 Welcome to Exchange for Media. As coronavirus continues to keep us restricted to our houses, we are ship of OTT platforms are soaring like never before. With us today is CEO of one such leading platform that has been seen a remarkable surge in its worship numbers in a short span of two years. As of today, the platform has close to 50 million monthly active users and 4 million daily active users. Let us find out more about the growth plan ahead from the man himself. Welcome to the show Tarun and thank you so much for doing this for us. Thank you so much for having me with you. So, Tarun, my first question is what I want to understand is that I'm very curious to find out how did Z5 continue to launch so many original shows throughout COVID when most of the shootings and most of the things were shut? Was it, is it that you got lucky or was it part of the plan? I mean, how did it happen? So, pandemic was not part of the plan. So, let's fix that out, right? Now, you know, Nazia, what's been happening is that we took the step towards SWOT. Possibly one of the earliest guys should have moved towards SWOT in the country. About 18 months ago, we launched our biggest SWOT or our, you know, big SWOT that kicked off our journey, Rangbadas, in the end of December, 2018. From there on, we knew that, you know, there was a large population in this country, whether paying direct to consumer or going through bundles with telecom players and others, but was wanting to watch premium content, which was very different from Katya TV that most OTT players had been delivering for some time. We'd also seen the growth of some of the other competitors in the premium space. And we knew that, you know, there was a, there was a audience to be had on the original space. Now, once we walked down that path, we had built a very good pipeline. We had put a lot of shows and stories under development. And we had, you know, enough shows made that we're going to release over a period of time. The good part was that when the pandemic happened, we had a lot of those stories already told, finished up, ready to release. And so we had, we didn't have to really, you know, scamper around to know what to do for our audiences or for our users during that period of time. The other thing we also did was we decided that we were going to tell uplifting stories out of stories that we could acquire because we knew the sentiment had taken a lot of beating, right? And while there were many genres, people were interested. One of the genres that was clearly coming out was that people wanted hope. People wanted upliftment. People wanted to see something that was going to put them, you know, in a sense of positivity. And so we did a string of movies from very good makers, which were ready, but we're not finding either the theatrical release or we're finding even a digital release for some time. And we were just lucky to chance upon them. So we didn't take up a birthday, Parik Shah, Meer Aksham, Atkan Chatkan and many others like that, which were direct to digital gems of really good makers like Prakash Jha and Shabana Azmi, Baba Azmi and A.R. Rehman, Present and Shivamani doing Atkan Chatkan and the team at Chintuka Birthday and even Bambaat before that and Ghum Ketu. And all of these actually kept the pipeline going, kept the story going and kept the audiences involved. And I can tell you that we've grown so significantly on our SWR platform. That... I'm just coming to the numbers only. That was my next question. How much did this help you grow? I mean, what was the growth during the pandemic period only? 200%. 200%. And we literally had to redo our milestones many times over. Congratulations. You also got very lucky because you launched Z5 Kids, I think just right in the beginning of the lockdown. So tell us about that. So, you know, the other thing we realized was that families wanted something for everybody. And as the content dried up on OTT, sorry, on linear television, OTT came to the rescue of families and we knew that Kids was a large section that was, you know, literally underserved. And we did two things. One, we did a lot of content that we required over a period of time and deployed that on Z5 Kids. And that was largely in the animation space. Then we also repurposed a lot of content which was skill-building content that came out of India's best drama bars, Saree Gamappa and Dance India Dance and some of the shows we had on ZQ earlier. And that actually changed the dynamics for us because animated content was available in many places but skill-building content. And when Kids don't have much to do at home, you know, skill-building like dancing and like acting and like singing and craft and all of that, that actually, you know, did a lot for Kids. And we also launched the linear channel which was just specific for our OTT platform because we knew that parents didn't want to, you know, put Kids in an area that was not Kids Save. So we put them onto a linear channel that had only Kids Save content back to back. And you've had several other launches, right? HIPPI and another game. So tell us about that also. So, you know, the other thing we have realized is that over a period of time, Youth were really connected to the under-92nd video format. And HIPPI is something we were working for the last 18 months when even TikTok wasn't launched and it was still musically. And we had seen that the trend was emerging. We knew that we had a large fandom base for all the actors and characters out of across the ZTV shows and the originals that we have on our platform. And we wanted them to be able to engage to their favorite actors, favorite stars, very easily on our platform. And so we knew that a under-92nd video format would be great for us to do. And so we were building this for a very long period of time. We also realized that self-glory and your ability to be able to put yourself out there is a great thing that youth want. And so we built in a creator tool which allows people to do a lot with the kind of videos they make and so on and so forth. So this isn't just a platform that allows people to purpose their content but it also allows people to create that content. So it's a creator's platform more than just a video, under-92nd video platform. And it's built on three pillars, fandom, fun and factual. And we think that there is a lot that you can do around fun and around content that entertains you but also around factual content. And that's what, whether it's cooking and whether it's learning a skill and whether it's doing small odd jobs, that factual bucket is also a very interesting bucket that we are exploring. Taran, most of the things look very good for you. Throughout the pandemic, you had so many launches and everything worked but COVID still came with a lot of challenges. So what were the kind of challenges that you faced during this period as a professional at work? So the first challenge as a team we faced was that we had to rearrange our entire content ladder, arbitrary ladder, because there was an entire conversation around and voice around the pressure on the bandwidth because work from home led everybody to get home and then what was the bandwidth going to be able to support both work from home as well as video entertainment and on the request of the government, the team got to the job and we literally in a week's period had to change our entire back and take the top back that betrays out and to be able to get people to watch content but not consume too much bandwidth. So that was one, first challenge that we faced. The other challenge that is more and it's become more ongoing is that we lost human connection, right? We are a startup company that needed the energy of the floor and that needed to get a lot done and we lost all that human connection and we had to rebuild that. Thankfully, we were all very good with video collaboration tools and we've been using video collaboration tools for about two years, almost then from the time we launched because our development partners are across Israel, across Poland, across the valley and so we always needed to connect with them any way on an ongoing basis but we never thought that all of us will never meet and it's been about six months that we've all not met now. But it was very heartwarming to see how people came together, how we now meet for two hours every morning and we have an open Zoom where we all get together, we have squads, we've split ourselves into squads which solve for bigger consumer issues. We put consumer at the center of it because we knew that consumption was going up but with that came a lot of consumer needs, challenges and demands and we needed to change our entire operating mechanism to be able to deal with them. We launched a new Android platform, we launched a new iOS platform and all of that came with a lot of initial issues, bugs, challenges, testing and I think I can give my team 200 on 100 to be able to come together and build this out. The other thing is that during this pandemic, this was the year that we needed to scale up our product, engineering and supply side teams and we've had about over 100 people join us who we've never met and we had to induct them into the business and we had to get their onboarding done and we had to make them a part of the family, get them all excited, all on video collaboration tools and that was a challenge but it was also a great fun. We've all now got to know each other, know each other's families, know each other's idiosyncrasies and challenges and all of us have enough of our own but it's been great to see how we've all come together. So many people were going to come to Bombay from different parts of the country who didn't come or haven't been able to come and continue to stay where they stay but continue to operate. There's some people who are not even in India who operate on different time zones so it's been a roller coaster but a roller coaster that is filled with care, compassion and connections. Taran also like you got lucky that you had so many shoots completed before the COVID happened but those five months, six months must have delayed your future shows. How are you covering that gap now? So the good part is that some were half short and some were partly short. So we did two things. One, we look for acquisitions that work for our T's clusters and we've been able to acquire some of the content, that good content that was available in the market to acquire like I told you purposeful content that we could acquire that went with our value system. First, second, I think I must thank all our teams who have very quickly gone back to shoot and it's now been almost close to two months that we're back to shooting on the floor. They're shooting in so many different parts of the country in Goa, in Kolkata. We shot a film in London without anybody going from India. How? The lead actress was in Middle East, she flew from there. Then the lead actor, we found him in London and he was an old friend, I spoke to him. The actor and the cinematographer and the director came from the UK. Some people came from Canada. So we just put it together and it's releasing this month. It's called London Confidential. It's a film. It's a film, it's a spy film. And it's very, it's shot after the pandemic started but it's very relevant and topical and it's about India-China. Entire shooting took place post-pandemic. Yes. So it refers to the pandemic actually. It's one of those content pieces that refers clearly to the pandemic. Can you can see the impact of pandemic on the streets of London? In another 10 days, we have IPL coming now and most people expect that the weird ship will shift. How are you getting for that? So I think we're welcoming IPL. It's a great event. It must happen. The show must go on. And I'm happy that it's coming back. I think everything must happen or come back to normal as soon and as fast as possible, including the IPL. How are we preparing? I think our catch-up TV is pretty immune to IPL primarily because women who follow all the daily soaps that they do would love to continue watching them. And if they don't watch them on linear, then even more so they will watch on video and demand at their own time, anytime, anywhere and at their convenience. So that is one thing that we are gearing up to. The second is that we've made sure that Hippie is the home of Rikit. So we've extended all the excitement that will happen around Rikit, around UGC content, around Rikit, on Hippie. And we are gonna see a lot of stuff around Rikit on Hippie. So we thought that there was a great opportunity to capitalize on the euphoria that IPL will create through UGC content on the platform. So they were, so we've invited influencers as well as we've invited a lot of contests and a lot of engagement that we are building around. Around IPL? Around IPL. Oh, that will be very interesting. So you would be, you in a way, would be promoting a product with your private group, right? IPL does not belong to anybody, it belongs to the country. It belongs to all of us. Good. And I don't think we segregated like that in our head. Right? And if there's a euphoria, we are a topical platform. We must partake the euphoria rather than saying, hey, this is not our platform and we're not taking sides like that. Not at all. So that's- Is there any formal collaboration also? No. So no, there is no formal collaboration. It's just, that's the buzz in the air. And any UGC platform- Anything that's topical. Correct. Any UGC platform really leans on anything that's topical, right? So we're preparing ourselves to lean on that. And lastly, on original content, we've made sure that, you know, we've studied data very well and we've made sure that we're not going head-on-head with the games that we think will not work for us. But we've also made sure that we have tastes that are very unique that, you know, and franchises that would play out very well. So, yes, we've checkerboard our- But this also happens to be festive season, you know? Release schedule, which is slightly different. But it also happens to be festive season, wherein a lot of marketers and platform owners look forward to more subscription or more advertisements. Correct. We continue to do that. I think that stories have a role to play and actors and characters have their own affinity. And yes, they will be cricket, but there also be stories to be told. Okay. I also wanted to speak to you about recent development that you have, you know, as chairman of the Digital Committee of IAMAI, you played a key role in passing that Universal Self-Recreation Code for online curated content providers. I heard there were a lot of challenges, you know, in bringing 15 players together. Tell us, take us through that journey and what exactly is this code? So, there are 16 of us now as of today. You're the first one to know that. Sony has also joined the bandwagon. And I'm so happy. Congratulations. Thank you so much. So, yes, when I took over the role as the IAMAI chairman, I didn't know what I was signing up to. I knew that there was a history of disagreement between a lot of players and the direction we should take on self-recreation. The one thing that almost everybody was very, very clear was that self-regulation was the way to go. But I don't think most of us knew what would make sure that everybody will come together easily, right? And that was required in the game, which is that we should be able to get people together on a platform without having to dilute the core message out. And that was my key effort. And what was the key effort was that we should have a third-party advisory or advisor within this mix. So, while most of this will get dealt by the platforms themselves, but we needed to have some sort of an oversight or some side of an advisor who would come in from the outside, so that there is a certain amount of a certain amount of objectivity that would come in. And now there have been many models that have been discussed and some players wanted to be triple C, some players wanted to keep it all internal so that we don't get overpowered by the amount of feedback that you end up getting on social media and so on and so forth. So we had to find a fine balance of making sure we were true to the user. We were making sure that the user knew what kind of content we had and protected the user and their sensibilities and was sensitive towards the stuff that the user wanted. Right? And in all, we wanted to make sure that we had enough leeway for storytellers to tell good stories. And so we developed this Ombudsman model which has been a very good model where it comes to posh committees and sexual harassment in organizations where there is a third party who comes in as an advisor or third party who comes in to be able to put a sense of objectivity. And so all complaints from users will go through two layers, one of an internal layer, but if the user's not satisfied by the response that you're giving, then we'll get to a second level which will be led by the internal team but also we'll have a third party Ombudsman. We also agreed on universal gating policies which is content 18 minus 18 plus and we are going to more granularize that over this one year where we will be able to do even better gating of 13, 18 and so on and so forth because we think that gating policies need even more work and to be able to clearly articulate what kind of stuff this content has whether it has graphic violence or crime or so on or nudity or sexual content and so on. Then the other thing that was more important was that once you've done the gating and once you agree to get the Ombudsman you do implement this. So you do get into an implementation path and I think all of us have agreed that the next 60 days are going to be crucial for us to be able to put the Ombudsman committees in our systems and then be able to report internally and keep a log of what are the consumer complaints that are coming. Let MIB also be able to route into our internal committee as well as the Ombudsman and to be able to also tell MIB what the Ombudsman that we've all appointed. So this has got, it is an independent body or it's going to be working closely with MIB. So it's independent in every organization every organization has their own Ombudsman but it is being initiated by the IMAI and the oversight will be from the IMAI. Coming back to content, Z5 has a clear edge when it comes to regional content. But when we talk about other leading OTT platforms they have content from all across the globe. There's a lot of international content. So by regional you mean Hindi and vernacular content? Yeah, yeah, all vernacular content. Yeah, because I think you are available in India. Our big volume is in Hindi. So between our own content pipeline and the partnership with all Balaji I think our pipeline is possibly far exceeds most others in the market. Yeah, but considering that OTT is also as of now a little bit of more urban phenomenon. So there are viewers who are interested in global content. So do we see you going in that direction in future or you are going to continue to build more on regional and vernacular and your own strength? So actually we capitalize on our strengths and our strengths are being a very local brand. We talk to the mass affluent vernacular Indian with real stories, relevant stories that resonate with our users. And we take from society and give back to society. And I think we are able to do that because we are in the language that the user speaks which is Hindi and user thinks whether it's Hindi, whether it's Tamil, whether it's Marathi, whether it's Telugu, whether it's Kannada, whether it's Penguin. And we'll continue to play that. I think our game is in India and Indian languages and that's where we are good at. And I think we want to capitalize on that. But Ben, Z5 was also collaborated with this OZ which used to have content from a lot of different countries. But we do have some amount of Korean content that's dubbed and we have Turkish content that's dubbed. We also have content from Pakistan we launched just on Chudel but that's really in the same language. So yes, we do have a lot of that. Even if you translate and if you dub it in your language. That's all dubbed into our language. But you will continue to acquire international content. Yes, but then you don't dub that into our languages. Okay, Tarun, before I close this interview what I want to understand from you is that there are almost more than 40 OTT platforms in India and you've already spoken of your screens but this is going to be a highly competitive space going forward. How are you going to make Z5 a different product from others is what I want you to close on. I just want to understand what is the final thing that you want to convey to the audiences when it comes to Z5, what Z5 stands for. So really our hope, aim, ambition in this year and towards as we close this fiscal year will be to become the entertainment super app in this country. We want to do multiple use cases. We want to make sure that we are able to actually deliver to diverse audience clusters, diverse taste clusters with diverse technology products. Hippie on one side, which is the short form product, our big news portfolio that we are growing and we actually have now grown that and among this we now have 60 live channels on the platform and we continue to grow that both into text and video news and we want to build a very recommended endless feed kind of product and we're on our way to building that out and I think by the end of this year we will have a very personalized news product. We then have the long form video product and then we have the subscription video on demand product and we're also adding up which is a gaming product. We want to make sure that we are an entertainment super app. We can give you what you want and we want to make sure we retain you. We want to make sure we engage with you. We want to make sure that you make us your one-stop shop of video entertainment in this country and I'll tell you why just before I sign this. I think that we over estimate the real estate that an Indian user has on a $100 Android phone. There is only those many apps that you can put on the phone and I think platforms that can do more than just one use case will have a far better chance to be sticky than platforms which are very narrowly priced. Arun, we wish you all the best and we really hope that you have another 100 million subscribers when we speak next but that should not mean that we should not speak for a long time. We should continue to speak and continue to engage platforms like you are incredibly important in our media and entertainment industry. So thank you so much for doing this for us and we wish you all the best. Stay at home, stay safe and keep entertaining us. Thank you so much. Thank you.