Introducing a Bold New Zee5: Redefining India’s Streaming Experience
Zee5 is launching a revamped product experience, a premium English content library, and an updated AVOD service—’Free5’—designed to offer a richer entertainment experience featuring smart content discovery.
National, September 9, 2026: As audiences gain access to more entertainment content than ever before, Zee5 is redefining how they discover and experience entertainment. Building on an expanded content library, Zee5 is rolling out significant updates across mobile and Connected TV platforms, powered by smart personalization, AI-driven content discovery, enhanced visual navigation, and a seamless multi-screen experience. Designed with viewer habits at its core, the new Zee5 opens the door to five distinct worlds: Premium Entertainment, Free5, KidZ, TV, and Sports. This makes content discovery intuitive, immersive, and seamless—reflecting the evolving nature of entertainment consumption in India.
Personalization lies at the heart of this new experience, helping viewers discover content that best aligns with their interests. Meanwhile, AI capabilities enable smarter content discovery and a smoother, more responsive user experience on the platform. With audiences increasingly consuming entertainment across both mobile and connected devices, the new experience is designed to transition seamlessly from small screens to big screens. To further simplify the experience, a customer support assistant powered by next-generation AI technology has been introduced. It provides intelligent, near-instant solutions to queries regarding subscriptions, playback, access, content, and devices. Alongside these features, Zee5 is implementing enhanced measures to further strengthen data privacy, utilizing industry-leading security protocols. Together, these elements set a new benchmark for a fast, intelligent, and highly simplified entertainment experience.
To craft this new experience, Zee5 gained a deep understanding of how audiences across India view, search for, and engage with entertainment. By synthesizing existing app feedback, consumer surveys across various markets, and focus group discussions, the platform analyzed the viewer journey across mobile and Connected TV platforms. The research revealed a need for a simpler, more intuitive experience that did not compromise the richness and depth of the big-screen experience. The redesign was based on these insights. Furthermore, intensive “bugathons” were conducted, bringing together experts from Product, Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Design teams to rigorously test, improve, and fine-tune every aspect of the platform prior to launch.
Over the last quarter, Zee5 has significantly expanded its diverse content library. It first secured broadcasting rights for the global sporting events FIFA World Cup 2026™ and 2030. This was followed by the launch of content across seven languages. Building on this momentum, Zee5 is now introducing an unprecedented collection of premium English entertainment content. This lineup features global films and leading Hollywood stars for Indian audiences. Through strategic partnerships with PVR INOX PICTURES and LIONSGATE PLAY, this massive content collection includes Normal (starring Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, and Lena Headey), The Invite (starring Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton, and Olivia Wilde), Anxious People (starring Angelina Jolie and Jason Segel), Babies (starring Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick), The Wizard of the Kremlin (starring Jude Law), How to Make a Killing (starring Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley), Tony (featuring Dominic Sessa), and Paper Tiger (starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller). With an unprecedented collection of leading stars, global stories, and premium cinema, this new content slate marks a bold new chapter for ZEE5’s English entertainment segment.
At the same time, ZEE5—as part of its expansive entertainment experience—introduces a bold new identity…
It is being redesigned. It integrates a vast array of entertainment content—including an all-new ‘Free 5’ tier, series, movies, Korean and Chinese dramas, anime, news, micro-dramas, and a vibrant creator ecosystem. With an unprecedented range of languages, genres, formats, and voices, the revamped ‘Free 5’ offers viewers the opportunity to discover, explore, and enjoy an extensive world of entertainment—completely free of charge and without the need for any subscription. This expanded experience also creates significant new opportunities for advertisers to reach diverse audience segments on Zee5 and deliver advertisements tailored to their specific needs.
Tejkarran Singh Bajaj, Business Head – Zee5 India and AI & Innovation, stated:
“The next phase for Zee5 is about making entertainment easily discoverable, highly relevant, and deeply satisfying. We have reimagined the product experience across mobile and Connected TV platforms, incorporating smart personalization, deep AI integration, and more intuitive content discovery. While we already offer premium movies and series in seven languages, along with rich TV content, sports, kids’ entertainment, Live TV, and news, we are further deepening our content library with an English-language collection that brings global cinema to Indian audiences. Simultaneously, we are launching the revamped ‘Free 5,’ which encompasses a wider range of languages, genres, and a creator ecosystem. For advertisers, this extensive content portfolio creates a rich platform to engage with unique audience segments based on language, content type, and viewing habits. This evolution in both product and content offers viewers greater choice, increased depth, and an easier way to find exactly what they love.” Pramod Prakash, Chief Technology Officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., says:
“A streaming platform is experienced through hundreds of micro-interactions. Each of these interactions shapes how viewers perceive the service. Therefore, our goal was to reimagine the entire experience rather than focusing on isolated features. We identified touchpoints in the user journey where the experience could be made more intuitive, faster, and frictionless. At the core of this is an app designed to be intuitive, allowing every generation of the family to easily access the entertainment they love. The simple product philosophy behind this redesign is that technology should seamlessly eliminate friction for the user and keep entertainment at the forefront. As the viewing experience continues to span across various devices, formats, and environments, we are building Zee5 to be adaptable, reliable, and future-ready, aligning with how audiences will consume entertainment in the times to come.”
About Zee5:
Zee5 is India’s largest homegrown video streaming platform and a global gateway for South Asian content, reaching audiences in over 190 countries. As the digital entertainment platform of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., Zee5 operates on principles that prioritize a language-first experience, hyper-local content, language-specific curation, and deeply personalized experiences across seven languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, and Marathi. Furthermore, Zee5 stands as the home for India’s bold stories, bringing together daring narratives, unique creator voices, popular franchises, and distinctive storytelling across a wide range of languages and genres. With an extensive content library featuring movies, series, live sports, AI-powered storytelling, animation, and kids’ entertainment, Zee5 serves as a platform for multilingual entertainment and live sports experiences, including the FIFA World Cup 2026™ and 2030, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Coppa Italia.