Manjyot Sandhu, Vice President – Syndication (Europe & MENAT) at Zee Entertainment, talks about the latest titles in the catalog of ZEE Content Sales which will be showcased during NATPE Budapest International.


Manjyot, give us a quick overview of ZEE Content Sales?

Zee Content Sales is the licensing arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and currently houses one of the largest libraries of content globally. We offer a wide array of content localized in multiple European languages across genres. We have been working with broadcasters in the region for over a decade now licensing top rated drama shows. The success of our story is further emphasized by our repeat sales with partners.


What are Zee Content Sale’s headlining titles for this year's NATPE Budapest International?

It has been our constant endeavor to adapt to the ever changing content landscape internationally.

We are showcasing some high production value digital shows which include productions which have been set in European cities like Belgrade and London: Qubool Hai 2.0, Never Kiss Your Best Friend, The Final Call, Break Point to name a few. Evolving genres such as Crime, Thriller & Sports’ Doc’s are some key features of our showcase.


Could you mention some of your latest deals and your best performing titles in Central and Eastern Europe?

We have seen some big wins during the COVID period with our partners in Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia. Given the disruption caused by the pandemic, we were quick to react to fulfill the content gaps of our partners in the region. Our legacy titles KumKum Bhagya (Twist of Fate), Kundali Bhagya (Destined for Love), Gangaa (A Child’s Battle with Destiny) have seen huge success in the region.

We continue to work closely with our clients to not only license our content, but act as partners to ensure success through interactivity & marketing initiatives.


How about the movie library of ZEE Content Sales?

Zee Content Sales has one of the largest movie libraries, with over 5000
movie titles across multiple languages that have seen great traction in both Western Europe, CEE & the CIS region. There is a huge fan following not only with South Asian audiences but also across mainland audiences for Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Classics coming from legendary actors like Raj Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty.

We continue to add to our film library through ZEE originals and new digital films which have won accolades across film festivals globally.


What is your take on the ongoing debate between OTT & Linear TV in the region?

While Video-on-demand has fast become mainstream success across all age groups, linear TV will continue to remain significant and as per the market trends the consumer has an extensive range of global as well as national content only to be differentiated for consumption by ‘personal’ choice.

In post Pandemic Europe, specifically, the SVOD industry witnessed a remarkable surge and television markets in Central and Eastern Europe not only grew in terms of subscription numbers, but reports indicate that the average TV viewing time per capita has also gained traction; countries like Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia have seen dramatic growth in TV viewing time.


Ashok Namboodiri, Chief Business Officer - International Business at ZEEL

“We adapt stories that hold the scope to travel widely and are ready to collaborate with local content partners in the region, make capital investments in partnerships and co-productions to stay ahead of the curve. It is already working in regions where the social fabric is similar, such as Europe & Africa.

We already enjoy an audience of about 1.3 billion with direct presence across the globe and our aim is to double it in the coming years. It is an outlook of Different strokes for different folks: we will stick to our core expertise in some markets, experiment in few and adapt different business models in other markets”.