Zee says TV ad revenue stagnated; eyes return to sports

Zee Entertainment is making two major shifts in its business strategy: it is moving away from selling traditional TV ad inventory as ad revenues on linear television stagnate, and it is planning a cautious return to the sports broadcasting space after a gap of seven years.

“Ad revenue on television, as you see, has been stagnating and not growing at speed, and hence, it was required today to create new initiatives and new opportunities to get money. We are not anymore selling TV inventory. It is all about solutions to the advertiser,” said Ashish Sehgal, Chief Growth Officer at ZEEL.

Instead of depending on television alone, Zee is now building what it calls “complete customized solutions” for advertisers that go beyond just selling airtime. This includes using Zee5’s growing reach, short- and long-form content, and new formats like mini-series and influencer-led ads.

“We have ZEE5 now. As you know, we have opened inventory on SVOD also. We have some new content initiative called mini-series. Now, mini-series is complete integration of a new product right at the inception of the script and that content then travels across digital which is in the SVOD or the premium customer. Next it goes on to AVOD and then it goes on to television,” Sehgal said during the ‘Ask Me Anything’ webinar held with shareholders this month.

He added, “So hence, it gives you the complete spectrum of the viewership out there and the advertiser is able to come inside the content with clutter breaking solutions there.”

At the same time, Zee is looking to re-enter the sports broadcasting business, but with a very different playbook than before. The company had exited the space in 2017 after selling its sports assets to Sony. Now, it plans to return with a focus on profitable, regional formats rather than expensive, high-profile tournaments.

“Zee has been present in sports till 2017, when we sold our sports business to Sony. We have now plans to re-enter this business. However, with a focus on profitability, we will not chase high-cost properties only for the purpose of the top line,” said Mukund Galgali, Deputy CEO and CFO at ZEEL. “We will be prudent in selecting our content of sporting rights, which is work in progress, and we'll keep you posted on this.”

According to Vikas Somani, Chief Relations and Strategy at ZEEL, the focus will be on regional sports that have strong local appeal but have not been fully tapped.

“We wanted to be in a zone of low-risk, moderate to high-impact properties and that is the philosophy which we are following. So, therefore, as of now, we are not cricket ambitious, we believe that does not make a business model for us,” Somani said.

“These are some of the emerging properties in the sports where we are going local. We are picking up local sports properties which are very popular in that area and then we are exporting it to the other parts of the country and that is the plan,” he explained.

He added that the idea is to bring back certain audience groups—especially male viewers—that Zee currently lacks. “If you look at our target audience, the male audience is something which is missing which will come through these properties. And in future, it is all going to be about content fragmentation, you will have tailor-made content for a particular cohort and that is how you are going to get the advertiser in and that is what we are doing.”

Zee is also creating 360-degree campaigns for advertisers using its new “Dilfluencers”—popular TV characters repurposed as brand influencers across social media and digital platforms.

“We have today created a 360-degree solution for advertisers which includes using our Dilfluencers which we have mentioned nowadays in press etcetera which is basically our characters used as influencers of creating ads. And so that is also embedded within the deals etcetera, which not only go on to TV, but it also goes on to social media and YouTube etcetera,” Sehgal explained. “So hence, it gives the advertiser a complete solution. It gives engagement with the consumer and at the same time they are able to judge their ROIs also.”

Sehgal also noted that this model isn’t just for large advertisers. “Large advertisers do help in doing these kinds of initiatives with us, but the small and the medium enterprises today were seeking such solutions from large media houses and we are now reaching out to them with these kinds of initiatives as well.”

As Zee resets its content and revenue models across platforms, the company is making it clear that it no longer wants to rely on traditional formats alone. Whether it’s rethinking how ads are sold or picking sports rights based on ROI instead of scale, profitability is the clear priority.

Since its launch in 2018, Zee has invested over ₹6,000 crore in its OTT platform ZEE5—a move that the company now acknowledges may have leaned too heavily on the assumption that high content spending alone could drive subscriber growth. “Unlike in the past, where Zee followed the herd mentality and believed that heavy investment in content would automatically bring in subscribers — that’s not the trick anymore,” said Vikas Somani, Head of Strategy and Investor Relations at Zee. He added that the platform is now operating with a clearer, more calibrated strategy, with recent launches of regional language packs showing encouraging traction. The company aims to break even on ZEE5 by FY26, having already halved its EBITDA loss to ₹548 crore in FY25.

Zee’s leadership insists that the focus is no longer just on stemming losses, but on establishing a firm path to profitability. “We don’t want to talk about breakeven alone. It is actually about achieving profitability,” said Deputy CEO and CFO Mukund Galgali. The company has introduced seven new language-specific content packs on ZEE5 to cater to mass regional audiences and plans to triple the volume of content on the platform this year. Importantly, this expansion will be achieved without a major spike in content costs. “We have enhanced our content library by expanding into multiple languages, and this will only increase,” Galgali added.

Zee is also placing bets on short-form storytelling through its new app, Bullet, which offers micro-dramas in multiple Indian languages. “This is a new concept. Even in the beta testing phase, we are among the top 15 entertainment apps,” said Galgali. According to Chief Content Officer Raghavendra Hunsur, Bullet will launch with 161 micro-dramas, each structured as “60 seconds, 60 episodes” of high-engagement, culturally rooted stories. “The stories are told not with mindless extravaganza, but with a deeper understanding of culture and the needs of the market,” Hunsur said, positioning the format as a strong contender for younger, mobile-first audiences.