entertainment. In under a year, an entirely new category of platforms has emerged, built audience habits from scratch, and created a business vertical that is scaling fast.”
Ormax Media founder-CEO Shailesh Kapoor added, “Micro-dramas are beginning to show the early signs of becoming a distinct content category in India’s digital entertainment landscape. When a format aligns closely with how audiences naturally engage with their devices, it has the potential to scale very quickly.”
The study proposes ecosystem-wide responsibility, universal signposting of commercial intent, shared accountability among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents, built-in safeguards, and formal media literacy in schools.
In a feed that never sleeps and a day that never stops, micro-dramas have slipped into the cracks of every spare minute turning 30-second stories into the new national pastime, one vertical swipe at a time.
