It's easy to note Zee5's interest in experimenting with its Kannada lineup. Whether it is through form — Srinidhi Bengaluru's latest original Jerax paired comedy with avant-garde sci-fi sensibilities — or roots — Vijay Raghavendra's Raakshasa used a crocodile to tell a story of human incapabilities. But the said experimentation isn't limited to just genres. It extends to introducing a Kannada language pack to the platform itself.
March marked a year since the platform officially dipped its feet in the Kannada original space. Deepak Sriramulu, Business Head - Zee Kannada and Kannada, ZEE5, in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, talks about actively collaborating with storytellers from the industry, and offering a competitive Kannada-first space during the industry's ongoing dry patch at the theatres.
Can you speak to us about the viewing patterns of Kannada audience on Zee5 and how it's changed over the years?
Before the past year, Zee5 Kannada was mainly utilised as an alternate channel or platform to consume content from TV channels. When we started producing originals, we could see a shift in behaviour patterns. It was more of an intentional than a passive way of approach. Audiences from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities began consuming this content. With storytelling being very rooted in their culture and language, the Kannada-first kind of approach allows them to consume the content more on the digital platform. We continue to see growth.
Zee 5 has seen a few experimental Kannada titles like Raakshasa, Shodha and the latest Jerax, which feature genre-bending elements. Could you speak to us about the interest and acceptance among audiences for such titles?
When it comes to Zee5 original content, last year was a complete experiment for our platform, because there were not a lot of Kannada originals coming out on other platforms. We were the first ones to launch the continuous or consistent drops, which we gave, starting from Ayyana Mane.
We also leaned on local flavours and beliefs. Marigold was placed in Sirsi, and Raakshasa was placed in Saudathi. In Saundathi, for instance, there is still a strong belief in crocodile presence in water bodies. The Kannada audience is open to accepting this experiment when the stories are relevant.
How do you look at the past year with respect to the Kannada content? What has been your strategy in terms of green-lighting and bringing shows to the platform, and how have things progressed over the years?
Last year was an experiment for us, also because there was no existing background study for this market. Every platform was using a digital platform or OTT platform as a secondary platform for the TV. When we started, we automatically wanted to have a basic background to study how it works. We did a deep stick study with the storytellers and our office. We understood that crime thrillers might stick with audiences.
Every story gave us some learning. Keeping those learnings, we constantly work with our writing team. We have a writer's team that constantly works on multiple levels of scripts. So, we put our learnings to use from whatever we understand from FGDs (Focus Group Discussions). Mistakes can happen, but how we are going to correct them in the future shows the constant approach we take.
What does your data reveal about Kannada audiences’ viewing habits on OTT?
I can confidently tell you that project to project, we can see a lot of Tier 2, Tier 3 cities awakening, and they are showing a lot of interest in consuming the content. In past, it was more of an urban audience.
Our concentration is more on a co-viewing pattern rather than concentrating on one particular age, like the youth, the elderly or the mid-age category. We wanted to have a co-viewing pattern where the kid can sit with their parents and watch the originals.
In the 100% of viewership, we'd have 70-30 as the viewership breakup for the movie and the TV content in the past. Now, it has one more graph added to the pie chart, which is the original. There is a viewership shift.
Over a year ago, The Hollywood Reporter India reported a sense of hesitancy among streamers to greenlight web originals from the south, and in particular, Kannada. In the past year, there has been a consistent inflow of Kannada originals on your platform. Has that been intentional?
When we introduced Kannada as a language pack, there came a bigger responsibility for the Kannada team. I'm thankful to the management because they gave that opportunity to drive some new originals, and that confidence has catered to the people of this region in particular, because there was no such ecosystem here in the past.
Can you take us through your plans for the industry on the platform?
So, last year, when we started, we dropped 4 original pieces of content in a period of some 7-8 months.
This year, apart from series, we are also experimenting with many other formats. Along with originals, we wanted to explore extended content from TV, which is like a 50-episode kind of approach we are coming up with. We're planning non-fiction shows, events, and a lot of new formats we are exploring, and we are having the lineups. Every month, there will be something new coming out on our platform.