Comment: The contrasting approach of Punit Goenka's Zee

Everyone loves a good fight. 

 

When the Indian operations of the fast food giants, KFC, McDonald's and Burger King are slugging it out in the Burger Emoji war, there is a silver lining in the broadcasting business.

 

Earlier this week, as Punit Goenka's ZEE celebrates 25 years, the network has come out with a campaign that makes one sit up and notice for all the right reasons.

 

In the campaign, Zee pays tribute to its competition with a Hindi couplet that says that speaks about how co-existence adds to the enrichment of each other.

 

Punit Goenka's hands off approach

 

Goenka has exhibited this in the past too. It was one of the most memorable anecdotes from Campaign India's maiden Media360 Conference. In the context of speaking about how media houses cry foul over independent audience surveys, IPG Mediabrands CEO Shashi Sinha spoke about the day when BARC was launching. ZEE's Punit Goenka, as the head of the Indian Broadcasting Federation, was also among the driving forces behind this industry-backed measurement body.

 

However, when the ratings were announced ZEE had dropped to number 4 among the general entertainment channels (the last spot among the big four). There was a murmur among the rest of the industry on how could he (Goenka) have let this happen, that too in an environment that's dominated with lobbying and where every rating point gained or lost is bitterly contested. One thing is for sure. Goenka certainly came out shining that evening. 

 

And on this special occasion too, his channel has come out dazzling in silver. 

 

We need to wait and see if ZEE's competitors join the celebration.