Experience the Extraordinary ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18 ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES LIMITED WELCOME TO THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD OF ZEE! The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. We took our first Our new brand ideology – ‘Extraordinary Together’, celebrates our step 25 years back with a simple idea - create stories that entertain, belief in the power of working together, that we’re greater than the inspire, and touch hearts. We started small but success fuelled our sum of our parts and from collaboration comes the strength to deliver desires, dreams and ambitions. As we moved ahead, the goals became the exceptional. Our mission to create extraordinary entertainment more audacious and we challenged ourselves to do more. We achieved experiences for our audience could not have been achieved without milestones which were not visible at the beginning and looked the support of our employees, partners and peers, who had the faith impossible even as we progressed. True to the saying, ‘A dream you in our vision and walked alongside us. At the cusp of our dream alone is only a dream, a dream you dream together is reality’, 25th anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to work tirelessly with our vision materialised only because it was shared by our partners and each of them, to create new benchmarks and deliver the extraordinary. peers. Today, our 1.3 billion strong audience in 170+ countries is a result Mosaic, an art-form made of innumerable elements, each of which is of not only our relentless efforts but also of the countless others who vital to the picture that emerges when they all come together, is thus supported us on the way. a fitting motif for this report. Zee and Balaji Telefilms started their journey almost at the same time. In fact, our first two shows, Mano Ya Na Mano and Hum Paanch aired on Zee TV. Over the years, we have collaborated for several projects and have had the pleasure of creating some of the iconic shows of our time. Ekta Kapoor EXTRAORDINARY Joint Managing Director, Balaji Telefilms Over the last 25 years, Zee has changed the face of entertainment. The scale of its shows has become bigger and better. With content that is vibrant, ENTERTAINMENT intriguing and bold, Zee is a leader and dominates the living rooms of South Indian households. I would like to acknowledge Zee Tamil’s efforts in creating a fabulous character for me which made my comeback as one of the best Quality content is the focal point for an extraordinary entertainment experience. This quality orchestrated relaunches for an artist in recent times. content is the confluence of numerous disparate elements, each of which demands careful attention. Creating content is an intricate and iterative process, entailing a deep understanding of Priya Raman consumers’ entertainment needs, rendering an engaging narrative, and bringing it to life. Each of Actor (Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam - TV and movies) these is a multi-layered process and requires a keen eye for detail. Whether it is a 5-minute video clip or a 3-hour movie, each piece of content is the result of the splendid work of numerous people, experts in their fields, coming together to create the extraordinary. The evolution and progress of content creation over the past 25 years is nothing short of a Zee Studios has shown new dreams to Marathi cinema - dreams of growth, revolution. It is the culmination of the relentless efforts of scores of people who are passionate dreams of fame and dreams of prosperity. It has become a name which about providing a phenomenal entertainment experience. This has made it possible to present audience trusts for quality content. Zee Studios gives opportunities to viewers with extensive entertainment choices. Besides telling stories, content has the ability new talent as well as reputed craftsman to showcase their stories, many of to transport the audience to a different world. A world created by the writer and director which have become an important part of Marathi cinema. with the help of the cinematographer, set designer and music director, amongst many others. The actor, supported by costume designers and make-up artists, gives life Ravi Jadhav to these characters, creating an experience that the audiences can both enjoy Director and Producer of Marathi movies and relate to. This content is enriched by the efforts of several people (Natrang, Balgandharv, Time Pass and Nude) behind the screen including editors, technicians and support staff, all of whom add value to the consumer experience. Through the course of this journey, the production house plays a pivotal role, bringing this diverse set of talent Partnering with Zee Telugu opened up new avenues for Annapurna together under a single roof. Studios. The creative freedom that a partner gets from Zee is what Our understanding of audiences, helps them deliver best results. Hoping that we will continue to work complemented by key partnerships with together and garner mutual success in the time to come. the artist fraternity, has helped us sustain Supriya Yarlagadda our position as a leading entertainment MD, Annapurna Studios content company. From 10 hours of original content in one language in the first week of launch, we now offer 500 hours of content every week I credit Zee for making me a household name by casting me as the lead in their across 12 languages. One of the show Pavitra Rishta. That was a big move for me which acted as the stepping challenges of being an industry stone for my Bollywood journey. pioneer was to build everything from scratch. However, this was Sushant Singh Rajput intrinsically rewarding as it gave us Actor (Hindi movies) an opportunity to be instrumental in creating the industry’s ecosystem and providing a launch pad for new talent. We are fortunate to have had several creative partners, many of whom began their journey with us, and over the years, have continued to instate their faith in our vision. Together, we will keep pushing the envelope to create extraordinary entertainment. When Zee started operations two and a half decades back, it transformed our business from a single channel provider showing only movies to a full-fledged cable company with a multitude of entertainment channels. Zee was the first to provide regional channels in Marathi and it remains the most important channel in Maharashtra. Our subscribers are very fond of the Zee’s bouquet of channels. Ashok D Tahiliani EXTRAORDINARY Proprietor, Poona Cable System & Services (Local Cable Operator) Zee is a brand synonymous with entertainment in India. It is admirable how they have captured audience’s imagination with the engaging content that they produce continuously. As the leading DTH player in the country, quality content is key to our offerings and their diverse content provides immense value to our subscribers. With a PARTNERSHIPS pan-India presence, Zee has been a valuable partner and we hope that we further strengthen our partnership in the coming years. 25 years ago, the launch of Zee TV - the first private Indian satellite channel - ushered in a new era in entertainment. Since then, entertainment landscape has evolved immeasurably, giving Harit Nagpal consumers myriad choices. This has been possible through the collaborative efforts of all our MD & CEO, Tata Sky partners and peers, who have made unique contributions. Together, these efforts have led to creation of an extraordinary entertainment experience for the consumer. It is difficult to envisage that the entertainment industry would have scaled such heights, in this Zee in the 25 years since its launch has hugely influenced what India short time span, without its meaningful partnership with the advertisers. The invaluable role watches. With a deep understanding of the content that consumers in played by this partnership in nurturing the content creation industry, starting from fledgling days, India love, Zee helps us in carrying the brand stories of our iconic brands continues till date. Advertisers are our indispensable allies and we believe that this symbiotic to our consumers. We see Zee as a key partner in connecting our brands relationship has been pivotal to our growth story. with the consumers. Our distribution partners have enabled us to reach the vast audience base in India and overseas. An army of local cable operators, spread across the country, facilitated customer reach by Sanjiv Mehta creating the last mile network. Multi-system operators and Direct-to-Home operators elevated CEO & MD, HUL the customer experience to another level by leading digitisation and offering superior service. Telecom operators are now mapping new frontiers for entertainment consumption by offering affordable data and integrating our content with their platforms. Star and Zee go way back, right to the early days when we used to work The entertainment industry has continuously pushed the boundaries. As peers, we together. Zee has been one of the most prominent players in shaping how have kept each other on toes in the quest for consumers’ attention by creating richer entertainment in India has evolved over the years. We look forward to content. The exemplary work of all our peers serves as an inspiration to us to enhance collectively shaping the Indian entertainment ecosystem and driving industry consumer experience and provide extraordinary entertainment, consistently. shaping reforms for the benefit of the consumer and society together. Our 25-year odyssey that began with a single television channel, continues to be as exciting as we evolve into an all-encompassing entertainment content Uday Shankar company. As a result of our relentless pursuit to satisfy the audience’s Chairman and CEO, Star India & growing entertainment needs, we now have an exhaustive television President, 21st Century Fox, Asia portfolio along with a strong presence in the digital, movies, music, international and live verticals.