ZEE5 and iQiyi, two of the largest international streaming services for Asian programming, are taking on the U.S. SVOD market.
ZEE5—which provides a deep library of South Asia films and series along with originals—debuted this week in the U.S. priced at $6.99 per month (or $49.99 per year) and available on Android, iOS, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Samsung smart TVs and Amazon Fire devices. ZEE5 is also launching in Canada, where it expects its content in languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu will resonate.
“Bringing ZEE5 into the U.S. is so much more than just providing the South Asian diaspora here with a mega entertainment platform through which they can access a vast library of stories. It is a powerful bridge between them, their culture, and their languages. It is also a real-time connect between them and their families as they get to watch the same content across the ocean. And it is a platform through which their stories get showcased on an international stage,” said Archana Anand, chief business officer at ZEE5 Global, in a statement
ZEE5 already has 65.9 million monthly active users as of February 2021 and it will look to grow that number in the U.S.—where ZEE Entertainment has for decades offered linear channels—through several strategic partnerships.
The service is hoping a connection with the North American Association of Indian Students—a non-profit for young professionals of Indian origin in the U.S.—will help it find a much younger audience. Over the next few months, ZEE5 will be partnering with NAAIS and working with Executive Director Sudhanshu Kaushik on student outreach programs across universities and colleges in the U.S. ZEE5 will also be partnering with MassMutual in the U.S. to reach its South Asian customer database.
Details about ZEE5’s U.S. strategy accompanied a splashy launch event this week that featured Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas. In contrast, Chinese streaming video service iQiyi’s U.S. launch in 2020 was much more under the radar. iQiyi—which is also available in Canada—is priced at $6.99 for a standard package and $9.99 for premium package. And like ZEE5, it already has a substantial international customer base; dubbed the “Netflix of China,” iQiyi currently has more than 107 million paid subscribers. The service has also been listed on the NASDAQ since 2018.
An iQiyi representative said that Korean and Chinese dramas have been a big early driver for iQiyi in the U.S. and expects that iQiyi’s original content like “My Roommate is a Gumiho” will continue to find audiences here. iQiyi has been working on expanding distribution on popular connected TV platforms in the U.S. and it’s already available on Samsung, LG, Apple TV and Android TV devices.
"With our launch in the North American market, users can expect more original productions and entertainment. We are very excited about the opportunities presented and look forward to reaching more users through our various partnerships," said Leo Geng, senior vice president of iQiyi, in a statement.
The U.S. already has some streaming services like Rakuten Viki that focus solely on Asian content but iQiyi seems confident that its significant brand recognition and large, varied content library will resonate in this market. If there’s a challenge to iQiyi’s U.S. growth strategy, it’s that many consumers are still unaware that the service is available here.
With the one-year anniversary approaching, iQiyi will likely accelerate its PR push. iQiyi’s free ad-supported tier, which lets users sample content before buying in, along with dubbing some of its popular content in multiple languages, should also help drive momentum for the service in North America.