Zee Studio's brand refresh pays off

The channel, with a market share of 14 per cent, is the third most watched English movie channel. Its market share was 7 per cent before the brand refresh in October 2014.

Zee Studio, the English movie channel from Zee Network, has witnessed a growth of 35 per cent in viewership since its brand refresh in October 2014.

As per TAM data provided by the channel, for the past few weeks, it has maintained its third rank with a market share of 14 per cent (week 5- 6, 2015).

According to Sharlton Menezes, head - content and marketing, Zee Studio and Zee Café, the brand refresh with a new ideology 'See it all' has paid off. The channel's market share was around 7 per cent before the refresh happened. Thus, reflecting a 100 per cent growth.

Zee Studio's refreshed ideology was a new way to engage viewers with its library of movie collections that offers a range of genres including action, comedy and animation. Over the past few months, Zee Studio has efficaciously transitioned over to this new identity encompassing a sleek and edgy packaging, and is equipped to bring the best of the latest Hollywood content to its Indian viewers.

As a part of the rebranding, Zee Studio spruced up its movie archive with titles like 'Marvel's The Avengers', 'Iron Man', 'GI Joe', 'Brave', 'Shrek', 'Kung Fu Panda', 'Madagascar- Europe's Most Wanted' and 'Rise of the Guardians'. Premium properties like 'Studio Binge', 'Super Studio' and 'The One', airing blockbuster movies targeting prime-time slots were the game changers.

The channel has recently struck a deal with Disney and Paramount. With these associations, the channel has been able to carry major series like Madagascar. Some of the key titles that the channel will air this year include 'The Godfather' and 'Iron Man 3'. The channel intends to make itself more mass appealing and is trying to expand to 1 million + towns.

Zee Studio is launching a trade marketing campaign to announce its success and attract more viewers.

Menezes says, "The latest campaign reiterates the fact that Zee Studio is a one-stop solution for a Hollywood movie fanatic looking for quality content. The campaign aims at reaching out to the right influencers and audiences, primarily in key metros Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, to create top of mind brand recall. At the moment, our focus is on maintaining our ranking while the ultimate aim is to be a leader in the industry across India. With this trade campaign, we wish to highlight the stellar performance of Zee Studio in the last eight weeks. The campaign reminds stakeholders of Zee Studio of its consistent leadership, in the towering skylines of metropolitan India and, at the same time, it talks about Zee Studio's loyal and committed viewership, thus reflecting the success of the philosophy of 'See it all'."

For the record, Zee Studio was launched in March 2000 as the 'ultimate English movie recourse', with an aim to provide movie content to an audience that craved Hollywood entertainment.