Zee5 launches Clips with Google Cloud to turn movies, shows into AI-powered short videos

Synopsis

Zee5 has launched an AI-driven feature called Clips to enhance content discovery through short videos. This feature processes long-form content by extracting engaging moments and converting them into vertical videos. Users can easily transition from these Clips to full-length movies or shows for a complete viewing experience. The collaboration with Google Cloud emphasizes the use of advanced technology for automating content packaging at scale.

Zee5 has partnered with Google Cloud to build an artificial intelligence-powered short-video feature that automatically identifies moments from movies and shows and converts them into vertical videos to help users discover content on the streaming platform.

The feature, called Clips, uses Google Cloud's Gemini models along with multilingual speech and image-processing technology to identify potentially engaging portions of Zee5's long-form catalogue. Users viewing a Clip can move directly to the full-length movie or show from which it was generated.

Zee5 has generated 13,000 Clips from 1,200 titles so far, according to the company.

The technology was jointly developed by Zee5 and Google Cloud using Gemini Pro, the Chirp multilingual model, Cloud Vision API and deep-learning models for image processing. It processes long-form content to identify moments that can be repackaged automatically into short-form vertical videos.

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The companies are seeking to use the technology to turn Zee5's existing catalogue into short-form content at scale rather than producing each video separately.

Zee5 said early viewing behaviour on the platform has shown users moving from Clips to full-length titles, though the company did not disclose specific data on conversion or engagement.

Tejkarran Singh Bajaj, Business Head - Zee 5 India and AI & Innovation, said, “At Zee 5, we are looking at content consumption differently, and Clips is a direct reflection of that. Developed in collaboration with Google Cloud, it puts the most compelling moments from our long form catalogue right into the swipe journey, giving audiences a quick way to find something that catches their attention. What makes this particularly exciting is the ability to turn thousands of hours of existing content into fresh entry points, at scale, using AI. The early traction shows us that when technology is applied with a clear understanding of how people consume content today, it can fundamentally change the way audiences find their next watch.”

The feature gives Zee5 another route for users to browse its catalogue, with the short videos functioning as previews for longer movies and shows. Viewers can swipe through Clips and enter the corresponding full-length title if they want to continue watching.

Pramod Prakash, Chief Technology Officer, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., said, “Clips was built around a simple audience need: making it easier for viewers to discover stories they may not have actively searched for. We are using AI to identify engaging moments within our long-form content and automatically transform them into short, vertical videos, creating a new and more intuitive way to enter the Zee 5 catalogue. The solution brings together the Gemini AI, Speech-to-Text and Cloud Vision API to process and package content at scale. We have generated 13,000 Clips from 1,200 titles so far, demonstrating what this technology can unlock across a large content library. Strategically, it gives us more ways to bring audiences from a moment of discovery into the full story.”

The collaboration comes as streaming platforms increasingly experiment with short-form and vertically formatted video as a way to attract viewers and direct them towards longer content.

Amit Kumar, Managing Director, Digital Natives Business at Google Cloud India, said, “Our collaboration with Zee 5 on Clips is a great example of our deep partnership and it demonstrates how generative AI can drive measurable business value at scale. By leveraging Google Cloud’s advanced Gemini models, these joint AI innovations accelerate time-to-market for new platform features while continuously elevating the daily viewer experience.”

Zee5 is the digital streaming platform of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Its catalogue includes movies, series, live sports, animation and children's entertainment across languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Marathi.

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