iWorld
ZEE5 goes global with competitive rates
MUMBAI: If everyone else is coming here, we're going there, said Zee. Within less than a year of launch in India, Zee Entertainment Enterprise Ltd's (ZEEL) digital arm ZEE5 has gone global. In the first leg of the international rollout, the OTT platform has launched a global campaign recently targeting South Asian audience across the world. Talking about the global launch, ZEE5 global chief business officer Archana Anand said it has priced the subscription rates very competitively.
The TVC of ‘Dil se Desi’, crafted in collaboration with Publicis has a very funky feeling where rap has been used as the medium. While ZEE has been traditionally looking at slightly older audiences, the new campaign intends to attract younger audiences conveying the message that ZEE5 as a global platform aspires to have content for all these audiences.
“Apni Bhasa Me Feel Hain was also to say that new age Indians are savvy, millennial, use digital and speak English, but when we speak we like to use references from our language. We want to watch content in our language and we love it. Now, in Dil Se Desi it is taking that context globally saying that the South Asian audience which loves our content lives across the globe and all of them may have advanced and in first world countries. Technology, globalisation all of that happened but their heart is Dil se Desi,” Anand commented.
The TVC part of it is playing across the ZEEL network globally and right now it isn't going to third parties for inventories. The first phase of the launch is targeted to APAC, MENA and Africa. Later, the markets where connected devices got ready including Europe, Canada and the Caribbean will be targeted. While the short term goal is to become the entertainment destination for south Asian audience immediately, the long term goal is to position the platform as a top entertainment destination going beyond south Asians.
The new campaign took around five to six months to be rolled out. It worked closely with Publicis, the creative partner in the mandate. There was a rigorous pitching process where multiple agencies took part. BBH and Publicis were neck-to-neck. Interestingly, BBH won the mandate for the Indian campaign earlier.
“When I created the strategy for India, I wanted say that the new trend is languages, regional and masses. That was my co-proposition for India. For the global creative, I did not want to go too far from that co-thought. It had to be an extension,” Anand commented.
Going forward, plans are on for two TVCs for Pakistani and Bangladeshi audiences particularly.
Other than the TVC, the campaign has its counterparts in digital and social media also. The #lovedesi has already gone viral across social media. As the out-of-home marketing will not be very effective abroad as the target audience lives in pockets, there will be a lot of on-ground activity.
Just like Airtel in India, there are global telecom partners as well.
While there are several Indian OTT platforms that are already targeting diaspora audience, especially in the presence of international giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime, ZEE5 is confident to make a difference on the back of its language content. Anand said though many other platforms are also boasting about having content in several languages, ZEE5’s boast is very real owing to its depth.
Anand who has been learning quite a lot in the space, thinks that the final call in content creation should be taken based on gut instinct and data both. According to her, before going into any new market, everyone has to invest a lot in research to understand consumer sights and find a need gap.
While the subscription rates are very different across the globe, even in APAC itself, in every market it has taken account of competition rates, pay TV costs and priced it competitively. Though targeting a large crowd spread across various locations is not easy, Anand seems confident about her strategy.
e-commerce
American Express to acquire AI startup Hyper to boost automation
Deal targets expense management as AI reshapes corporate spending tools.
MUMBAI: From receipts to robots, the expense sheet is getting a brain upgrade as American Express moves to bring artificial intelligence into the heart of corporate spending. The company has announced plans to acquire Hyper, a relatively young but fast-rising startup founded in 2022 that builds AI-powered agents capable of organising expenses, generating reports, verifying compliance with budgets and policies, and nudging users with timely reminders. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, underscores a growing shift among financial institutions to automate traditionally manual, time-heavy workflows.
Hyper counts Sam Altman among its backers, adding a layer of Silicon Valley credibility to the acquisition. While financial details remain undisclosed, the strategic intent is clear: deepen automation capabilities and sharpen American Express’s position in the competitive corporate spending ecosystem.
The two companies are not strangers. They previously collaborated in 2024 on a co-branded credit card product, suggesting that the acquisition is less a cold buy and more an extension of an existing relationship. With this move, American Express is effectively bringing that capability in-house, aiming to embed AI directly into its commercial services stack.
Chief executive Stephen Squeri had already signalled the direction of travel in a recent shareholder letter, describing AI as a “structural shift” in how businesses operate. The Hyper acquisition appears to be a direct response to that shift, particularly in expense management, where processes such as approvals, compliance checks and reporting remain ripe for automation.
Alongside the acquisition, the company is also expanding its product suite. A recently launched business credit card offers cashback and benefits at an annual fee of $295, with another card expected later this year moves that complement its broader push into commercial services.
Taken together, the strategy points to a future where managing expenses may require fewer spreadsheets and more algorithms. For American Express, the bet is simple, if businesses are rethinking how work gets done, the tools that power that work need to evolve just as quickly.
