ZEE Biskope, the 24-hour dedicated Bhojpuri movies channel primarily for Bhojpuri-speaking audiences has been growing from strength to strength. From climbing to the No.1 Bhojpuri channels list and maintaining a robust position in the Bhojpuri category to now winning 13 metals at the ACEF Global Customer Engagement Awards, the brand has grown exponentially.
MediaBrief caught up with Amarpreet Singh Saini, Business Head, ZEE Biskope & BIG Ganga and Samrat Ghosh, Cluster Head, East, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), for a detailed chat about how the channel has fared, about its engaging initiatives for Bhojpuri audiences with content, its partnership with brands & ambassadors, how it plans to expand globally. And more. Read on.
Since its launch in 2019, how has ZEE Biskope fared so far? How have 2020 and 2021 been in terms of growth?
Samrat: ZEE Biskope was the first channel in the category to open at No.1 position in the launch week itself. Since then, it has maintained its dominant leadership position. Though the market has gone through ups and downs firstly due to pandemic and then due to comeback of FTA Hindi channels on Free Dish, yet the brand has led strong viewership on the back of content and engagement innovations and initiatives.
Bhojpuri viewers are now seeking curated content and smart presentation like any other entertainment category.
What were the viewership trends witnessed in the Bhojpuri category as a whole through the year?
Samrat: The pandemic has impacted the consumer mindset in a significant way. There are tectonic shifts in their consumption patterns as well as their gratification drivers. It has taught the entertainment industry to re-invent itself to cater to this new need state.
At ZEE Biskope repurposing, reengineering of content has been the mainstay of serving this new consumer appetite. We have always explored extending our content offering beyond movies in an attempt to find new grounds of movie gratification.
Amar: TV penetration has been highest in Bihar and Jharkhand (BnJ) as per latest BARC universe update and ZEE Biskope has emerged as a leader in the category. ZEE Biskope aims at making the brand accessible where viewers could reach out to and feel the apnapan there by developing brand love.
ZEE Biskope led category viewership with the 2-day long Holi celebrations including a World Television Premiere and Holi special event. It’s also No.1 channel in the category in Q1 YTD (3 wks) with 25% share in 2+. The channel is all geared up with a slew of novel content as well as engagement initiatives, with repeats of some of the most loved ones, to further deepen the equity amongst its viewers.
How has ZEE Biskope’s innovative and locally relevant engagement campaigns garnered eyeballs and increased its viewership share?
Samrat: Our audiences are high energy innovation seeking audience. Content innovation catches their attention and ZEE Biskope has been at the forefront of it.
From providing new talent driven hook points like Talent Camera Action and Kamariya Kare Hip Hop to tech innovations like Emoji Lahariya and Labhlitis Messiah, through engagement innovation at marketing level we have increased their indulgence with the brand through category first initiatives.
Amar: ZEE Biskope’s marketing strategy is based on novelty and connectivity. We have been continuously creating new windows for the younger audience to participate and celebrate in Bhojpuriyat. Viewer engagement has always been a conscious pillar of the brand.
We started with the biggest ever Bhojpuri movie screening in Bihar where we had gate crashing moments. However, due to the pandemic, we had to resort to digital connect initiatives that were complimented with a TV telecast. The encouraging response has further evidenced that we could deliver them in a way that our viewers like.
The TV telecast of the engagement initiatives have seen a surge in channel reach for example, Kamaraiya Kare Hip Hop show telecasted on 4 Oct surged reach by 29% compared to previous 4 weeks while Talent Camera Action telecasted on 29 June resulted in 17% reach increment than previous 2 weeks.
Standing on date, we have grabbed 21 Marketing awards across forums in the very first year. It’s a never seen before feat in the category. This further manifest the fact that the brand has been able to bring to the Bhojpuri entertainment space the much-deserved recognition that was long due.
What are ZEE Biskope’s criteria for picking up content that resonates with the audiences?
Samrat: Regional consumption is on an upswing. The desire to seek culturally affirmative content is even higher today given pandemic has limited cultural immersions in realtime.
At ZEE Biskope we have ensured that we keep topicality at its peak by curating film festivals, premieres, engagement initiatives that resonate with the festive, cultural, topical mindset at any period of time so viewers can relive the topical moments and get virtual gratification even when real world possibilities are limited.
Amar: ZEE Biskope has been the first brand in the category to celebrate topical days in the region with a quirky, innovative spin. Be it Chunmuniya Sawan film festival which explored the romance aspect of Sawan or Sab Ka Baap film festival on Fathers Day the novel take on topical days has resonated strongly with the younger audience which has shown in incremental viewership across our curated festivals.
Similarly ZEE Biskope also became the first brand in the category to launch an original show on a movie platform, Hansi Ki Rail Choot Na Jaye, providing wider platter to movie lovers, witnessing an over 40%reach jump. The Movie+ positioning of ZEE Biskope has been appreciated both by viewers and stakeholders alike.
How has advertising in the Bhojpuri category grown over the years and especially during the lockdown?
Samrat: In the post pandemic environment advertisers are looking at deeper engagement and purposeful association for their brands. ZEE Biskope has been successful to provide the same through its topical, thematic and consumer centric initiatives on as well as off air.
The brand has seen a very positive response from the advertisers in its launch year itself – ranging from regular advertising to associations/ sponsorships to innovative integrations across various offerings of the channel. We will continue to drive the same value-driven approach in the coming year as well.
Amar: ZEE Biskope is bringing a calendar full of topical festivals, original shows, original movies and hitherto unexplored movie bands in the category along with a slew of engagement initiatives ranging from comeback of the most loved ones to clutter breaking new spaces of excitement. With the range of platter to choose from, we are witnessing a very positive response in the market.
Which are the brands that have partnered with ZEE Biskope, and how have these brands benefited from its category-first initiatives?
Amar: Nestle came on-board for multiple initiatives including Emoji Lahariya, Litti Chokha Diwas and the World Television Premieres. We have catered very focussed in-content brand integration in our vertical movie line-up on the day we telecasted the winners of Emoji Lahariya.
While for Adani’s Fortune Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil, we have delivered both content integration and digital integrations where the use of Fortune Mustard Oil & Atta were highlighted.Several other established brands also have been now regularly partnering with us on our offerings.
Zee Biskope has earlier backed brand ambassadors like Pawan Singh, Khesari Lal Yadav, and Nirahua. What results has their association yielded, and how involved with the channel are they?
Amar: The top 3 superstars of Bhojiwood – Nirahua, Pawan Singh and Khesari Lal Yadav have never worked together either in a film or as channel brand ambassadors. ZEE Boskope presented the 3 superstars in their quintessential charm across 3 brand films each essaying a popular movie genre viz. Drama, Action and Romance with an over-the-top rendition which is core to the Bhojpuri narrative.
The intention was to bring novelty through high production value thereby upscaling Bhojpuri entertainment which is currently a rarity. The brand has celebrated Bhojiwood’s most loved superstars through various initiatives including showcasing some of their biggest blockbusters as World TV Premieres, social awareness campaigns during the pandemic, birthday celebrations on TV & digital& movie festivals around them.
The success of the approach was evidenced by the fact that the content initiatives have all done exceptionally well increasing channel reach or becoming the most watched content of the week in the category on social.
Any new campaign in the pipeline with them or any new ambassador we could expect in the coming months?
Amar: Viewers seek more active involvement with entertainment brands today and social media plays a significant role towards that. It deepens bonding with the brand and eventually impacts content affinity as well.
ZEE Biskope aims at making the brand accessible where viewers could reach out to and feel the apnapan thereby developing brand love. The channel is all geared up with a slew of novel, never before engagement initiatives, with repeats of some of the most loved ones, to further deepen the equity amongst its viewers.
The very next being a Mother’s Day special social awareness campaign. Once the pandemic situation subsides, we will also see on-ground connect resume. All of these would have a strong association with the Bhojiwood fraternity. You can expect some of the big names to be associated with our initiatives through the year.
Tell us about ZEE Biskope’s winning streak at ACEF Global Customer Engagement Award. How does this recognition help the brand?
Samrat: It’s encouraging to see that our passion to bring alive the vibrant Bhojpuri culture through our hyperlocal offerings is being recognized in such an esteemed forum. I thank ACEF for awarding ZEE Biskope with 13 metals including the Most Admired Television Channel for Customer Engagement Award.
Amar: It is a clean sweep at an international forum which is extremely motivating. In fact, a never seen before feat in the category. When these initiatives receive awards, it’s an endorsement of what we believe in ZEEL at being native to the region that we cater to and of our firm conviction about Bhojpuri deserving the stature that is due to it. Thank you ACEF!
ZEE Biskope’s is also available on the ZEE5 app as a live channel. How has the reception been on that front?
Amar: We are a LIVE channel and have our content distributed through ZEE5 as well. ZEE5 is one of the few OTT platforms that cater Bhojpuri content too and it has been witnessing a very good uptake on the same.
Any plans to expand the offering, features of ZEE Biskope on ZEE5 to deliver a better user experience for viewers?
Amar: As per latest BARC Universe update the overall TV housholds has increased by 23% and individual viewer base by 23.4%. Bihar & Jharkhand is amongst the highest TV base increase markets with 23% rise in TV HH (compared to 2018). Post pandemic too the highest viewership jump has been in TV viewing with BnJ being one of the highest increase markets.
With people being homebound again, overall viewership is expected to surge and TV will remain the main source of entertainment for the families. Hence, ZEE Biskope’s focus now is to grow the TV platform further ensuring family inclusive content through various film festivals, original content, engagement initiatives etc. all curated to cater to family viewership than individual drive.
What are your plan, strategies to expand ZEE Biskope’s reach to a global audience?
Amar: Bhojpuri diaspora is beyond India and now a global force to reckon with. With countries like Malaysia, South Africa, etc. having a sizeable Bhojpuri populace Bhojpuri content is in demand globally as well. At ZEEL we are building an ecosystem to extend our synergies to these markets as well.
What is your content strategy for 2021, upcoming campaigns, content slate of 2021?
Samrat: ZEE Biskope has attempted to be differentiated and curated in a category which is largely commoditized so far. We intend to further strengthen this approach going forward. The consumer today is seeking much deeper connect and excitement from his/her entertainment as the environment is more stressed than before.
Thus, to satiate this need we are and would be bringing more offerings this year which will be new and exciting for eg. non-fiction comedy shows, events and originals in Bhojpuri movie space.
Amar: Curating content by sharply deep diving into consumer insight has been the key behind all our category first initiatives. Going forward, a host of innovative actions will be coming to keep increasing the viewership & engagement – a unique differentiated band of content till date not explored in the category, a new stream of original movies designed specifically to cater to TV viewers sensibility and new spree of engagement initiatives not explored in the region before. So stay tuned to ZEE Biskope.