Zee to launch new VOD platform Z5; Ozee, dittoTV will be defunct soon

That Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) is looking to launch a new video-on-demand platform is known.

Here's the additional information we just found: Zee will name the new platform Z5. Moreover, Zee's existing VOD platforms Ozee (advertising based) and dittoTV (subscription based, live TV) will be defunct soon, a source at the organisation informs afaqs!.

Z5 will be Zee's way of integrating all its VOD content and putting it onto a single platform.

Z5 is scheduled to be launched later this year and will follow a 'freemium' revenue model, that is, some of its content will be monetised through advertising while some of it will be placed behind a paywall.

In a recent interview with afaqs!, Archana Anand, head of digital, India Z5 business, said, "Today, everybody is chasing the OTT dream, we all believe that tomorrow the ecosystem will be fantastic; advertising and subscription revenue will flow and when it happens, we all want to be there. We all are struggling today and that is because the Indian ecosystem has not reached the optimal point for digital business yet. At the same time, you cannot say that I will enter the business when it's all done. By then someone else will capture the market. Behind all the rosy PR stories, the reality is that survival is really tough for everybody today."