ZEE5 announces new Tamil show ‘Paper Rocket’

ZEE5, the video streaming platform owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd has announced Paper Rocket, a Tamil language show directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi and produced by Sreenidhi Sagar of Rise East Production, set to premier on 29 July. It features Kalidas Jayaram and Tanya Ravichandran in lead roles.

“With great music, the series is a heart-warming tale that encapsulates the ups and downs of life. At ZEE5, our aim is to expand the entertainment canvas by providing the audience with content in a wide variety of genres,” Manish Kalra, chief business officer, ZEE5 India said in a statement.

The share of regional languages in overall OTT (over-the-top) video content will double from 27% in 2020 to 54% in 2024, as more streaming platforms take to vernacular programming and films, said a recent Ficci EY report. In 2021 alone, 47% of OTT originals and 69% of films released on platforms were not in Hindi.

Taking a cue, OTT platforms such as VOOT, SonyLIV and Disney+ Hotstar, too, are following in the footsteps of global giants Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to acquire films in the four southern languages besides Marathi and Punjabi as they seek to lure subscribers from tier-two and tier-three towns.

Media experts said streaming brands looking for national reach will have to focus on at least eight to nine languages. All platforms have understood and recognized that if they need to be relevant across India, they will have to acquire as well as create original content for regional markets. As OTTs started launching, the audiences they catered to was guided by their content library as well as strategy of going after the largest audiences. While many went after Hindi speaking markets audiences, others like Sun Nxt focused on south content since they already have a huge library of movies and shows.