iWorld
ZEE5 now available on Jio KaiOS platform
MUMBAI: ZEE5, India’s fastest growing OTT platform, announced an association with Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India’s leading digital services provider. As part of the partnership, a bespoke version of the ZEE5 app will now be available on Jio KaiOS feature phones.The partnership aims to bring on board the 40mn+ users of Jio Feature phones in the country today, who are seeking engaging entertainment options in addition to the features that the phone inherently offers.
Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India says, “We, at ZEE5, are focussed on bridging the digital entertainment dividebetween metros, semi-urban and rural markets. And, in this, we believe Jio is our perfect partner. With the rich repertoire of regionally relevant stories in the form of web shows, movies, docu-dramas, we are perfectly poised to be the content partner to Jio that has a robust presence in these markets.Through our library that houses music, TV shows, news and such, the audience will now have access to content on-the-go and at their convenience. ZEE5 is constantly looking at building value for its subscribers and advertisers alike, and with this partnership we are confident of filling a vacuum for brands who are seeking inroads into the regional audience’s mindspace.”
Through this alliance, Jio KaiOSsubscribers will have access to the substantial VOD (Video On Demand) offering on the ZEE5 platform:
• Unrestricted content offering across popular Hindi and regional channels – ZEE TV, & TV, ZEE Anmol, Zing, ZEE Marathi, ZEE Tamil, ZEE Bangla, ZEE Yuva, Sarthak TV, ZEE Kannada, ZEE Cinema, ZEE Action, & Pictures, ZEE Café, &flix, ZEE ETC and so on
• An exhaustive collection of music across genres such as film music from Hindi and regional movies, Indi-pop, categorised by mood, event telecasts and so on
• Popular movies across languages such as Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
Spurred by smart devices and wider availability of high-speed data services, the viewers will have access to the vast regional content library that ZEE5 has curated over the past year.
As of December 2018, ZEE5 has 56.3 mn monthly active users, who spend an average of 31 minutes on the platform per day. ZEE5 has consistently been amongst the top-5 free and grossing entertainment apps in India as per the Google Play store rankings. With this foray into KaiOS via Jio, ZEE5 is confident about charting a similar story.
iWorld
Tips Music CEO Hari Nair to step down
Girish Taurani and Sushant Dalmia to jointly steer the company as the hunt for a new chief begins
MUMBAI: A leadership shuffle is under way at Tips Music. Hari Nair, the company’s chief executive, will step down on April 30 as the music label begins the search for a successor.
The company said Girish Taurani, executive director, and Sushant Dalmia, chief financial officer, will jointly oversee operations during the transition while the board identifies a permanent replacement.
Nair joined Tips Music in 2023 and set about reshaping the veteran music label into a more digital, data-led enterprise. During his tenure, the company secured licensing and partnership deals with global platforms including Sony Music Publishing and TikTok, while renewing agreements with Warner Music Group.
Drawing on earlier experience in technology and entertainment, including a stint at ByteDance, Nair pushed the organisation towards a performance-driven culture. He built a brand partnerships division and introduced proprietary software systems aimed at strengthening digital distribution and data capabilities.
Kumar Taurani, chairman and managing director, credited Nair with embedding a data-led culture within the company and driving revenue growth in line with shareholder commitments.
In his resignation note, Nair said that after helping transition the label into a modern, digitally focused and process-driven organisation, the time had come to pursue his next leadership challenge.
The leadership change comes as the broader Tips Films group shows signs of financial stabilisation. In the third quarter of FY26 the company reported a net loss of Rs 2.86 crore, narrowing sharply from Rs 14.2 crore in the previous quarter. For the nine months ended December, losses stood at Rs 12.37 crore.
Yet revenue told a more volatile story. Income from operations slid to Rs 4 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 56 crore in the preceding quarter, taking total operating income to Rs 4.56 crore.
For a company built on a catalogue of more than 34,000 tracks and decades of Bollywood hits, the next chief will inherit both a digital engine and a volatile music market. The playlist may be familiar, but the next act at Tips Music is only just beginning.
