ISLAMABAD: The Zee network has decided on a bold new initiative to bring successful Pakistani TV soaps to Indian audiences. It has decided to launch a new channel, called Zindagi, on June 23, for which it is sourcing content from Pakistan that, it believes, will find a loyal viewership in India.
Forbes India reports that to test this idea, short clips of Pakistani shows were shown to families across India. The feedback reinforced the belief that the shows would indeed work with Indian viewers.
It turns out that just like Pakistan, memories of classic shows like Dhoop Kinaare and Ankahi are still strong with the Indian audiences of the 1980s. However, the question is, whether young Indian viewers will connect with this genre.
The market today is already being fragmented with varied classes of people opting for a variety of content. We want to make sure we have an offering for the premium mass Hindi-speaking markets. This will help us expand our audience base, tap into premium advertisers and shore up revenues in the long run, said Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited.
The audience for such content is about 40 million TV homes. India has a total of 140 million homes that watch television. In the early stages, the channel will air four hours of new programming every day; gradually, it plans to pick up content from other parts of the world as well and commission new programmes that will be produced both in India and Pakistan. Several novels are also being converted into soaps and 12 telefilms have been commissioned.
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