ZEE partners with MirriAd for innovative digital product placement

Zee Network confirmed its position as a pioneer in broadcast technology when it became just the third broadcaster in the UK to air digitally placed product placement. Not to mention the first South Asian to spearhead the initiative.

Zee Network Europe, part of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited has partnered with MirriAd Limited, the market leader in digital product placement. This partnership provides digital product placement in ZEE's leading shows including the award-winning drama Pavitra Rishta. The shows with digital product placement air from August 2011 on ZEE's flagship channel Zee TV.  ZEE, one of South Asia's leading television, media and entertainment companies, has one of the largest footprints globally reaching over half a billion viewers across 168 countries.

The Zee announcement follows hot on the heels of recent deals for MirriAd in the UK with Sky and Discovery. Not to mention the first South Asian to spearhead the initiative in Europe. ZEE and MirriAd worked closely with the brand leader in Basmati rice, Tilda, to ensure their product was integrated seamlessly into several episodes of Zee TV's prime-time drama Pavitra Rishta.

MirriAd will use it's ZoneSense technology to manage the creation of sales inventory, digital placement and reporting locally to ZEE operations connected to the global MirriAd network.  The deal will allow Zee Europe to offer brands lifelike digital placement in shows on demand with never seen before management controls and reporting.

Product placement is a rapidly expanding market worldwide and growing at a time other traditional advertising revenues are facing challenging times. In 2009, Global product placement spending – including North America, Europe, Asia and other regions-was $6.25 billion. The US sector alone grew by more than 25% a year between 2004 – 2009 (source: PQ Media). TV product placement is legal in most parts of the world and is now legal in all European media markets with the remaining final codes of conduct set to be issued shortly. The European market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 18.2% in the 2009-2014 period (source: PQ Media.)

Brand owners are seeking new ways to reach consumers and to integrate more with content as technology drives changes in how we consume our media. MirriAd is working with other major broadcasters on three continents, for whom its service has already been successfully tested.

Kian Kormi, MirriAd's VP Commercial Operations, said:

”Product placement is about to be transformed into a new scalable advertising medium which delivers the right balance of audience enjoyment and guaranteed brand exposure with empirical measurement and all proven through extensive research. With this vision and knowledge we are thrilled to have won the confidence and backing of Zee Network in Europe. They have a terrific track record of serving their viewers and being able to create new revenues to spend on new programming in some of the largest and fastest growing regions of the world.”

Shaney Burney, Head of Operations, ZEE Europe commented:

“Zee is committed to working with brand owners to help them connect with consumers and this innovative project is a milestone in our mission to delight our advertisers.  The popularity of ZEE content has been proven across the globe, so we were keen to work with brand owners such as Tilda to leverage this and be part of our content. In planning this initiative with MirriAd we have paid meticulous attention to Tilda's objectives whilst remaining sensitive to, and without disturbing our viewers' experience.  We are delighted with the results; MirriAd has successfully delivered on all fronts as a technology partner”

Lena Sagar, Tilda's Senior Brand Manager:

“Media consumption is changing and advertising has an increasingly difficult job of cutting through in an era of Sky Plus box Zee has been great at making these opportunities work for us. We believe product placement offers unique exposure and look forward to more opportunities like this”.

Notes to Editors

For further information, please contact Babita Bahal, Babita.bahal@zeetv.co.uk

Zee Network

Launched in 1995, Zee Network, UK was the first South Asian Entertainment Network of its kind.  Since then it has grown in popularity and become synonymous with South Asian entertainment.  Zee has continually entertained and engages audiences with a unique blend of high-quality, localised and innovative programming. It also offers the world's largest Hindi film library, with an option of English and French subtitles.  Worldwide Zee reaches 71 million households across 168 countries and 500 million viewers through a global entertainment network

Zee is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi and other South Asian regional language programming in the world. With its commitment to meet audience needs, it has brought five entertainment channels to the UK viewers which include:

Zee TV - The leading South Asian Entertainment channel in the UK and Europe. Its multi-genre info-tainment offering includes dramas, soaps, reality and talent shows, films and news. Available on Sky 788 and Virgin Media 809.

Zee Café - The newest addition to the Zee pack, with programmes catering to a male audience including yearlong cricket.  The newest addition to the Zee pack, with programmes catering to a male audience including yearlong cricket, news, current affairs and business shows. Zee Café also brings Bengali and Bangladeshi viewers into the Zee family with top-rated Bangla shows (with English subtitles), and is only UK based South Asian channel to feature programming specifically for Marthi audiences. Sky 846..

Zee Cinema - A 24 hour movie channel showcasing the best of Bollywood films from the latest blockbusters to yesteryear classics, as well as magazine shows around celebrity lives. Available on Sky 790 and Virgin Media  810.

Zee Punjabi - A Punjabi language channel offering daily, live discourses from the Golden Temple, India, along with drama programmes, music and comedy shows and news. Available on Sky 798 and Virgin Media 812.

Zing - A Bollywood, music and entertainment channel featuring playlists comprising Bollywood hits and classics, British Asian music and Asian music videos, as well as behind the scene shows. Available free on Sky 789 and Freesat 509.

In addition

Zee Russia - A 24 hour entertainment channel dubbed in Russian covering multiple genres of Bollywood movies, travel, music, food, lifestyle, Indian fashion and family dramas. Available across Russia and reaching countries in the CIS and Baltic areas.

More information about Zee is available at http://www.zeetv.co.uk.