Zee inducts new hiring through a custom metaverse experience

Indian media and entertainment corporation, Zee Entertainment, said earlier today that it used a custom-built metaverse environment to conduct an induction program of its latest batch of hirings. The company said at the announcement that it has used its own metaverse platform for this experience, which was built at the company's Technology and Innovation Centre in Bengaluru.

Amit Goenka, president of digital businesses and platforms at Zee, said in a statement that the company is working with a "strategic focus" to create "intuitive experiences" that would offer new "consumption, creation and transactional journeys".

To be sure, this is not the first instance of a company using a metaverse platform as a one-off experience. For instance, in March this year, beverage brand McDowells hosted a virtual concert on homegrown metaverse platform, Partynite. On June 21, consumer brand Eno co-hosted a stand-up comedy festival on Partynite as well, as a one-off event.

Such events are expected to be precursors to a more immersive metaverse experience in the future, including the advent of e-commerce in the metaverse. Fellow Indian non-fungible token (NFT) service provider, NFTically, announced its own metaverse platform Comearth on June 9. At the time, Toshendra Sharma, chief executive on NFTically, said that there is growing interest among brands to explore opportunities in the metaverse, and announced partnerships with brands such as Indian automobile components firm Ceat Limited, multi-brand footwear company Metro Shoes, and textile conglomerate Mafatlal Industries, as its initial clients.

The entertainment sector has also attracted similar interests. On June 14, Indian telecom operator Airtel announced a metaverse cinema, hosted on Partynite. The experience offers multiple over-the-top (OTT) content streaming services in a virtual format, the company said at its launch.

However, experts and industry stakeholders have also questioned the efficacy of the 'metaverse', stating that the idea of a virtual replica of the real world remains entirely disjointed right now – and does not particularly offer an immersive experience the way Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has showcased.