iWorld
#ZEE5Rewind: 2023 in a flashback!
Mumbai: ZEE5, India and Bharat’s largest home-grown video streaming platform, and the OTT arm of ZEEL, releases #ZEE5Rewind 2023, highlighting a year filled with groundbreaking content across languages. With a paying subscriber in each leading city of the country, the platform experienced an extraordinary surge in streaming hours, across SVOD, AVOD and TVOD offerings. ZEE5’s biggest hits of the year, spanning heartwarming dramas, family entertainers, to adrenaline-pumping thrillers, is a testament to its commitment to build a platform that caters to every audience with entertainment of their choice.
Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, Marathi, Punjabi, and Kannada emerged as the top languages. The West and the South markets led the race for SVOD, closely followed by the East and the North. Titles across Direct-to-Digitals and originals which were undisputed chart-toppers were ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hain’, ‘Mrs. Undercover’, ‘Taj’ in Hindi, ‘Ayali’, ‘Sengalam’, ‘Oru Kodai Murder Mystery’ in Tamil, ‘Vyavastha’, ‘Puli Meka’, ‘Maya Bazaar For Sale’ in Telugu, and ‘Abar Proloy’, ‘Swetkali’, ‘Roktokorobi’ in Bangla. In an industry-first development, ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hain’ went for a theatrical release following its digital launch owing to massive audience support. It is now a part of IMDB’s coveted Top 250 titles list and a recipient of multiple awards.
Coming to post-theatricals, the movies which enjoyed significant audience favour were ‘Unchaai’, ‘Gadar 2’ in Hindi, ‘Vidhuthalai – Part I’, ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’ in Tamil, ‘Writer Padmabhushan’, ‘Karthikeya 2’ in Telugu, ‘Vedha’ in Kannada, ‘Babe Bhangra Paunde Ne’, ‘Maurh’ in Punjabi, ‘Pranaya Vilasam’ in Malayalam, ‘Vaalvi’, ‘Ghar Banduk Biryani’ in Marathi, and ‘Projapoti’, ‘Shabash Feluda” in Bangla. ZEE5 also became a leading name in showcasing socially relevant stories and narratives featuring real-life personas. Titles like ‘Lost’, ‘Tarla’, ‘Ayali’, ‘Abar Proloy’, ‘Chhatriwali’, ‘Haddi’, ‘Koose Munisamy Veerappan’ and several others received positive audience reactions, further cementing ZEE5’s position as the country’s OTT platform of choice.
Top five streaming titles of 2023:
ZEE5’s AVOD content triumphed in 2023, captivating audiences and bolstering the platform’s commitment to providing accessible and engaging entertainment for all. West and South dominated here too, closely followed by the North and East markets. The ad-supported roster featured an extensive line-up of movies and web shows in Hindi and regional languages, along with Korean drama series dubbed in local languages. Exclusive films like ‘Country Mafia with Ravi Kishan, ‘Am I Next’ with Anushka Sen, Anshuman Jha’s ‘Lakadbaggha’, and Priyamani’s ‘Sarvam Shakti Mayam’ enjoyed strong audience reception, alongside rising popularity for devotional content, and cricket and e-sports streaming. The past year has also solidified ZEE5’s dedication to innovation, with a continued focus on pushing boundaries, making a meaningful impact, and delivering compelling content that resonates with audiences worldwide.
Establishing a stronger connect with the diverse audience base, ZEE5 introduced socially relevant and creative campaigns for content promotions in line with the vision of #ZEE5GameChangers. For instance, for the film ‘Tarla’, ZEE5 expressed appreciation for the dabbawalla community in Mumbai with a surprise lunch, accompanied by a meet and greet with actors Huma Qureshi and Sharib Hashmi. On the occasions of National Girl Child Day and International Education Day, ZEE5 organized screenings of ‘Ayali’ across Tamil Nadu, reinforcing its commitment to meaningful engagement. For the launch of ‘Duranga’ S2, ZEE5 organised a dialogue between the cast and the female police force at the New Delhi Headquarters. The discussion shed light on the challenges and triumphs of women in law enforcement, contributing to a broader societal dialogue. Additionally, leading up to the launch of ZEE5’s popular Bangla series, ‘Shabash Feluda,’ a vibrant two-day Feluda-themed event was organized in Kolkata. Drawing inspiration from the iconic characters in the novels, the Feluda Fair led to much fanfare and excitement among audiences in the city. Further to acknowledge the love from our viewers, a content wrap-up chart featuring individual consumption highlights is shared with top ZEE5 bingers at year-end.
Going forward, 2024 promises to be an exhilarating year for ZEE5 with multiple power-packed releases, like Guneet Monga’s highly anticipated ‘Gyarah Gyarah’, the Telugu spy-thriller series ‘Mission Tashafi’, and return of popular titles like ‘Sunflower S2’ and ‘Broken News S2’.
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
