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Tag: Zeel

  • 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

  • ZEE-Sony Merger | Why did Zee Entertainment decide to merge with Sony?

    On September 22, the board of Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) accepted a non-binding term sheet with Sony Pictures Networks India to consolidate their businesses, with Sony’s promoters investing Rs 11,615 crore ($1.57 billion) in the merged entity as growth capital, making it India’s most extensive entertainment network with approximately $2 billion in revenues and a 26% viewership share. The statement resulted in a 9.99 per cent increase in Zee stock.

    Following the infusion of growth money, ZEEL shareholders own around 47 per cent of the combined company, while Sony India promoters own 53 per cent.

    Zee-Sony Merger – Division of the Shares and Profits
    Previous ZEEL Deals
    Zee-Sony Merger – Challenges Companies may confront
    Zee-Sony Merger – How is it Beneficial for Both Companies?
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    ZEEL-Sony Merger

    Zee-Sony Merger – Division of the Shares and Profits

    Punit Goenka - CEO of ZEE
    Punit Goenka- CEO of ZEE

    Based on the current anticipated equity values of ZEEL and Sony India, the stated merger ratio would have been 61.25 per cent in favour of ZEEL.

    In exchange for current ZEEL backers and their affiliates pledging not to compete with the combined firm, Sony India’s promoters agreed to transfer roughly a 2% interest in the merged entity. The Subhash Chandra family would own 4% of the amalgamated business, which established India’s first private sector entertainment network, with the opportunity to grow their holding to 20%. The family liquidated their ZEEL shareholding to repay Rs 13,000 crore in loans from Indian banks for failed diversifications such as infrastructure projects.

    While Sony’s promoters will have the right to appoint the majority of the board’s directors, Punit Goenka, ZEEL’s CEO and MD will lead the amalgamated firm.

    The nomination compensation committee, the board of directors, and the shareholders of the combined firm must all approve Goenka’s appointment.

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    Previous ZEEL Deals

    Sony Pictures N is attempting a deal with ZEE for the second time. SPN was one of the few shortlisted strategic investors with whom ZEE was negotiating to sell the promoters’ shareholding and infuse funds for development.

    ZEE could not reach an agreement with a strategic investor in 2019 and was obliged to settle for a financial one due to a liquidity shortage. Even though most of the promoters’ debt had been paid off, the firm still needs development capital.

    During the lockdown, ZEE was considering various funding possibilities, including loans, as it is a debt-free firm. However, the board of directors and promoters believe that a strategic investor will be the first choice.

    According to those familiar with the situation, when the transaction with ZEE fell through owing to value issues, SPN attempted to combine with Viacom18. That contract fell through in October of last year, and SPN’s parent business began hunting for new partners, they added.

    Due to the rough treatment of stockholders, the purchase was likely to face legal challenges, with the Subhash Chandra family receiving an extra 2.1 per cent stake from Sony promoters as a non-compete fee.

    Zee-Sony Merger – Challenges Companies may confront

    The merger conditions include a non-compete agreement between the ZEEL promoters and Sony Pictures Networks India, with the ZEEL promoters receiving an additional 2.1 per cent interest in the combined firm.

    Obtaining ZEEL shareholders’ approval for the planned merger and the continuance of ZEEL’s MD and CEO as the head of the merging company for the next five years may also pose hurdles, considering the tense relationship between certain institutional owners of ZEEL and the ZEEL board.

    However, the amalgamated entity’s planned structure’s board of Directors may assuage institutional shareholders’ worries. Because the Sebi Takeover Code exempts the acquisition of interest via a Scheme of Arrangement for amalgamation/merger, there will be no open offer for ZEEL shares.

    The sale was accelerated when Invesco, one of ZEEL’s significant owners, requested an emergency general meeting within three weeks to remove Goenka. After proxy advice companies reported corporate governance issues in the business that ZEEL later funded, two directors, Manish Chokhani and Ashok Kurien resigned from the ZEEL board.

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    Zee-Sony Merger – How is it Beneficial for Both Companies?

    Analysts estimate that the transaction will create a new media and entertainment powerhouse in India, with revenues of Rs 15,000 crore.

    According to analysts, the deal is a strategic match since Sony is a big player in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) market, mainly non-fiction. Zee is strong in movies of all genres and the regional GEC area. Zee has a 17% network viewing share, whereas Sony has a 10-12% share. As a result, it would be a solid strategic match in broadcast, digital, and content.

    In terms of synergies, Sony is performing well in sports and mainstream GEC, but Zee has a high recall on regional genres, which Sony has less of or none of. Sony’s foreign repertoire would be available for ZEE to exploit and monetize.

    With this acquisition, ZEE Entertainment’s corporate governance issues should be resolved, boosting investor trust. Both companies have a robust film library that can be exploited for OTT and TV offerings. The combined firm will be better positioned to compete with Disney on both the distribution and advertising fronts.

    According to Zee’s annual report, its network in India connects over 3,000 brands with their customers.

    According to ZEEL’s aggregated figures, the company made a profit of Rs 800 crore on revenues of Rs 7,730 crore in the fiscal year ending March this year.

    In March 2020, Sony Pictures Network India made a profit of Rs 976 crore on revenues of Rs 5,846 crore, with cash on books of Rs 11,000 crore.

    Following the announcement of the merger, ZEEL’s shares soared 32% to Rs 337 per share, valuing the company at Rs 32,378 crore.

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    Conclusion

    ZEE and SPN are two of India’s most popular media and entertainment companies, having strong consumer appeal across genres, languages, and platforms. The combination of these two companies will bring together the media industry’s most powerful leadership teams, content creators, and high-quality series and film libraries, resulting in a combined content platform that can compete with domestic and global platforms while also accelerating the region’s digital transition.

    FAQs

    Is Sony and ZEE merging?

    Zee had announced merger with Sony on September 22.

    Who is the owner of Zee Entertainment?

    News Corporation is the parent organization of Zee Entertainment and owns it.

    Who is the CEO of ZEE?

    Punit Goenka is the CEO of ZEE since 2008.