After months of uncertainty, Zee recently locked both TV and digital rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, looking to revive its lost glory in the live sports and on-demand sports segment. Zee and its OTT platform ZEE5 are betting big and it all starts tonight as the first match kicks off in Mexico. But what is the real prize on offer for ZEE5?
Zee’s Big Bet: For the media giant, the rights deal offers something valuable: live content that can pull large audiences at once, high engagement and a long list of advertisers. This also offers ZEE5 a chance to re-enter the premium sports conversation and grab market share.
Monetisation Tightrope: However, the economic potential of football streaming in India has historically trailed cricket. Despite a sizeable following, platforms have not been able to increase ad revenue and uptake remains low. Plus, the FIFA World Cup this time around presents a time zone conundrum with most matches happening late at night.
Experts we spoke to estimate that ZEE5 must acquire at least 3 Mn subscribers just to recoup the estimated $35 Mn annual rights fee, which could put a stress on near-term unit economics.
Beyond FIFA World Cup: The challenges are real, which is why Zee and ZEE5 are looking past immediate revenues from FIFA World Cup and are looking to garner long-term fan engagement. It is looking to invest in streaming and supporting youth competitions and bringing exclusive documentary features across its network to drive year-round engagement.
Bavesh Janavlekar, the business head of Zee Sports told us ZEE5 is targeting conversions from FIFA World Cup to bring in more long-term ZEE5 subscribers. One can expect heavy promotion of ZEE5 properties during the course of the World Cup.
The Audience Bet:. ZEE5 is betting on the demographic that typically consumes football. Football tends to connect with younger, urban and digitally engaged viewers, and these users typically tend to pay a lot more for live sports experience than the average OTT subscriber.
Zee sees the FIFA rights as a strategy to establish credibility in sports and strengthen its overall franchise through ZEE5. But its ability to extract the maximum potential of the FIFA World Cup will determine whether it can stand up to JioHotstar and SonyLIV in the sports streaming space.
The next month will show whether it can. Here’s our deep dive into the ZEE5 plan…
India’s luggage market may be vast, but it is still not relevant to how women travel today. Most travel gear is built for a generic consumer, missing nuances in ergonomics, storage, and usability. NORI is stepping in to redesign travel essentials around how women actually pack.
Luggage For Ladies: Founded in 2025, NORI positions itself as a women-first travel gear brand. Its products are designed around female-centric needs, from compartmentalisation to more ergonomic handling, aiming to make travel more intuitive and comfortable.
The Product Differentiation: NORI offers a range of hard-shell luggage, weekenders, travel bags, foldable totes, and packing organisers. Instead of competing purely on price or brand recall, it focuses on design-led differentiation, tailoring products to real-world travel behaviours and preferences.
Built To Scale: The startup follows a hybrid sourcing and local assembly model, allowing flexibility in production while maintaining quality. As it grows, NORI is expanding its online presence alongside building premium offline retail touchpoints across metro cities.
With the homegrown luggage market projected to become a ₹26,700 Cr opportunity by 2028, can NORI redefine travel for Indian women?
Zepto is heading for the public markets. But the quick commerce giant’s founders own less than 20% of the company. Ahead of its IPO, we break down who really owns Zepto and the investors backing one of India’s most valuable startups.
Source: Inc42 - Startups
