Z grows linear presence across the country, achieves 18% market share

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (‘Z’) has further established a stronger presence in the linear ecosystem by achieving a 48-week high market share of 18.6% (15+ India Urban) in Week 22 of 2026. The Company witnessed strong viewership growth of 120 basis points as compared to the previous quarter, driven by the flagship Hindi channels - Zee TV and Zee Cinema.

The robust omni-channel content strategy implemented by the Company is accruing massive gains across the language markets. The fresh content slate comprising emotionally rooted narratives across the fiction programming coupled with high-impact non-fiction properties, is garnering strong resonance from consumers. The entertainment offerings are further being complemented by key movie premieres to deliver a holistic, family viewing experience to consumers.

The Company’s flagship Hindi General Entertainment Channel (GEC) Zee TV continues to chart a robust growth trajectory, as the primetime leader in HSM for 17 consecutive weeks. The channel has further cemented its position with its fiction shows – ‘Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan’, ‘Vasudha’ and ‘Tum Se Tum Tak’ occupying the top 3 spots in the genre. With upcoming launches including ‘Tu Hi Re Dil Mein’ and ‘Dilon ki Ram Leela’ encompassing strong characters and a high emotional quotient, Zee TV aims to fortify its foothold and garner a larger share of the Hindi GEC pie.

In the movie genre, Zee Cinema consolidated the crown as the leading channel with a viewership growth of 27% in Week 22. The growth was driven by world TV premieres of popular films including ‘Akhanda 2 – Thaandavam’, ‘Kishkindhapuri’ and ‘Dil Madharaasi’. Featuring the best of action, horror and thrill, the movies garnered massive popularity amongst consumers.

The language markets also displayed a strong growth momentum, by maintaining a robust position amongst the top 2 spots across the key regions. Zee Marathi remained the fastest growing Marathi GEC, witnessing a growth from 33.9% (Q4FY26) to 38.8% in the latest week. Remarkably, the channel has clocked an 82% rise in viewership in 3 years (May ’26 vs May ’23), driven by a strategic expansion into non-primetime original programming. The channel’s compelling fiction slate has enabled it to achieve slot leadership with 5 shows in the Top 10 rankings. The Marathi movies cluster has also fortified its leadership with a 57.8% share.

In the East, Zee Bangla retained its crown as the No. 1 channel across genres in Kolkata. The channel also attained leadership in non-fiction on the back of marquee, high-impact content IPs like ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ and ‘Didi No. 1’. The robust performance across both, fiction and non-fiction has further enabled the channel to garner 10 out of the 14 prime time slots in the language. The Company’s movie channel in the market, namely Zee Bangla Sonar, also dominates the movies genre with a 39.4% share.

The Company has been witnessing consistent gains accruing from the Odia GEC market with Zee Sarthak maintaining a firm leadership in the genre for the 6th consecutive year.

The Southern region has been one of the Company’s strongest growth drivers across its linear portfolio, and it continues to contribute significantly towards the overall market share with compelling content offerings. Zee Kannada was a strong performer, by retaining its leadership in the GEC genre for the eighth consecutive year. Its fiction shows occupy 5 slots amongst the top 10, while non-fiction properties like ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs’ and ‘Jodi No. 1’ enjoy high resonance across consumer cohorts.

Zee Telugu has claimed its position as the No. 1 GEC channel in 2 out of the last 5 weeks, witnessed for the first time since 2020. The channel is also the leader across genres in Hyderabad. The movie channel Zee Cinemalu continues to hold the No. 2 spot in the Telugu movies genre with a 25.2% share.

Similarly, Zee Tamil is the fastest growing channel in the market with its share increasing to 21.1% in Q4FY26. The channel ranks No. 2 in rural with a 24.9% share. Zee Keralam also attained the No. 2 spot amongst Malayalam GECs in May 2026 with a 11.5% market share.

Commenting on the success of the content strategy, Raghavendra Hunsur, Chief Content Officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. said, “As a network, our success comes from staying true to our core promise while continuously understanding the evolving consumer. We believe the future of entertainment lies in premium, culturally rooted stories that are authentic, emotionally resonant and crafted with cinematic excellence. Even during one of the most competitive viewing periods of the year, audiences continued to choose our stories. For us, this is the strongest validation that authentic storytelling transcends events and competition. As we look ahead, our focus remains unchanged, to understand consumers deeply, tell stories that matter and build a powerful content ecosystem. This milestone is encouraging, but for us, it is only one step in a much larger įourney.”

The recent launch of four sports channels under the brand name Unite8 Sports, coupled with new fiction and non-fiction launches across languages, enables the Company to remain well-positioned for strong viewership gains on the back of compelling content offerings.