MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) on Wednesday published its second quarter financial result. ZEE5, the digital venture of ZEEL has shown impressive growth within one year of its launch. According to the filing, the OTT platform has been able to gain 41.3 million Monthly Active Users as of September, with a 190 per cent increase since April 2018.

Since the launch, the platform has released 29 originals in several genres including comedy, drama, reality, thriller and docu-drama. During the quarter, two seasons of their flagship show Karenjit Kaur – An Untold Story, were also launched.

According to the Q2 result, users currently spend an average of 31 minutes per day on ZEE5. User engagement has also witnessed a considerable increase as video views grew 340 per cent since April. While ZEE5 has already entered into a partnership with two of the leading telecom operators, the company is discussing similar partnerships with other telecom operators, broadband service providers, device manufacturers and e-commerce companies.

“ZEE5 is the fastest growing entertainment platform in the country. In a little over six months, it has become the 2nd most popular OTT platform. With a monthly active user base of 41 million and an average daily time spend of 31 minutes,it is growing faster than our expectations,” ZEEL managing director and CEO Punit Goenka said.

“Our deep understanding of the Indian consumers will be as instrumental in helping us become the leader in the digital space as it was in helping us achieve the leadership in television. In a short time, ZEE5 has received an overwhelming response and I am confident that the platform will continue to scale-up going forward,” ZEEL chairman Subhash Chandra commented on an optimistic note.

In last quarter earnings call, Goenka said he expected ZEE5 to break even in the next five years. He highlighted that not just ZEE5 but entire the industry was in investment mode and there was no way any OTT player was in a position to break even in the first three years.

Total revenue of ZEEL for the quarter stood at Rs. 19,759 million with 24.9 per cent year on year growth. Advertising revenue for the quarter was Rs. 12,106 million, growth of 22.7% YoY. Domestic advertising revenue grew by 23.3% YoY to 11,526 million and international advertising revenue for the quarter was Rs. 580 million. Subscription revenue for the quarter was Rs. 6,082 million, a growth of 21.3% YoY. Domestic subscription revenue grew by 26.0% YoY to Rs. 5,093 million, while international subscription revenue was Rs. 989 million.

Although ZEEL’s net profit fell 38 percent year-on-year to Rs 3860 million in the quarter, its operational performance has surpassed analysts’ estimates. In the same period last year, the company had reported an exceptional gain of Rs 1346 million hanks to its sports broadcasting business.