Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL), is all set to present the Maruti Suzuki Arena Zee Cine Awards 2023. The prestigious awards show has honoured the inspiring journeys of countless luminaries, filmmakers, and technicians over the years.

In a conversation with Indiantelevision.com, ZEEL Hindi movie channels, film licensing & syndication chief cluster officer Ruchir Tiwari talked about awards, expectations, and watching movies among other things.

Zee has adopted a ground-breaking, big data-driven, consumer-forward strategy for choosing the nominees and winners for the Viewer’s Choice Awards.

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The latest edition of this highly anticipated awards show will be attended by the Indian film fraternity, global dignitaries, and world media on 26 February. Zee Cinema, Zee TV, and ZEE5 will also showcase the award show.

Edited excerpts

On the Zee Cine awards journey

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The award’s journey is filled with nostalgia. This is a very special year as Zee enters its 30th year. The show comes back this year after a gap of  2 years. As the name of the award show implies, it is a democratic show of the country because it is decided by the audience.

That is the inherent DNA of most of the categories, people will spread joy by selecting their favourite talent, movies, and actors. Zee Cine Awards is the first in the Zee calendar. I’m looking forward to 2023.

On associations with stars

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Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt have both worked with us for the past ten years, and it’s been ten years for them in the industry. They’ve won so many awards that they’ve only performed a few times. As a result, they are always unique. So it’s good for both of them to be back on stage after a long break. Alia had a fantastic year and is the undisputed queen of Bollywood.

On the movie-watching habit

It is not just because of the pandemic and OTT, it’s a little multipronged. Many things have changed, including people’s behaviour and content preferences. Also, there are so many options that it is really challenging for audiences to choose the right thing. But all of this presents a chance to improve our content and storytelling. If you look closely, you will see that the audience has viewed every movie that had a compelling purpose to be seen.

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I don’t believe that OTT, pandemics, or other factors have had a significant impact as our films have been a hit. At the end of the day, there will always be viewers for good content. What the disruption is doing is creating a group of OTT consumers who enjoy X type of material.

Audiences have an expectation from their theatrical experience about what they really look for when they go to see a movie. Similarly, there is a mass TV reach and an X type of content that works on TV. So, despite being OTT, films like Sooryavanshi, Gangubai, and Rakshabandhan have all done exceptionally well on television.

On films during 2022

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It’s been an interesting year. I wouldn’t say it would have been a great year, but we would have liked to see a few more films. There were no releases in January or February. Gangubai was the first to be released on 25 February. Then there were good film releases like ‘Drishyam 2’, ‘Brahmastra’, ‘The Kashmir Files,’ ‘Gangubai’, many of these films were competing and it’s going to be very, very interesting and the audiences will decide what they really like to watch.

On the legacy

ZEE Cine Awards recognises the Indian Film Industry. Films that win here will travel and reach global platforms, and that is the collective victory of our cinema, which is doing so well this year with RRR. It has broken down the barriers.

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On the competition

I’m not sure how we differ from our competitors, but we’re just focusing on our thought process and how well we understand the consumer. I believe due to the pandemic their habits and content expectations have changed. Also, the audience has shrunk in recent years.

The primary reason for this was that there was a large amount of content that was not released during the pandemic and, followed by the habit and the quality of content. But I believe things are gradually improving. There has also been a significant FTA disruption in terms of some channels being free. As a result, we have reassessed and recalibrated everything.

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We need to understand and comprehend the modern consumer. The customer of today is unquestionably and completely different as compared to three years ago. They have their own routines and expectations. We must be aware of this, carefully select our content, persevere, and maintain constant communication with them. Despite the enormous reach that TV has in the movie category, it still accounts for only about a quarter of daily consumption, there’s no fall in that

On TV premiere

It will return; don’t be fooled into thinking that just because the film is being released on OTT that it will have a big impact. Let’s look at OTT and how it relates to the SVoD paid platform. It is available on multiple platforms, each with its own fan base and audience.

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Every platform has its own unique appeal. Many people will want to see the film as soon as it is released. However, if the film is good and the promotion is effective, they will watch it again on television. Many of them keep forgetting where or when it went OTT, and when our campaigns begin with TV promotions, they suddenly realise they need to watch the movie again.

On rebranding

In recent years that pandemic was a disruption, and we needed to calibrate how we reached and covered ourselves on the ground before and after that. Following the pandemic, Seene Mein Cinema’s positioning and the larger promise of consistent blockbusters, for the last three, to four years. We had a big year in 2019 with movies like ‘2.0’, ‘Kesri’ and ‘Uri’.

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We haven’t looked back since, and Seene mein cinema for the entire family is nonstop. Even during a pandemic, I believe the content we curated ensured that the consumer does not experience fatigue or a lack of content because theatres are closed. So we handled it very well. The amount of content ZEE Cinema will see over the next two years is also very intriguing.

On Zee5

As an OTT ZEE5 has a viewer base which is watching movies and then going to Zee Cinema. Please keep in mind that this is a paid ecosystem. Sometimes I get the impression that OTT promotions aren’t as sharp as they should be.

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On the future of movie-watching on TV culture

Today with a surge of content across platforms the viewer is spoilt for choice and change in habits is evolving.

There’s no denying that movies are playing a role on mobile, OTT, and other platforms, and as a result, consumers are recalibrating their expectations for movies on TV. And, from the looks of it, TV is still being watched.

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Movies continue to account for 25 per cent of TV viewing. As a result, the total content of movie consumption on TV is not decreasing. As a result, we must ensure that the content is correct. We must figure out how to play the game of pay channels as well as free channels in order to form a play-plus-free ecosystem that will be very robust and grow from strength to strength over the next five years, even on TV in terms of movie viewing.