Steve’s breakdown: Zee TV is based in Mumbai and has been in the African market since 1996. The pitch will most likely be happening in Johannesburg. Both of these cities speak english so you could be doing business there if you chose to . . .

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, the pioneer of television entertainment industry in India, has called for a creative and media pitch for its operations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Zee has been entertaining viewers in Africa since 1996, via the Multichoice digital platform. In fact, South Africa was one of the first international markets Zee TV forayed into. Zee later on expanded its reach on the continent via other platforms like Canal Plus. Over the years Zee has evolved to become the undisputed market leader in the Hindi General Entertainment Category segment. Zee TV is the only Indian Hindi General Entertainment Category broadcaster that has a separate beam for Africa. It has a large number of loyal subscribers and an even larger number of regular viewers across Africa.

Zee is one of India’s leading television, media and entertainment companies. It is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with an extensive library housing over 100,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,000 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, Zee houses the world’s largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, Zee entertains over 650 million viewers across 168 countries.

The Zee stable owns an integrated range of businesses. All of these in singularity adhere to the content-to-consumer value chain model of media and entertainment business. Zee is a pioneer in every aspect of content aggregation and distribution through traditional media like satellite and cable and new media like the internet, in India.

Zee celebrated 20 years of its launch in the Indian market on 2nd October 2012 and has embarked on an aggressive expansion drive across the globe, with Africa being a focal point. To quote Zee’s Chairman (ranked the richest media baron in India by Forbes) – Mr. Subhash Chandra – “we are at an inflexion point, a position from where we have to leapfrog and move into the next growth trajectory.”

Until now, Zee TV has been catering mainly to the Indian Diaspora in Africa, as a result of which its ATL presence and spend has been limited. In the coming fiscal, Zee plans to relay the magic of Bollywood as well as popular local African content to TV HHs in Africa by launching customised GEC TV channels to suit African tastes. The move to appoint creative and media agencies is to address the above needs.

The size of the business is expected to be in the range of USD 10-12 million annually. The pitch will be divided into four phases starting December 2012 going up to February 2013. Zee are said to be considering paying a pitch fee as a global industry best practice.

More information regarding the pitch can be obtained by contacting Zee TV South Africa Pty Ltd.

• ADDRESS: 272 OAK AVENUE, RANDBURG 2125.
• TEL: +27 11 781 3352/3353
• CONTACT: Ratna Siriah – [email protected] 082 611 7196

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