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Tag: Zee Media

  • Zee Media: The success story of India’s Largest Media Company

    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Zee Media.

    What is life without media and entertainment? Our lives would become so mundane if we didn’t have a pinch of entertainment and news to ponder over what is happening around the world.

    The media and entertainment industry is sure booming and with all the right sense to the given latest technological advances and trends. It is not something that the industry would change so much but, it is up to the people and the way they watch these media channels.

    In this article, we are going to read all about Zee Media, which is India’s leading entertainment and news network. A part of the multibillion-dollar Essel Group, Zee Media.

    To know more about the company, let’s explore their startup story and growth, founders and team, investors, the challenges faced by them, business and revenue model, competitors, and their plans.

    Zee Media – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Zee Media
    Headquarters Noida, Uttar Pradesh
    Sector Broadcast Media Production and Distribution
    Founder Subhash Chandra
    Founded 2004
    Revenue Rs 242.81 crore Q3(FY22)
    Total Funding Raised Rs 230 crore
    Parent Organisation Essel Group
    Website www.zeenews.com

    Zee Media – About

    Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) formerly known as Zee News Limited is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group. It is one of the leading media and entertainment companies that has a very strong presence in the news and regional entertainment channels. The majority of the content that the company airs on satellite television channels uplinked from India is news, current affairs, and regional entertainment shows.

    The company has a wide variety of news channels under the brand name Zee which includes the English news channel WION. Zee Media also operates the ZEE5 distribution platform.

    Zee Media – Industry

    Zee Media belongs to the Entertainment and media industry. As per authentic reports, India Media and Entertainment industry is estimated to reach $30.9 bn by 2024.

    Zee Media – Startup story and Growth

    The company was initially incorporated as Zee Sports Ltd, founded by the Essel Group (also known as Zee Group) in 1999. The Group was originally founded as the Messrs Ramgopal Indraprasad in 1926 by Jagannath Goenka. His grandson Subhash Chandra later expanded the company and renamed it Essel Group.

    Zee Sports Ltd was reincorporated as Zee News Ltd. on 27th May 2004. Later after nine years, the name was changed to Zee Media Corporation Limited.

    Zee Media had partnered with Dainik Bhasker Group to publish its newspaper known as the Daily News & Analysis, but to insufficient profit, the publication of the newspaper was stopped. Additionally, the company operates the Zee Institute of Media Arts (ZIMA), which is owned by Zee Learn, the Essel Group’s educational division.

    Formerly known as Zee News Limited, the Zee Media Corporation was a division of Zee Telefilms Ltd, later renamed Zee Entertainment Enterprises. In 2006, it was separated from the Essel Group as a standalone business.

    It was in 1992 when the Essel Group started taking a lot of stake in the entertainment industry, also the year when it incorporated Zee Telefilms Ltd.

    Fast forward to 2006, Zee Telefilms Ltd was divided into three entities by Essel: Zee News Ltd, the group’s news broadcasting division; Wire & Wireless India Ltd (later called Siti Networks), the cable division; and Zee Telefilms Ltd, the direct consumer broadcasting division. Zee Telefilms Ltd was renamed Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd less than a year after it was founded.

    Zee Media – Key People

    Zee Media was founded by the Essel Group. The group was founded by Subhash Chandra Goel

    Subhash Chandra Goel

    Subhash Chandra- Chairman of the Essel Group
    Subhash Chandra- Chairman of the Essel Group

    Subhash Chandra, the grandson of Jagannath Goenka is the person who started the Essel Group. He is the Chairman of the Essel Group, and also the Chairman of Zee media but resigned in 2016. He is a member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

    Subhash was born in Haryana. He never got to complete his schooling because of a lack of money. He started his career by joining the family business of commission agents and supplying rice to the Food Corporation of India.

    Subhash has won awards like International Emmy Directorate Award (2011), and Canada India Foundation, Chanchlani Global Indian Award (2016).

    Jawahar Goel

    Jawahar Goel-Chairman of Essel Group

    Jawahar Goel is the younger brother of Subash Chandra Goel, the chairman of the Essel Group. Jawahar is the editor-in-chief of the Zee Media network. He is also the Chairman of the media network’s ‘Editorial Governing Council’. Besides this, Goel played as the Managing Director of Dish TV but has recently stepped down from the role. He has worked with companies like the London Stock Exchange Group, Systematix Shares & Stocks, and more.

    Zee Media – Mission and Vision

    The company’s mission is to become the world’s global media company. Its vision is mainly about Customer Focus, Excellence, Integrity, Creativity, and Growth Driven.

    The name of Zee Media as mentioned early was known as Zee News Limited. It was in 2013, that the company was renamed.

    Zee Media – Business Model

    Zee Media operates its business through various channels some of them in regional-based languages to reach every Indian.

    The number of channels by Zee Media is:

    • Zee News – 1999 (Hindi)
    • Zee Business – 2005 (Hindi)
    • Zee Rajasthan – 2013 (Hindi)
    • Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh – 2013 (Hindi)
    • Zee Hindustan – 2017 (Hindi)
    • Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand – 2017 (Hindi)
    • Zee Bihar Jharkhand – 2017 (Hindi)
    • Zee Delhi NCR Haryana – 2022 (Hindi)
    • Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal- 2013 (Hindi, Punjabi)
    • WION – 2016 (English)
    • Zee 24 Ghanta – 2007 (Bengali)
    • Zee 24 Taas – 2007 (Marathi)
    • Zee Salaam – 2010 (Urdu)
    • Zee 24 Kalak – 2017 (Gujarati)
    • Zee Kannada News – 2022 (Kannada) Available only on digital platform
    • Zee Malayalam News – 2022 (Malayalam) Available only on digital platform
    • Zee Tamil News – 2022 (Tamil) Available only on digital platform
    • Zee Telugu News – 2022 (Telugu) Available only on digital platform
    • Zee Odisha News – 2022 (Odia) Available only on digital platform

    The Zee Media Corporation Limited also has its presence on digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The company also has its websites for particular business activities:

    Zee Media Corporation
    Zee Media Corporation
    • Zee News Website
    • Zee5 Website
    • WION Website
    • India.com

    Zee Media – Revenue Model

    Recently the Zee company under its flagship company Zee Studios, its movie business was the production house for the movie “The Kashmir Files”. The company earned a lot of profit from the success of the movie. The success of the movie alone has about the company a revenue of about Rs 2,000- 2,500 crore.

    This fiscal year, Zee studios itself has been a bigger contributor to the company’s revenue growth.

    Although Zee Media generated its revenue from Zee Studios this year, most of its earnings are from Zee News.

    Zee News is one of the oldest channels owned by the Essel Group. It has a wide variety of regional news channels. One of the biggest sources of income it gets is from its own YouTube channel. A channel is monetised on YouTube only when it has a minimum of 1000 subscribers. YouTube pays a channel if the channel crosses over 4000 watch hours. In this case, the Zee News YouTube channel has 21.2 million subscribers with 169.89 million views each month. The total net worth of Zee News Channel itself is estimated to be around $40.77 million.

    Zee Media – Challenges and Controversy

    Zee Media Corporation Limited goes through many challenges as the company runs news channels, which attracts controversies and challenges. The company was involved in spreading wrong and fake news through its Hindi medium channels called Zee News, which landed the company in many controversies and arguments.

    In 2020, Nepal Government banned Zee News for charges of defaming the Nepal government.

    Zee Media – Mergers and Acquisition

    Zee Media and Sony Merger
    Zee Media and Sony Merger

    In December 2021, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) merged with Sony Pictures Networks India. The revenue of both companies is around Rs 14,000 crore, which makes the country’s second-largest media firm.

    Punit Goenka, who is the CEO and managing director of ZEEL, will lead the merged company.

    Zee Media – Online and Social Media Presence

    Zee Media is very active and has a strong social media presence through platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Its social media pages of the network have around 77 million followers.

    Zee Media – Social Media Campaigns

    In 2022, Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) launched one of the biggest elections campaigns on its opinion poll exercise. This campaign was aimed to create awareness and have an interactive session with its audience to increase engagement. Due to this campaign, the Zee News Channel on YouTube saw a 68% increase in viewership.

    The marketing head of Zee Media, Anindya Khare says,

    “News viewers had stopped believing in the numerous opinion polls conducted around elections simply because it wasn’t representational enough. Our extensive activity and research helped us with this insight, and at ZEE Media we used our resources to create the biggest opinion poll of the election season, with the largest sample size ever. We have created a comprehensive, genuine, and transparent opinion poll in the history of elections and regained the trust of the viewers.”

    Zee Media – Competitors

    The company competes with other news channels, such as:

    • Star News
    • Aaj Tak
    • NDTV
    • Network 18
    • Music Broadcast
    • Jain Studios
    • TV18 Broadcast
    • Raj Television
    • Sun TV Network

  • Sudhir Chaudhary – The Interesting Journey of Consulting Editor of Aaj Tak

    Sudhir Chaudhary is an Indian journalist and former CEO of Zee News. He became popular after his tv show DNA (Daily News and Analysis). Sudhir Chaudary’s journey started as a journalist on Zee television. He joined Zee News in 1993 at the early stage of Zee television. He worked on other channels like live television reporting and then 24 hours news television.

    One Important aspect of Sudhir Chaudhary’s life as he was part of a crew who went on a task of coverage of the Vajpayee–Musharraf Indo-Pak meeting in Islamabad, after the Indian Parliament attack happened in 2001 and also the Kargil war too.

    Chaudhary resigned again from Zee News in July 2022. Sudhir Chaudhary conveyed to Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra in his resignation letter saying that his decision was a “result of my internal deliberations” to “start my own enterprise”.

    There were rumours that the DNA host is going to start his own venture but Sudhir joined Aaj Tak as a consulting editor.

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Early life
    Sudhir Chaudhary – Career
    Sudhir Chaudhary – Controversies
    Sudhir Chaudhary – Awards

    Sudhir Chaudhary- Biography

    Name Sudhir Chaudhary
    Birthplace Hodal, Haryana
    Born 7 June 1974
    Nationality Indian
    Age 48 years
    Wife Niti Chaudhary
    Education Diploma in Journalism, BA
    Position Consulting Editor at Aaj Tak
    Net worth Rs.22 Crores

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Early life

    After completing his BA, Chaudhary prepared for the UPSC exam as he aimed to become a civil servant. He hadn’t gotten off the exam so went on to pursue a diploma in journalism and started his career with Zee television in 1993.

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Career

    Chaudhary has been working in the television news industry since 1993. He belongs to the first generation of television journalists. Sudhir Chaudhary when speaking at TED Talks explained the story of how news channels have evolved.

    Sudhir Chaudhary at TEDx
    Sudhir Chaudhary at TEDx

    The first television channel Doordarshan started a 5 min news bulletin and then Zee television the news channel and how hard he and his team struggled to get the news travelling to various places and putting a lot of effort into gathering the news to run the show. He was in live television reporting and also worked in India 24.

    In 2003, he left Zee news and played a key role in the launching of Sahara Samay, the Hindi-language news channel of the Sahara group. He also joined India TV for a brief time. In 2012, he rejoined Zee News, where he hosts the news show Daily News & Analysis (DNA).

    The news show Daily News & Analysis (DNA) became the highest-rated TRP show in the country in news television history. Although the show had many rumours that Sudhir Chaudhary manipulated the proof of many issues.

    Chaudhary resigned again from Zee News in July 2022 to join Aaj Tak as a consulting editor.

    Sudhir Chaudhary in Aaj Tak Office
    Sudhir Chaudhary in Aaj Tak Office

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Controversies

    One of the biggest allegations faced by Chaudhary was 100 crore money extortion from Mp Naveen Naveen Jindal. The issue follows this way, in the year 2012 Chaudhary and Zee business editor Samir Ahulwlia was alleged to extortion of ₹100 crores from his company in exchange for dropping stories that linked Naveen Jindal former Mp and Jindal Steel chairman.

    Jindal had also mentioned that he had handed over 14 min footage to the media and adding to it he stated “The government gives channels a licence to show news. They are not given a licence for extortion or blackmail.” On filing FIR by Jindal the police arrested both the head of Zee and were put in Tihar jail for 14 days and later on released on Bail.

    Dhulagarh Riots

    In the year 2016, Zee News and Sudhir Chaudhary faced another issue which was due to the Dhulagarh riots. Although the riots were happening for many days the West Bengal government did not allow any media to showcase the issue to the country and the state too. The government believed that it increases the issues even more but Zee News covered the riots and a case was filed against Sudhir Chaudhary, cameraman Tanmay Mukherjee and correspondent Pooja Mehta by the Bengal government.

    Jihad Chart Controversy

    Even in 2020, Sudhir Chaudhary went to a controversial issue telecasting a ‘jihad chart’ in his DNA episode. The issue went into a non-bailable case under section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief). The issue is Chaudhary spoke about the anti-muslim conspiracy which came on Facebook against the minorities in 2014 from an unknown website.

    Adding to this Sudhir Chaudhary faced many controversies in the continuing year.

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Awards

    • In the year 2013 Sudhir Chaudhary won a Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism in the “Hindi broadcast” category. He won the award for interviewing the December 16 gang-rape victim.
    • In 2022 Sudhir Chaudhary was awarded the most trusted CEO award in the Idea fest 2022.

    FAQs

    Who is Sudhir Chaudhary’s wife?

    Sudhir Chaudhary is married to Niti Chaudhary.

    What is the salary and net worth of Sudhir Chaudhary?

    The salary of Sudhir Chaudhary is 25 lakh per month and his total net worth is 3 million dollars.

  • List of All the Media Channels Under Zee Media (Essel Group)

    One of India’s most renowned commercial organizations, Essel Group or the Zee Group, has a broad portfolio of assets in media, marketing, entertainment, enterprise solutions, infrastructure projects, and academia. This conglomerate, which has its headquarters in Mumbai, has distinguished itself in the Indian media sector. Popularly known as Zee, the business is a household name in itself.

    The current business sectors of Essel Group are TV broadcasting, publishing, filmmaking, science and technology, manufacturing, infrastructure, academia, valuable metals, healthy living, potash mining, financial services, oil and gas, and nuclear energy, and these are only a few examples.

    About Essel Group

    Speaking of the history of the Essel Group, it has its roots attached to the pre-independence era. It was founded in 1926 as a commodity trading and export company called Rama Associates Limited.

    Ever since, it has transformed into a conglomerate that is a representation of the creativity and strength of Indian entrepreneurship, with overseas operations and a workforce of close to around ten thousand devoted workers all over the nation.

    Today, one of the major business areas of Essel Group is Zee Media Corporation. Zee News Limited was the previous name of Zee Media Corporation Limited. It is one of the biggest television news networks in India, offering coverage of both the national and local news. The organization created Zee TV, the first satellite channel ever broadcast in the nation.

    It features around 19 news channels nationwide in eight different languages and is run by Subhash Chandra. Dish TV India Ltd., a distribution network, is also present. Zee Media also produces films and videos and manages ZIMA, the Zee Institute of Media Arts, a film school. Shares representing 30.89% of the company are available for trading on the stock exchange. The Essel Group of enterprises owns the remaining 69.11 percent of the shares.

    Let us now talk about the different channels owned by Zee Media.

    1. Zee News
    2. Zee Hindustan
    3. Zee Business
    4. Zee 24 Ghanta
    5. Zee Kannada
    6. Zee 24 Taas
    7. Zee 24 Kalak
    8. Zee Odisha
    9. Zee Rajasthan
    10. Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand
    11. Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh
    12. Zee Bihar Jharkhand
    13. Zee Delhi NCR Haryana
    14. Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal
    15. WION
    16. Zee Salaam
    17. Zee Malayalam
    18. Zee Tamil News
    19. Zee Telugu News

    1. Zee News

    Launched: 1999

    Language: Hindi

    Zee News Logo
    Zee News Logo

    Zee News is one of the most popular news channels in India at present. It was launched in the year 1999 and today it primarily focuses on Hindi media and has turned out to be one of the most controversial news giants.

    2. Zee Hindustan

    Launched: 2017

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Hindustan Logo
    Zee Hindustan Logo

    Zee Hindustan is one such unique channel without any news anchor or presenter. It was revamped in the year 2018. The motive behind this was to show the real voices and opinions of the Indian masses through unique shows.

    3. Zee Business

    Launched: 2005

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Business Logo
    Zee Business Logo

    Zee Business, as the name suggests, is mainly engaged in the broadcasting of business-related day-to-day affairs. With its insightful debates on the finance and economy of the country with great business personalities, the channel has been growing ever since.

    4. Zee 24 Ghanta

    Launched: 2007

    Language: Bengali

    Zee 24 Ghanta Logo
    Zee 24 Ghanta Logo

    Zee 24 Ghanta is one of the most popular Bengali TV channels. Zee 24 Ghanta focuses on the overall news and shows happening in and around West Bengal.

    5. Zee Kannada

    Launched: 2006

    Language: Kannada

    Zee Kannada Logo
    Zee Kannada Logo

    Zee Kannada is Zee Network’s extension to the Kannada media. The channel deals with all the affairs happening in and around. It was launched back in the year 2006 and has been unstoppable.

    6. Zee 24 Taas

    Launched: 2007

    Language: Marathi

    Zee 24 Taas Logo
    Zee 24 Taas Logo

    Maharashtra, the state of the financial capital of India is one of the most important affairs of India and so is Zee 24 Taas which is broadcasted in Marathi primarily for the people of Maharashtra.

    7. Zee 24 Kalak

    Launched: 2017

    Language: Gujarati

    Zee 24 Kalak Logo
    Zee 24 Kalak Logo

    Similarly, Zee 24 Kalak is Zee Networks’ extension of its channels in Gujarat. The channel is quite famous in the cities of Gandhinagar Ahmedabad,, etc, and is growing in the whole of Gujarat.

    8. Zee Odisha

    Launched: 2014

    Language: Odia

    Zee Odisha Logo
    Zee Odisha Logo

    Zee Odisha is Zee Networks’ extension of broadcasting the Odia news in the region through this channel. The channel is quite popular in Orissa and enjoys excellent viewership.

    9. Zee Rajasthan

    Launched: 2013

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Rajasthan Logo
    Zee Rajasthan Logo

    Zee Rajasthan is one of the most prominent news channels in Rajasthan and has been growing ever since it was launched. The channel enjoys great popularity in the state and often holds big events.

    10. Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand

    Launched: 2017

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand Logo
    Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand Logo

    Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand is Zee Networks’ extension of broadcasting the news related to the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which were originally Uttar Pradesh at one point in time. The channel is quite popular in the region and enjoys great TRP compared to other regional channels of UP and Uttarakhand.

    11. Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh

    Launched: 2017

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh Logo
    Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh Logo

    Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh got separated in the year 2000 but the states have always been integral parts of India and friendly neighbors as well. The channel Zee Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh broadcasts the shows in the local languages of the concerned states and enjoys great TRP.

    12. Zee Bihar Jharkhand

    Launched: 2017

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Bihar Jharkhand Logo
    Zee Bihar Jharkhand Logo

    Zee Bihar Jharkhand is Zee Networks’ extension of broadcasting the news related to the states Bihar and Jharkhand, which were originally Bihar through this channel. The channel is quite popular in the region and enjoys great TRP compared to other regional channels.

    13. Zee Delhi NCR Haryana

    Launched: 2022

    Language: –

    Zee Delhi NCR Logo
    Zee Delhi NCR Logo

    Delhi NCR and Haryana are bordering states and very often, the affairs of these states have always to do with each other’s welfare. Thus Zee Delhi NCR Haryana broadcasts the NCR and Haryana-related news on this channel and is considered one of the most successful regional TV channels.

    14. Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal

    Launched: 2013

    Language: Hindi

    Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal Logo
    Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal Logo

    Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal are bordering states and very often, the affairs of these states have always to do with each other’s welfare. Thus Zee Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal broadcasts the related news and other TV shows on this channel and is considered one of the most successful regional TV channels.

    15. WION

    Launched: 2016

    Language: English

    Wion Logo
    Wion Logo

    WION is one of the international news channels which has its presence spread overseas in countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, etc. It also is an integral part of the Essel Group and has been performing great in English news. It was launched in 2006.

    16. Zee Salaam

    Launched: 2010

    Language: Urdu

    Zee Salaam Logo
    Zee Salaam Logo

    Zee Salaam, as the name suggests is the Urdu infotainment of the Zee Networks’. The main aim of the channel was to promote Urdu culture and practices; thus it was launched in 2010 and has been successful ever since.

    17. Zee Malayalam

    Launched: 2018

    Language: Malayalam

    Zee Malayalam Logo
    Zee Malayalam Logo

    Zee Malayalam is Zee Networks’ extension of broadcasting the Malayali news and shows in the region of Kerala state through this channel. The channel is quite popular in Kerala and enjoys excellent viewership.

    18. Zee Tamil News

    Launched: 2008

    Language: Tamil

    Zee Tamil News Logo
    Zee Tamil News Logo

    Zee Tamil mainly deals with the state of Tamil Nadu and broadcasts shows and news concerning the state.

    19. Zee Telugu News

    Launched: 2005

    Language: Telugu

    Zee Telugu Logo
    Zee Telugu Logo

    Zee Telugu is one of the most prominent TV channels in the state of Telangana and the surrounding areas and has been growing ever since it was launched. The channel enjoys great popularity in the state and often holds big events.

    Conclusion

    We can see that with time Essel Group’s Zee Networks has spread its business to the whole of India. Today Zee TV rules over the Indian media. The secret ingredient behind this is the fact that they understood the people’s needs and love for their language. Thus the expansion in the regional languages helped the group grow to the pinnacles of glory, where they are today.

    FAQs

    Who is the owner of the Zee News channel?

    Essel Group is the parent company of Zee News.

    How many channels does Zee News have?

    Zee News has 19 channels under its brand.