Bharti Airtel and content provider ZEE Entertainment today announced one of the largest partnerships in India. As part of the partnership, both Airtel and ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) will work closely to curate digital/OTT video content solutions for customers across India. With this partnership, Airtel wants to drive the growth of digital/OTT video content ecosystem in India. Airtel prepaid and postpaid customers to get exclusive access to premium content of ZEE. Over the next three years, curated & select video content produced by ZEEL, including TV shows, original series and movies will be available exclusively on Airtel’s digital properties like Airtel TV, in addition to ZEE’s digital platform, ZEE5 said a media statement of Airtel.
Furthermore, the partnership will also enable Airtel’s mobile and home broadband customers to enjoy a superior and differentiated content experience.
Airtel TV App Users to Have Access to ZEE5 Content
It's also revealed that Airtel TV app users will now have access to ZEE5 content. All the digital content library of ZEEL which includes the Video on Demand (VOD) network content along with the recently launched ZEE5 Originals, Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos, Lifestyle shows, Kids shows and Plays, will be available to download through the Airtel TV app.
This will add to Airtel’s existing catalogue of over 10,000 shows, movies and 375+ Live TV channels. This partnership also cements Airtel TV's position in the content space amongst telecom operators. The users of Airtel will continue to enjoy ZEE’s 37 Live TV Channels.
Both Airtel and ZEE Will Jointly Work on Content Curation
By jointly pooling ZEE & Airtel’s deep knowledge of customer and content consumption preferences, both partners aim to drive proactive curation of content to offer a highly customised and differentiated experience to their customers, read the statement from Airtel.
In particular, there will be a strong focus on curating regional content, leveraging the strong regional portfolio of ZEEL. This will also ride on ZEE5’s strategy of tailoring new content based on what customers are looking for and launching multiple original shows in six different languages every month.
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said, “Our endeavour is to build a world-class content ecosystem by partnering all players and enable a differentiated digital entertainment experience for our customers. In Airtel TV, we have built a solid digital platform to curate top content from India and across the world and offer it to customers at one place. We are extremely pleased to announce this exclusive partnership with ZEE and look forward to collaborating with them to unlock the potential of their vast content catalogue.”
Jio's Loss is Airtel's Gain
Very recently, Zee Entertainment broke its partnership with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio over disagreement of price. And a week later, Airtel announced its partnership with Zee Entertainment, hitting hard at Jio. While Jio lost the entire content of ZEE from its portfolio, Airtel is gaining it after a successful deal.
