iWorld
ZEE5 introduces ‘PLAY5’ to help brands engage with customers through innovative and interactive experience
Mumbai: ZEE5, India’s fastest growing ConTech brand, has announced the launch of PLAY5 – a unique tool which will let brands engage with their consumers through innovative and interactive experiences. Fourth in line offering from the ZEE5 India’s industry defining ad-suite, it is designed to boost engagement and talk to segment of ONE in a brand safe environment.
Society is saturated with so much information, and users need an incentive that, among all this vortex, will help to awaken their interest and their desire to read more information about a topic beyond the title of a post or email. In other words, they need something essential that motivates them, that will surprise them and help them to focus all their attention on what they are doing. PLAY5 is tailormade to address these issues and engage with the target consumer in a hyper-personalised way.
The overall strategy rests on four key pillars that include customised gamification for the brands, branded polls, quizzes and tailored segment within ongoing reality show gamification. This integrated approach results in driving effective engagement and enhance consumer experience, seamless brand integration and visibility, segmentation capabilities to drive further engagement, leveraging brand legacy and advanced user profiling with insightful reports.
Taranjeet Singh, Chief Revenue Officer and Business Head, ZEE5 India said, “The viewer today is spoilt for choice and we are competing with media formats across the spectrum for their attention. With PLAY5, our endeavour is to engage with the audience through hyper-personalised and interactive formats. We are confident that through this offering, brands will be able to bring alive their offering before the audience rather than just target them. Our other offerings from ad-suite have been extremely well-received by our brand partners and we are confident that PLAY5 will be no different."
Some of the brands/shows who have successfully used PLAY5 are Colgate, Asian Paints, CEAT, Fortune Premium Kacchi Ghani Pure Mustard Oil for Dadagiri Season 8; Birla White Wallcare Putty, Goodknight, Kinderjoy, Bournvita for Dance India Dance – Battle of Champions to name a few.
In 2019 itself, ZEE5 has rolled out around 28 original shows across genres, and the platform is committed to launching 72+ shows by March 2020. It has crossed 70 million+ downloads since launch on the Play Store and recorded 9mn DAUs as of September 2019.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
