Zoom to change packaging and programming

Zoom, the Bollywood entertainment channel from Times Network, will soon unveil a brand new look and revamped programming line-up. The channel has also appointed actor Kangana Ranaut as its brand ambassador. The new look of Zoom has been designed by Mayur Tekchandaney of Briefcase and the internal team at Zoom.

Sunder Venkatraman, vice president and product head, Zoom, says, "Content strategy on Zoom centres around 'trends' and 'youth', which are the hottest genres on social media today. The new offerings on Zoom will be of shorter format - more like the T-20 of entertainment. They will vary in duration from a minute-and-a-half to seven or eight minutes to longer formats of 20 minutes; there is no fixed duration. But, what is certain is that the content will really be Bollywood through fashion, gossip, style, humour, news, music, relationships and more."

Describing the new look of the channel as "fresh and young," he says, "It's about small innovations with great impact. For instance, a progress bar has been used for the first time ever on television."

In an industry where marketing content is the norm, Zoom decided to leverage its superior content to drive a marketing blitzkrieg. The first step was a foot-tapping music video shot by global expert Harvey Brown, the award-winning film director, creative director, art director and set designer, who has worked on several top Hollywood projects, and also specialises in larger-than-life musicals. The song composed by duo Sachin-Jigar has been sung by Anuskha Manchanda. The video, titled 'Hotel Zoom', will be unveiled on the launch day across platforms and will also drive engagement on social media.