iWorld
Plot Twists and Popcorn Make This Diwali a Blockbuster on Zee5
MUMBAI: This Diwali, forget lighting diyas light up your screens instead. Zee5 is turning the festive season into a cinematic celebration with its new campaign “Iss Diwali, sirf Zee5 par plot badlega… ho jao ready!” and the Bharat Binge Festival, where every twist, turn, and tale promises a reason to binge.
Breaking away from the typical feel-good festive narratives, Zee5’s latest campaign adds a thrilling spin to Diwali viewing. Drawing from deep audience insights, the platform found that while family dramas and romances remain festival staples, Indian viewers are increasingly leaning towards edge-of-the-seat thrillers, mysteries, and crime dramas. And this festival, Zee5 is giving them exactly that stories that surprise, shock, and stay with you long after the credits roll.
The Bharat Binge Festival celebrates India’s love for storytelling with a curated line-up of premieres across seven languages Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. Think Bhagwat Chapter One – Raakshas, Mrs Dasgupta, Sthal, Veduvan, and Sumathi Valuvu all under one digital roof, uniting diverse regions with one shared festive emotion: great stories.
Adding more sparkle, Zee5 has rolled out special festive offers between 13 and 20 October. Viewers can grab the Hindi content pack for Rs 149 (down from Rs 199), regional packs for Rs 59 (down from Rs 99), and the all access pack for Rs 249 (regularly Rs 299). The festival gets even bigger with partner perks guaranteed cashback via Paytm UPI Autopay and Cred UPI Autopay, plus a three-month JioSaavn Pro trial bundled with Zee5 subscriptions.
“Every Diwali tells a story of tradition and togetherness. With the Bharat Binge Festival, we’ve curated bold, genre-led stories that resonate across every language and mood,” said Zee5 chief business officer Siju Prabhakaran.
ZEEL chief marketing officer Kartik Mahadev added, “The campaign captures India’s growing appetite for stories that blend curiosity, emotion, and surprise. Much like Diwali itself, every twist on Zee5 lights up with excitement.”
From high-octane thrillers to heartwarming romances, this Diwali is less about sweets and more about story treats. With out-of-home, digital, and social promotions rolling out nationwide, Zee5 is set to make the festival of lights shine brighter, one binge at a time.
Because this year, the real firecrackers are the plot twists.
MUMBAI: If cricket were a binge-worthy series, this one just dropped its most explosive pilot yet. The opening weekend of the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League has come out swinging, smashing records across both television and digital platforms and reaffirming the tournament’s unmatched pull in India’s sporting and media landscape.
Backed by two high-octane matches featuring 200-plus run chases, the tournament delivered a combined reach of over 515 million viewers across linear TV and digital platforms via JioStar’s broadcast ecosystem, including Star Sports and JioHotstar. More tellingly, engagement surged alongside reach, with total watch-time hitting 32.6 billion minutes, a sharp 26 per cent jump over the opening weekend of the previous season.
The numbers reveal a deeper shift in how India watches cricket. Connected TV (CTV) consumption rose by 30 per cent, while peak concurrency on digital platforms jumped 61 per cent, signalling a growing appetite for shared, big-screen streaming experiences. On traditional television, the momentum held strong, with TV ratings (TVR) climbing 24 per cent compared to earlier seasons’ opening matches.
A key driver of this spike has been the evolution of the viewing experience itself. This season introduced differentiated feeds, most notably a Hindi CTV broadcast featuring cricketing voices such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan. Blending expert analysis with a watch-along format, the feed has added a conversational, almost second-screen feel without requiring viewers to leave their screens.
According to JioStar CEO for Sports Ishan Chatterjee, at the opening weekend underscores not just scale but also the depth of engagement that live cricket continues to command. He noted that the combination of large-screen viewing and digital interactivity is creating a more immersive and personalised experience, while also delivering tangible outcomes for brand partners.
From the league’s perspective, the early numbers point to a tournament that continues to reinvent itself. Arun Singh Dhumal, Chairman of the IPL, said the strong start reflects how high-quality cricket paired with enhanced viewing formats is resonating with audiences nationwide, while Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Devajit Saikia highlighted the “quality of engagement” as a key takeaway, not just the scale.
Commercially too, the opening weekend signals robust advertiser confidence. The broadcast is led by co-presenting sponsors including Google (Search AI Mode), Campa Energy, and Havells & Lloyd, alongside co-powered partners such as Birla Opus, Hero Motocorp and Amazon. A long tail of associate sponsors from OpenAI and Asian Paints to Flipkart and Amul further reflects the league’s unmatched ability to aggregate advertiser interest at scale.
Taken together, the opening weekend numbers are less a spike and more a statement. With 515 million viewers, 32.6 billion minutes of watch-time, and double-digit growth across formats, IPL 2026 has not just started strong, it has set the tone for a season that looks poised to push the boundaries of both sport and spectacle.
