The station claims to draw higher viewership than both Star and SET (the leading channels during primetime) for afternoon viewing with programming that is more appealing to women viewers.
Said Ashish Kaul, vice-president, corporate brand development, Essel Group, the owners of the Zee TV: "Our research showed that women wanted a change in programming, something different from the usual run of soaps and reruns that channels have tended to serve up."
Zee is branding its afternoon slot 'Women's Hour', and is promoting an ad-free block of programmes from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
While the block begins and ends with two strong serials, there will also be non-fiction programming.
"The entire time is dedicated to the wellbeing of women," said Kaul.
"It will include segments of legal and financial advice for women. There's no advertising on the block, but most of the programmes have sponsors, with ads running at the beginning and end of the block."
Zee is also running an on-ground promotion for the new initiative: In Mumbai, it has launched a 'women's bus service' between the business district in the south of the city and a suburb in the north.
Shruti Bajpai, country manager, HBO Asia, says that a similar insight has led the channel to create a package of movies targeted at women.
The band called 'Time Out' was launched in March, and starts at 11.30am.
"We looked at what Indian women liked, and it wasn't restricted to the stereotypical romances or 'soft' films," she added. "Women were as likely as men to appreciate a film like Lara Croft, currently being promoted under the 'Action Babes' banner on HBO."
In the month after the band was launched, HBO said its female viewership grew during that segment by 75 per cent.
"I think what's happening is that it's being recognised that there's a need for something other than just soaps and reruns, for something more relatable and eclectic," said Bajpai.
Channels across genres are looking seriously at creating programming that could develop into 'appointment viewing' for women during the day.
While Bajpai admitted that such bands would never rival primetime for ad dollars, marketers are starting to take notice.