How Zee Cine Awards is building a three-month entertainment IP

One awards night, watched across 200 countries by over 120 million viewers. Broadcast on over 18 channels and one streaming platform. Spread across three months. That is the scale Zee Cine Awards is offering advertisers with its 24th edition.

The Zee Cine Awards 2026 will be held at Mumbai’s NSCI Dome over two days, February 28 and March 1. The show will premiere on television and digital on March 15, airing on ZEE TV, Z Cinema and streaming on ZEE5. Sponsors already on board include Maruti Suzuki, Hell Energy, Rajdhani Dal, L’Oréal Paris Glycolic Gloss, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Balaji Wafers.

Laxmi Shetty, head – advertisement revenue, broadcast & digital at Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), says the awards continue to attract brands because of the scale and engagement the property delivers.

Maruti Suzuki is returning as a sponsor for the fourth consecutive year. According to Shetty, the association is driven by the show’s ability to connect with audiences across age groups and markets.

“Maruti Suzuki is closely aligned with what we stand for—culturally rooted, widely present and deeply aspirational. It is synonymous with first-time buyers and everyday aspirations. That creates a natural synergy. The brand benefits from strong viewer engagement and innovative integrations that are distinct from what other platforms offer, helping drive top-of-mind recall among consumers considering a car purchase,” she says.

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Hell Energy is associating with the awards for the second year, while Rajdhani Dal, a retail-focused brand, has come on board for the first time.

Crucially, the Zee Cine Awards is positioned not as a single-night event but as a three-month-long property. After the March 15 premiere, the content will roll out across 18 additional channels over three months.

Nearly 80% of advertisers will remain consistent across these channels, as they come on board as sponsors of the IP. Local and regional advertisers will be added for specific markets.

The airing will be spread largely across free-to-air and movie channels, with some presence on Marathi and Bangla channels. With ZEE5, the awards will reach audiences in over 200 countries, opening up opportunities for international sponsorships as well.

The awards are traditionally held in the first quarter of the year, as they celebrate films and performances from the previous year. From an advertiser perspective, however, the timing puts the property in direct competition with the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Shetty acknowledges the challenge but positions the Zee Cine Awards as a strong alternative for brands that want scale without entering the IPL ecosystem.

“Unlike a one-day event, this property plays out over three months across multiple channels, delivering sustained engagement week after week. With on-air presence from March to May and a strong promotional build-up before that, brands get visibility for nearly four to four-and-a-half months, compared to the IPL’s roughly six-week window,” she says.

Shetty says the Zee Cine Awards 2025 emerged as the most-watched awards show globally, reaching close to 115–120 million viewers in a single airing across television and digital. “Notably, this figure reflects viewership from India alone—underscoring the continued draw of large-scale, cinema-led content.”

In an increasingly crowded content landscape, Zee’s bet is clear: compelling content drives viewership.

“If you create content people genuinely want to watch, audiences will seek it out wherever it’s available,” Shetty says. “That’s also why we even carry competing award shows like Filmfare and IIFA. It speaks to the strength of the platform and the audiences we deliver.”

While the property has seen strong interest across categories, the network is being selective to avoid category overlap and brand clashes.

Beyond the main awards night, the property includes a red-carpet event, nomination episodes and a musical evening that kicks off the celebrations. These elements also carry advertising inventory and integration opportunities.

In the run-up to the awards, Zee will air a seven-day movie festival showcasing titles from its library. Together, the festival, musical night, red carpet and awards show form a single bundled offering for advertisers.

The platform’s advertiser mix reflects the diversity of its audience—from Gen Z and younger viewers to older cohorts in the 35–40+ age group. This is also why the property is distributed across multiple platforms.

“Each channel has a distinct strength. Some skew younger or more premium, while others reach different cohorts. By airing across platforms, including FTA channels, we reach audiences across both urban and rural India,” says Shetty.

The televised show runs for approximately three to three-and-a-half hours, with six minutes allocated per half-hour segment.

“The show offers both scale and innovation,” says Shetty. “Depending on the partnership, brands can come on board through in-show integrations, red-carpet visibility, social media collaborations and regular FCT placements. The opportunities extend across the entire property, not just the awards night.”

This year’s edition carries the theme ‘Yeh Pal Hai Fans Ka’, reinforcing its focus on audience participation. Shetty says Zee Cine Awards is the only Bollywood awards platform that is truly fan-forward, featuring a viewers’ choice category.

“While most awards are decided by juries or internal panels, we believe in putting the power in the hands of the audience. As a content-tech company, we engage with our viewers daily and ensure they actively participate in the selection process. That’s what being fan-forward means to us,” she adds.