MUMBAI: With a view to consolidate its viewer base and reclaim its leadership position in the HSM rural market, Zee is all set to re-enter the FTA (free-to-air) space with its return to DD Free Dish from 10 June.

Zee Anmol was a consistently present in the HSM rural market till last year, the popular GEC channel enjoyed immense popularity in the FTA market with its deep-rooted understanding of the rural viewer, their sensibilities, entertainment needs and preferences. The role of entertainment and in spreading positivity and hope amongst viewers is further pronounced now and Zee Anmol is set to provide that with an exciting content line-up for the Free Dish audiences who had limited choices till now. Zee hopes to reclaim 25 per cent market share with a leadership position in Rural and is gunning for a large share of the FTA revenue space.

Catering to the demand for strong inspirational content amongst rural audiences, especially women in the age range of 15 to 30 years that constitutes the core TG for the segment, Zee Anmol is set to showcase moving stories of strong female archetypes and their real journeys of grit and resilience from the ZEEL library, with shows such as Choti Bahu, Doli Armano Ki and the immensely popular Kumkum Bhagya forming the tent-pole properties of the channel’s initial line-up right after its shift to DD Free Dish.

Zee chief consumer officer Prathyusha Agarwal said, “Over the years, Zee Anmol has shared a special relationship with rural India through its deep-rooted understanding of the rural viewer. In the current scenario, we see a tremendous increase in demand for differentiated content on DD Free Dish, especially as a learning from recent wins in Bhojpuri with Zee Biskope and Punjab markets with Zee Punjabi. Our library at Zee has riveting stories of women with vision and resilience that have the potential of inspiring women in the rural markets who are in search of a role model to look up to. We see this as an opportunity for Zee Anmol to reclaim its leadership position in the HSM Rural market through the channel’s reintroduction on DD Free Dish.”

With Zee Anmol Cinema’s comeback, the channel aims to occupy a distinct position in the Hindi movie space by establishing a personal connect with our viewers. Keeping the consumers sensibilities in mind, the channel is all set to entertain the viewers with family entertainers like Simmba, 2.0, Satyamev Jayate, Commando 3, Race 3, Spyder, Suriya S3, Saamy 2, K3 – Kaali Ka Karishma amongst others. With the robust content line up, the channel aims to offer an entertaining experience to the family-oriented audience.

Staying true to its brand promise, ‘Aapki Family Ka Cinema Hall’, the channel with its exclusively curated content aims to satiate the preferences of rural audiences who are rooted to their family ties and values and aspire the urban lifestyle. With a diverse content repository of 1500+ movies, the channel will air a slew of choicest movies spanning across different genres targeted to a wholesome family viewing experience.

Zee Hindi Movies cluster, business head Ruchir Tiwari, said “Rural markets take the centre stage with more than half of the TV viewership coming from the heartland. With the on-going health concerns, there is an increasing need for entertainment across the country, especially FTA channels considering spending power is decreasing. The recent jump in viewership of movie genre is a testimony to that.  With this move, we are hoping to, once again, reach out to a large, content hungry audience base and become their number one choice for wholesome family entertainment.”