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Ashish Sehgal clears rumours about &TV future

ZEE Entertainment Enterprise Limited launched &TV in 2015 with much fanfare, hoping it would eventually become a strong sibling to flagship channel, ZEE TV. However, nearly three years after its launch, ZEE continues to invest heavily into the channel despite it remaining on the lower end of the scale in India ratings. The channel fast made a splash in UK ratings but has recently fallen due to the increasing competition and lifestyle habits of viewers in this territory.

Clarifying &TV’s future, Ashish Sehgal, COO of ZEE Unimedia told Best Media Info, “Unlike other Hindi GEC channels,&TV has made a mark in the metro space. Bhabhiji, even to date, is the biggest success for us. Our offerings are differentiated and good but this is not reflected in the numbers. To be sure of our content line-up as it is not reflecting in numbers, we have conducted multiple on-ground research. There is huge buzz around these shows and they are being watched in major markets like UP, Delhi, Mumbai and others. Because of so much of fragmentation from FTA and other things, BARC is not representing the right potential of the channel. Or that’s what we feel.

We will now focus on bringing newer better shows on &TV to push ratings. Better production quality, better marketing and to create awareness. Because it is a late entrant, there might be some hitches in the rural connectivity, and that’s how it is not seen in the rural charts. But it performs well in urban.

Also, &TV was launched with very differential modern storylines. But in order to get ratings, the content became too mass-focused sometime back. We want to now go back to the identity with which the channel was launched. The shows we will now launch will be more progressive.”

Asked if &TV was facing the axe, Sehgal said, “No, &TV is doing good, though it can do better and we are working towards it. From the rating point perspective,&TV is an attractive offering for advertisers. & brand is now picking up and growing stronger. We are launching more channels in that sub-brand. How can we think of shutting down the flagship channel of & brand?”