ZEE Entertainment launches Marathi movie channel Zee Chitramandir for the Free Dish market

ZEE Entertainment Enterprises, a leading Global Content Company, has further strengthened its presence in the Maharashtra market with the launch of its second Marathi movie offering – Zee Chitramandir. With its pan-India reach and strong consumer connect, ZEE has been at the forefront of developing regional markets and entertaining audiences with the best of content across multiple consumer touch-points. Maharashtra market is one of the key drivers for ZEE’s regional growth housing iconic TV content brands Zee Marathi and Zee Talkies that have grown to be a part of every Maharashtrian’s day to day life and Zee Studios Marathi growing the industry with award- winning movie titles. The network recently forayed in regional music space as well, with the launch of Zee Vajwa, a Music channel for the Marathi ‘yuva’ that attained a strong position in the category within just 4 weeks of launch.

As the leading Marathi entertainment network with over 37% market share*, reaching 40 million viewers every week, the addition of Zee Chitramandir will further boost the reach by targeting 4 million Free Dish households* in the category. Marathi being the mother tongue of 80% of the households in the region, and 1 in every 3 rural households having a Free Dish connection, the category is currently underserved with only 3 language channels, leaving a huge untapped potential available to capture. Keeping the consumer preferences at the fore, Zee Chitramandir will address the need of a quality Free Dish offering in the Marathi movie segment with a rich library of 600+ popular movie titles.

Commenting on the launch, Amit Shah, Cluster Head – North, West & Premium Channels, ZEE said, “Customer centricity has been the heart and soul of everything that we do at ZEE. Whether it’s through our popular TV shows or extraordinary movies from the Zee Studios portfolio, our strong storytelling across platforms has been instrumental in strengthening ZEE’s equity in each and every aspect of Maharashtra. ZEE’s Marathi portfolio features strong content brands that have become a part of our consumer’s day to day life, whether it is our GECs – Zee Marathi, or our leading movie channel Zee Talkies capturing 50%+ market share or our recent launch Zee Vajwa for the Marathi Music viewer. The launch of Zee Chitramandir will further enhance our offering to the Marathi audiences, with the cluster covering 70% reach in the market. With the largest and richest movie catalogue in the category, Zee Chitramandir will entertain audiences with the best of never seen before movie titles offering quality entertainment to the audiences in their native language.”

Speaking about the new offering, Ashish Sehgal, chief growth officer – advertisement revenue, ZEE said, “With the rural economy growing, income levels across strata are improving thereby leading to high consumption in the FTA markets. This is further attracting advertisers, who want to capture the potential in these markets. ZEE’s dominance in the regional markets has been a major growth driver of regional viewership and revenue, and we are excited to bring a new Free Dish offering to cater to the large audience segment available in the Marathi free market. With Zee Chitramandir, we are strengthening our channel portfolio in the Maharashtra market, adding value to our partners’ plans and giving them an opportunity to engage more deeply with their consumers.”

With its wide library across genres the channel will specifically curate titles catering to varied mind states and entertainment needs across day parts.

Zee Chitramandir is available to all Free Dish users starting 9th April 2021.