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Tag: 9X Tashan

  • 9X Tashan launches ‘Mad Angles Music Star’

    9X Tashan launches ‘Mad Angles Music Star’

    MUMBAI: 9X Tahshan has made way for young music enthusiasts to join the ranks with musical hit makers like Honey Singh and Hard Kaur. The channel has partnered with ITC’s Bingo! Mad Angles to launch a talent hunt for the next music sensation in Punjab. 

    The talent hunt will provide singing enthusiasts an opportunity to showcase themselves and make an album along with the biggest singing superstars from Punjab.

    After successful rounds of auditions, the talent hunt received over 2500 entries. The on-ground reach of the activity was over 2.5 lakhs with over one million YouTube views.

    The talent hunt was launched via a music video titled ‘Bingo! Mad Angles song’ that features Punjab’s popular singers like Badshah, Ammy Virk, A Kay and Maninder Buttar. The song has been written, conceptualised and directed by 9XM and 9X Tashan, cluster head programming Baljinder Mahant, while JSL Singh has composed the music. 

    Those who want to audition will have to record their own renditions of the song and the winner of the talent hunt will get to feature in a music video with popular artists. 

    Elaborating on the thought behind the talent hunt, Mahant said, “Punjabi music is on the rise and there are many new artists that deserve to be heard in the commercial market. But due to the lack of funds and other restrictions in creating a new album or music videos talented new singers are not able to enter the industry. With large brands like Bingo! Mad Angles getting into the music space with such innovative partnerships the journey of new singers gets smooth and effortless.”

    The talent hunt will be promoted across TV, print, radio and on-ground platforms as well as across the digital and social media platforms of 9X Tashan and 9X Media. Big FM & Hindustan Times have been roped in as radio and print partners.

    The journey of the winner of the Bingo! Mad Angles Music Star will be covered in a special half hour episode to be aired on 9X Tashan.

  • 9XM forays into live events; spends 20% of its total budget on marketing

    9XM forays into live events; spends 20% of its total budget on marketing

    MUMBAI: After having tasted success with ‘Tashan Nites’, organised by 9X Tashan and ‘Jhakaas Music Yatra’ with 9X Jhakaas, it is now Hindi music channel 9XM which aims to fly high in the live events space. The channel has forayed into ticket based events in order to improve revenues.

     

    Kick-starting the live event segment, 9XM is organising a music concert with singer Arijit Singh of Ashiqui2 fame. The channel has partnered with Mirah Entertainment and Dome@NSCI SVP Stadium to host the concert titled – ‘9XM Dome Musically Yours Arijit Singh Live with Symphony Orchestra.’ It is scheduled for 5 July at 8 pm at NSCI Stadium, Mumbai. The entire event has been conceptualised and executed by Ranaji events.

     

    “Live events are not new to us,” says 9X Media marketing head Kapil Sharma. Over the past three-five years the network has conducted multiple live events for people in Punjab and Maharashtra with ‘Tashan Nites’ and ‘Jhakaas Music Yatra.’ “All of these events have an audience of 10,000 people upwards. The last edition of ‘Tashan Nite’ which was done with the Tanu Weds Manu stars garnered eyeballs of close to 15,000 people. But, none of these were ticket based events. With 9XM, we want to get into that space,” explains Sharma.

     

    With 9XM being an established brand, Sharma says that the scale of the event is also huge and hence the network needs a combination of sponsorship and ticket revenue to recover the cost it incurs. “Doing events in Mumbai and Delhi are very expensive. To do an event which has a top class artist, a venue like Dome with an audience of 5,000 plus people, the overall production of the event shoots and it is impossible to recover the cost only from sponsor commitments,” explains Sharma.

     

    The channel is selling tickets online through bookmyshow (BMS) and a few offline venues which include clubs and gymkhanas. The tickets are priced at Rs 3,000, Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000 and the capacity of the stadium is around 4,000-4,500. The company is expected to earn around Rs 1.8 crore in ticketing revenue.

     

    In the span of three weeks, Rs 10,000 tickets got sold and Sharma hopes the rest to be sold out by Sunday.

     

    The three hour on-ground concert will later be edited to a 30-minute show for 9XM, which will air either on 12 July or 19 July. The channel has roped in Welspun Spaces Home & Beyond as the title sponsor and Carwale and Hungama as the ‘powered by’ sponsors both for the on-ground event and on-air.

     

    Other partners include Hindustan Times Cafe as print partner, 9XE as digital partner, XXX Energy Drink as beverage partner, Red FM as radio partner and Bright Outdoor Media as outdoor partner.

     

    The channel got into a room with all the three players, i.e Singh’s, Mirah and Ranaji’s team about two months back to ideate on the first symphony driven concert with the singer in Mumbai for 9XM.

     

    “Ranaji had associated with Singh’s event about six months back which was organised in Navi Mumbai and 9XM was the TV partner. Post that, we thought that rather than just being TV partners, we could get into the space and organise the event ourselves,” informs Sharma.

     

    Speaking of his performance at the Symphony concert Singh says, “This will be my first Symphony concert in India and am pleased to present my fans with such a unique concert. The majestic musical extravaganza at the concert will surely delight music lovers. The precession and rehearsals required to pull off a live performance with symphony orchestra is a mammoth task and I hope that my fans will revel it just as I have enjoyed every moment of putting it together.”

     

    Digital has been the hero

     

    For the network, social media has played a big role in helping amplify the event, be it Facebook, Twitter or bookmyshow. The channel is using a combination of both, Above the Line (ATL) and digital to promote the event.

     

    Three weeks back, when the network started selling tickets on bookmyshow, it concentrated only on digital promotion. “We used 9XM’s social media which has close to 8 million odd fans on Facebook. Later, we went on to promote through Google ads, tapped into YouTube audience and of course on bookmyshow where the tickets were available,” explains Sharma.

     

    After first week, it started with the ATL activities with its other partners.

     

    On 1 July, during a press conference, the sensational singer did a periscope interview (a live Twitter video capability), where he spoke into his camera phone which got tweeted real time. Further, to engage with the online audiences, it kicked off a contest asking people to tweet their favourite songs of the singer, out of which three popular requests will be performed by Singh at the concert.

     

    “This will give an opportunity to the person whose song has been selected, but is sitting home and not at the venue, to watch him perform live via Periscope on Twitter,” asserts Sharma.

     

    It is learnt that 9XM is spending 20 per cent out of its total budget to market the property. 

  • 9X Tashan and 9X Jhakaas now available on Dish TV

    9X Tashan and 9X Jhakaas now available on Dish TV

    MUMBAI: 9X Media Group’s Super Hit Punjabi Music Channel – 9X Tashan, and Marathi Music Channel – 9X Jhakaas, are now available on India’s leading direct-to-home platform DISH TV on EPG #808 and on EPG #881 respectively.  

     

    Speaking on the association with DISH TV, Sandeep Bansal of 9X Media Group, said, “We are extremely pleased to announce that the subscribers of DISH TV can now enjoy the best of Punjabi music through 9X Tashan and the best of Marathi music through 9X Jhakaas. Both these music channels are market leaders in their respective categories due to their up-tempo, vibrant, happy and humorous personas. 9X Tashan and 9X Jhakaas both air the best curated music which resonates well with their viewers.”

     

    Launched on 31st August 2011, 9X Tashan is widely available across cable and satellite homes. Besides DISH TV, 9X Tashan is also available on other leading DTH platforms including Tata Sky, Airtel, Videocon and BIG TV. 9X Tashan is streamed LIVE on the internet on the channel’s website – www.9xtashan.in and on various Mobile platforms. 9X Tashan has created television history in India by registering an unprecedented growth of over 100 GRPs in the opening week of its launch across the Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh (PHCHP) Markets and continues to rule the Punjabi music television space.

     

    9X Jhakaas is India’s First Marathi music channel. Launched on 31st October 2011, 9X Jhakaas is targeted at the confident and go-getter Marathi Music lovers and the Maharashtrian youth. The Channel airs the best Marathi film & non-film songs interspersed with short humorous animated shows. Besides DISH TV, 9X Jhakaas is also available on Tata Sky, Airtel and Videocon. The Channel is also streamed LIVE on the internet on the channel’s website – www.9xjhakaas.in and on various mobile platforms.   

     

  • 9XO takes the social way

    9XO takes the social way

    MUMBAI: It seems that the 9X Media cluster is busy re-inventing itself. After 9XM, 9X Tashan and 9X Jalwa changed their looks; its international offering has also gone under the knife.

     

    What is unique about the re-invention is that 9XO, which airs international music, will allow a social networking experience with Twitter and Instagram updates of artists to its viewers.

     

    9XO channel head Luke Kenny understands his target audiences’ needs and feels that after viewing the same kind of music, structure, design there comes a saturation point in a viewers’ watching pattern. “Being a broadcaster, we have to keep re-inventing ourselves every now and then to give viewers a fresh dose of music and entertainment. If people get to see the same thing every day, it tends to become a blind spot for them,” he says.

     

    The new look of 9XO will allow the viewers to not only watch the latest and fresh tracks but also enable them to keep a tab on their favourite artists’ Twitter and Instagram updates.

     

    So what made them take the social media route? After a lot of research and surveys, the channel found out that most of its TG spends their time online rather than in front of the television screens. “We thought if we replicate their interactive platform with a medium which is music that is on television then it would form a different kind of network enabling us to connect with the TG seamlessly,” says Kenny.

     

    Along with the new look, the channel has also launched www.9XO.in, a website dedicated to help viewers discover great music. An in-house team worked on creating it as well as the new logo which is blue in colour symbolising the colour of internet.

     

    Elaborates programming head Clyde D’Souza that music programming is all about handpicked curation. “We at 9XO want to be your cool friend who introduce you to the latest dance hit, ballad or quirky music video. The social feed will help viewers get closer to artists. The website will help viewers discover and share awesome music on their Facebook and Twitter timelines.”

     

    Kenny feels that with technology, broadcasters too need to change. One needs to be in constant touch with the TG and should converse with them through social media. “Whenever we do something quirky or interesting on the channel via our packaging or any new ideas, we do get positive feedback from our viewers. Sometimes there are negative feedbacks as well, but we take it in our stride and try to better ourselves.”

     

    Such innovations have paid off as well. “We realised that if there is something new or different on the channel, it does get our competitors’ attention and keeps the client excited. Our advertisers and sponsors love the channel and when we innovate they are always encouraging and supportive,” reveals Kenny.

     

    With the revamp, the channel aims to create a link between the three mediums – internet, mobile and TV – on which the TG enjoys music. The main motto of getting the social media experience on-board was because it’s accessible on the go.

     

    The channel is looking to get more music related content as time goes by. “But again where the difference comes in, because there is music related content on the internet anyway but a lot of it doesn’t get watched. So we are going to be the curators of that content that can make our viewers discover more,” concludes Kenny.

  • 9X Tashan dons a new look

    9X Tashan dons a new look

    MUMBAI: It seems, 9X Media’s musical offerings are leaving no stone unturned to reach out to its target audiences. With 9X Jalwa being revamped recently, it’s time for the Punjabi music channel 9X Tashan to flaunt a brand new ‘tashan’ (style) with a revamped look.

     

    Come 12 June, viewers can feel the music viewing experience with a super cool look emphasising on a large canvas, enhanced audio quality and the sprinkling of chic hues in grey, silver and gold which has been designed by the in-house.

     

    Commenting on the new look 9X Tashan programming head Baljinder S Mahant said: “The new look of 9X Tashan reflects the youthful attitude of the Channel. The colour palate, the pacy graphics and the refurbished audio complement the large canvas, giving the viewer a ‘wow’ experience. Besides the on-air look, we have also introduced a ‘breaking news’ section on the Channel which will update the viewers on all the latest happenings in the Punjabi Music and Entertainment Industry. I am sure that the brand new Tashan of 9X Tashan will resonate well with our viewers.”

  • 9XM asks ‘Who is the Idiot’?

    9XM asks ‘Who is the Idiot’?

    MUMBAI: The on-going elections have caught the nation’s imagination like none other; be it the political parties themselves or the media which includes print, radio, television and digital.

     

     The latest to join the brigade is Bollywood music channel, 9XM, which has taken upon itself the onerous task of encouraging people to step out and vote. The channel has created a music video titled ‘Who is the Idiot’ in collaboration with Artist Aloud, Rapper BlaaZe, and Paul J, which urges viewers to wake up and cast their vote.

     

     ‘Who is the Idiot’ was launched on 9XM on 3 April and will be played across 9X music channels including 9X Tashan, 9X Jalwa, 9X Jhakaas and 9XO. “This is the way to talk to today’s youth- through music and dance. And that’s how we are educating them. We are playing the video every hour currently,” says 9XM content head Sunder Venketraman.

     

     The video shows a school annual day function, where kids are dressed up like politicians and elders are shown blind-folded. “We are not portraying any politician or political party in a negative way. The video is about being happy and enjoying the right to vote,” says Venketraman. “The idea was to show how, at times, we are so engrossed in our day-to-day work that we tend to take things that are of national importance, lightly. Our effort is to convey to our target group that there is a need to wake up and vote. We are urging the youth to take the elections seriously and take out time and vote.”

     

     To its credit, the video, choreographed by 9XM’s in-house creative team, features the channel’s lovable toon duo – Chhote and Bade. “9XM is a house of Chhote and Bade. At times, a message sent out by them is impactful and so, we had to use them in the video,” says Venketraman.

     

     The shooting was completed in one day. “But the pre-production took us almost 20 days and the post-production took five days. Since we were shooting with kids, we had to manage them well. Also, kids require a lot of attention. We were conscious about casting them,” informs Venketraman.

     

     ‘Who is the Idiot’ is also being promoted on YouTube, which has already got nearly 23,666 views. Apart from the main video currently being aired, eight 30-40 second videos have also been created. “The agenda is to wake up the youth. We are circulating the videos through Twitter, Google+, Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, BBM, Pinterest, Instagram and Vine.” Says 9XM SVP- Digital Vibha Gosher.

     

    Interestingly, the videos draw attention to unique characteristics of the now well-known names in politics in a humorous manner. “Through these videos, we are portraying the ordinary life of these politicians. So, like in one of the videos, we show a Sardar and how while he is trying to talk to everyone in the class, the teacher calls him and reprimands him, and so, he decides to stop talking. In another video, we show a kid who refuses to eat lunch, because he is fasting,” explains Gosher.

     

    How many youngsters will actually go out and vote is difficult to predict but 9XM deserves a thumbs up for the effort.

     

    Click on the link to watch the video

  • 2011: Pure music, regional key trends 9X Media head – New Business Punit Pandey

    2011: Pure music, regional key trends 9X Media head – New Business Punit Pandey

    If a picture is worth a thousand words, music is worth millions and the year 2011 helped the industry to generate multi-millions. Year 2011 can be called the year of growth for the music channels. And it is Bollywood that provided some of the most popular numbers to the music television industry in India, which has 49 channels in the genre and is way ahead of other media markets across the world.

    The Hindi music category operates at approximately 245 GRPs and Rs 3.92 billion. From year 2010 there were two distinct categories of music channels seen in the country, the ones that focused more on non music content than music and the ones that focused on pure play music content like 9XM. These Pure Music channels contribute 48 per cent of Hindi music GRPs and 36 per cent of revenue for the genre.

    One of the main reasons for the growth of this genre was the advent of so many new players in this space. With just 10 music channels in 2010, today we have at least 14 channels concentrating on the music genre. The music genre share in the year 2011 increased from 2.5 per cent to 4.2 per cent. This increase of the absolute channel shares can be attributed to trends which were seen prominently in the year 2011.

    The music genre has traditionally been highly fragmented and characterised by low viewership. To hold viewer interest and differentiate themselves, channels keep innovating their programming and content. Continuing from last year, music is no longer the mainstay of music channels. The year 2011 saw these channels experimenting with content and positioning appeal to the audiences. These experimentations included large format reality based shows being launched on channels to expand their viewer base.

    However, the format that has stood the test of time and gets the viewers hooked on was sticking to simple and pure music content. Hence 2011 saw channels returning back to the roots and concentrating on playing pure music as they realised that viewers tune in to music channels for music and not for reality shows which they can watch on GECs.

    Another major trend seen in the year 2011 was the growing importance of the regional markets – Regionalisation of media. Regional channel revenues across all genres are growing at 26 per cent (YOY across Year 2006 – 2010). The revenues recorded for year 2010 was Rs 42 billion across all genres.

    Taking cognizance of the potential of these regional markets, 2011 saw launches specifically made for these regions. We at 9X Media Group forayed into this space with the launch of our very first regional music channel 9X Tashan – a Punjabi music channel that rules the charts and has been the No.1 channel in the space since the very first week of its launch. We also launched 9X Jhakaas – India‘s very first Marathi music channel in 2011.

    The advent of social media and digitalisation has also extended the reach of the channels. Digital platforms and social media have changed the way media is consumed and 2011 saw channels increasingly experimenting with various online strategies and use of social media tools to connect and interact with their target audiences. The content provided on the channel is developed keeping the online viewers in mind and this has been tremendously appreciated by viewers and online users. Today Bollywood music premieres simultaneously on YouTube and On air – that‘s how important this platform is today.

    2011 saw the advent of Mobile TV – the on the move television and with the technological developments like 3G, these platforms have created the larger reach for the music channels and helped the viewers consume content on the move. 9XM is the first music television channel to have a live streaming facility of its on-air content on the official website – www.9xm.in. In fact, we have also extended the live streaming facility across our regional channels – 9X Tashan and 9X Jhakaas.

    Given the interactive ability of the medium to provide direct access to consumers going forward, we see media companies and advertisers leverage this platform to understand consumer behaviour and influence their choices. Content consumption will no longer be restricted to television sets and 2012 will witness a substantial increase in the consumption of music via You Tube and other online sites and via Mobile TV.

    Content development for the regional audiences and focus on innovation of content is another trend that will be seen gaining importance in the upcoming year.