ITV

Tag: Hungama

  • Hungama bags digital account of Timex & Helix

    Mumbai: Timex India and its youth brand Helix have appointed Hungama Digital Services as their new digital media AoR.

    The agency will be working on their web and mobile platforms. It will manage social media for both the brands, media buying as well applications.

    Timex India MD and CEO V.D Wadhwa said, “The digital medium is fast evolving and presents tremendous opportunity for brands to mark their presence. It is increasingly becoming an important platform for interacting directly with our target audience. Given that the measurability of this domain is quantifiable, we at Timex are extremely focused on strengthening our brand presence on this very dynamic platform. We have strategic plans to increase our presence through the launch of brand Webstores, social media pages and impactful search and display campaigns. We chose to partner with Hungama as it is the leader in providing effective digital campaigns to brands across markets and categories. I am very confident of this partnership, as it will act as a catalyst in our journey to become the most influential brand in the digital space.”

    Hungama Digital Services MD and CEO Neeraj Roy added, “We are excited with the win and look forward to a relationship with the Timex Group. With an experienced and award winning team here, we aim to leverage this opportunity for Timex, towards a widespread exposure and an increased engagement in the digital space. Today, India is at the cusp of digital revolution with the advent of 500+ million consumers getting online in the next 3-4 years. We hope to offer integrated digital and experiential services to clients and prepare brands to connect, interact and transact with their customers.”

    For the record, JWT Singapore had recently acquired a 51 per cent stake in Hungama Digital Services.

  • Meridian wins creative mandate of hungama.com

    Meridian wins creative mandate of hungama.com

    MUMBAI: Meridian Communications Mumbai has won the creative mandate for hungama.com and bollywoodhungama.com along with its apps business.

    The win followed a multi agency pitch which saw participation by Metal Communication, Network Advertising, Interface and Brand Insights.

    Meridian head of office Samrat Bedi said, “The Hungama win, on the back of the Vespa win, is once again a testimony to Meridian‘s strength in blending strategic thought with effective and inspiring creative work. The relevant use of new-age media and ideas that won hands down on high cut-through and freshness is where Meridian scored. In Hungama, we have a brave client who inspired us to push ourselves harder. Eventually, it was the chemistry and passion on both sides that brought us together.”

    Meridian VP account planning Shashank Lanjekar added, “Hungama.com is a brand that is young, fun and futuristic. We hope to partner them in creating work that mirrors these values.”
    Meridian VP client servicing Mohit Ahuja added, “At Meridian, we believe in creating long term buzz platforms, as opposed to mere taglines. Given the digital youth space that Hungama operates in, this approach is a perfect fit.”

    The communication agency also won the creative mandate for Voltas ACs this year and made changes in its creative leadership earlier this month.

  • Hungama Digital Media appoints Indranil Sengupta as marketing & brand GM

    Hungama Digital Media appoints Indranil Sengupta as marketing & brand GM

    MUMBAI: Hungama Digital Media Entertainment has roped in Indranil Sengupta as general manager, marketing and brand management.

    Sengupta will be replacing Ashish Shah, who resigned nearly two weeks ago.

    Sengupta moves in from Zee Enterprises as AVP marketing and brand management for Zee Café and Zee Studio. He was responsible for creating brand identity, framing strategies for creating awareness about the brand, and implementing pre/post launch promotional activities for brand building and market development.

    Sengupta will report to Hungama Digital Media Entertainment chief operating officer, consumer business and allied services Siddhartha Roy.

    At Hungama, Sengupta will have a corporate role and work closely with the products team. He will take care of all the above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) activities for the interactive firm.

    Sengupta has nearly 11 years of marketing experience and has previously worked with Hungama as account manager, client servicing for two years (2002-04). He has also worked with Rediffusion – Dentsu Young & Rubicam (now Rediffusion-Y&R).

  • ‘We want to become the GEC for young India’ : Zarina Metha – Bindass CEO

    ‘We want to become the GEC for young India’ : Zarina Metha – Bindass CEO

     She waits with baited breath, jittery to unlock her next treasure. Bindass CEO Zarina Mehta is bubbling with energy as she talks about her second baby Bindass. This time round, Mehta is casting her magic wand over the Indian youth segment, but with a mammoth approach as she navigates across multiple media platforms to capture her target audience. Some question whether she will rewrite the Hungama TV story and the impact it had on the Indian kid’s space. However, in this case she looking to unveil a quartette of four Bindass television channels by April 2008.

    With the backing of Malaysia based media company Astro, she seems geared up to take on competition with other broadcasters also foraying into the youth general entertainment segment. As this television space is heating up, Mehta is leaving no stone unturned to capture what she calls the “sweet spot.” In an exclusive t?te-?-t?te with Indiantelevision.com’s Renelle Snelleksz, Zarina Mehta exudes the excitement and the anxiety before she breathes life into her next creation.

    Excerpts:

    Why have you decided to change your TG positioning by extending the demographic beyond the 15-24 year olds even before launching Bindass?
    When we initally conceived the channnel, we were looking at the 15 – 24 year olds, but further research urged us to redefine our target audience as 15-34 year olds. The median age for India has dropped by two years to 24 years since the 2001 census.

    But how do you manage to make one brand appeal to this wide audience? It is all about targeting what we call our “sweet spot” or the 17 -21 year olds. We realized that if we target our sweet spot, then we will automatically attract the larger segment of 15 – 34. This is because the 15 year olds long to belong, while the 34 year olds just do not want to grow up. This ‘down aging’ phenomena is a sensational find because if I get my 17 – 21 year olds correct (which I pray I do, she laughs), then I will capture this larger segment as well.

    What opportunities does this segment offer?
    Between the 15 – 34 age group we have got 379 million Indians (All India) and in the C&S homes 95 million Indians. But who is currently engaging this audience? Star One did it in its old avatar, Sab is making a good attempt, there are also one off shows from GECs and some niche channels. But there is definitely a gap.

    The 15 -34 year olds comprise 42 per cent of all TV viewing. This is a fantastic opportunity for us. The viewership patterns from 2005 till now are also changing, which shows the decline of the GECs as viewers are moving away from their traditional consumption and trying new things. There is thus a gap in the general entertainment space on television and we want to cater to this segment. We want to become the GEC for young India.

    The concept behind Bindass has largely been supported by research. Are there any significant findings that have helped give shape to your upcoming channel?
    We did three and a half months of solid research, we have a proprietary name test which we had done for Hungama TV, Ceria and for Bindass. Secondly, we did an ethnographic qualitative study, followed by a quantitative study based on attitudes conducted by Synovate across six Indian cities and 2500 samples. Our research is invaluable and the key finding stated that our sweet spot (core TG 17- 21 year olds) have a ‘duality’ but are very comfortable with having a traditional heart with a cool exterior. This forms the core brand value of Bindass.

    The ‘Bindass’ name is imbued with certain brand properties that resonate with factors like chilled out, edgy, sexy and young. But as the creators of brand Bindass these values were not sufficient to create a 360 degree long term brand. So we added values that will further energize the brand and came up with the following propositions. If you are not “yo dude” and you are not “saas bahu” then you are Bindass. We are the reality of young India that consists of the four F’s – Fun, Frank, Fearless and Freedom.

    Our logo has been designed by BDA and is exactly what we represent, completely Indian with a cool exterior, that is what we believe will work.

    On the programming front, what’s your strategy?
    The channel will have no music, no soaps, no gadget shows, no lifestyle shows and no VJ’s. So what are we left with? It is going to have a lot of comedy. We will have action thrillers, Hollywood blockbusters and the best of local and International shows, accompanied by late night horror, International movies and extreme sports.

    Our daily driver primetime shows include a stand up comedy Lagegi that is shot 24 to 48 hours prior to telecast from Monday to Thursday. We will have seven BIA’s – Bindass Intellegent Agents from the top cities giving us reports on what is happening across India. Then there is Shakira, a dark angel fighting for justice, every man’s fantasy, while another daily comedy is Sun Yaar Chill Maar. We also have a street magician show by Ugesh Sarcar.

    Our programming is tailored to fit our research findings which show that the 15 -24 age group watches two and half hours of TV a week and movie channels are consumed for six hours a week by this TG.

    In the highly cluttered TV environment, have you identified what your primetime is going to be?
    Our primetime is definitely going to be the normal primetime 7.30 – 11.30 pm. But what is interesting is that this audience will be consuming TV across the day, so we will be discovering new primetimes. There will probably be the regular primetime and two other primetimes, which we have also identified and we are pushing your programmes at that time as well. This will be a learning curve for us.

    But won’t this interfere with GEC primetime, especially in the reality of a single TV household?
    Yes, we will, thus, be discovering our own primetime. Is our TG going to be able to snatch the remote or not? We believe that within this primetime they will snatch the remote. But basically there are two time slots within primetime that we are gunning for. Apart from that, we do believe there will emerge other primetimes which will be a morning and afternoon one. We are looking to garner ratings right through the day.
    ‘We will be discovering our own primetime, but there are two slots within 7.30 – 11.30 pm that we are gunning for‘

    You are also looking to have a strong movie line up on Bindass?
    We have top of the line Hollywood blockbusters that we will dub, along with Japanese and Chinese films as well. It is important that the movie is ‘bindass.’ Even if I know a movie will rate well but if it does not qualify as a bindass film, then I won’t put it on the channel.

    We are not going to have Hindi movies on our channel, for the same reason that we are not having music, because it is ‘undifferentiated viewing.’ The way Hindi movies are bought in bulk, you are not allowed to pick and choose, thus you cannot build your brand, but in case of international films you can do this.

    Will this mean that you will not have any films from the UTV stable?
    We may have them eventually, but only if it’s a Bindass movie. It also depends on whether we can afford it. At the moment, I am only looking at international movies from Asia and the West.

    What is your movie strategy for the channel?
    Primetime movies will be for the weekends, but we will also showcase two movies a day largely off primetime.

    What about animated content on the channel?
    I personally love animation but unfortunately in India animation is perceived as being for kids. I can’t afford to have that on Bindass when we launch. Maybe after the brand has settled and people have realized that it’s a 15+ brand, then I can put it on. But this will definitely not happen in the first year.

    Are all the Bindass shows produced in-house?
    Two have been produced in house i.e. Shakira and Sun Yaar Chill Maar but Lagegi has been done by the production house Encompass. However, all the concept ideas have come from us.

    How many locally produced shows will be on the channel?
    At the moment we have three shows. But we will have six original hours of content per day which includes a mix of locally produced shows, dubbed acquired content and movies.

    Will the mix be largely skewed towards local content? What is the proportion of local versus acquired content?
    We will just have to wait and watch although I believe local content is very vital. Our primetime will be completely local. But we have also learnt from our experience with the kid’s channel Hungama TV that acquired content can also do very well.

    Local programming will consist of 45 per cent and acquired 55 per cent. But we have to first see what works and then decide eventually.

    What are the plans to introduce other Bindass channels in India?
    By April 2008 we will have four channels which will be variations of Bindass. We are currently exploring what those will be and are even exploring whether it will be a regional channel or maybe even another genre within this youth audience space. We have, however, decided to launch a movie channel called Bindass Movies by early October. We have acquired a huge library consisting of about 150 movies to start with.
    ‘By April 2008 we will have 4 channels which will be variations of Bindass‘

    Will this new channel also have only international movies dubbed in Hindi or are you also looking to infuse some Bollywood content?
    Not when we launch, but eventually we may consider infusing some Hindi movies into the channel. What was an eye opener for us was that our analysis of over a year’s ratings indicated that a dubbed Hollywood movie gets three times the ratings of the non-dubbed version of the same movie, while a Bollywood film gets only double of that. So as a cost benefit analysis, this is the way to go.

    Will this also be a pay channel like Bindass?
    Yes, I only believe in the pay channel model. All our channels will be pay from day one.

    What will Bindass across the mobile and online platform be like?
    For our mobile platform we have tied up with all the telecom operators in India and our own short code is 5995 to showcase both Bindass and acquired content. There are two kinds of content we are working on. One is popular content which accounts for 95 per cent of revenues. The other five per cent is high-end content which people rarely use but is the future. Popular content consists of wallpapers, ring tones, gaming and contests. We are going to prepare ourselves for what we believe is going to come on mobile, the high technology stuff which includes mobisodes, television clippings, online chat and blogs for which we are talking to people.

    All this is an opportunity to get the content of my brand across all touch points. We don’t see it as competition to TV, we see online and mobile as fantastic opportunities to communicate with our audience. So by taking our content across platforms we will kick off with Lagegi.com an online comedy portal having Lagegi content and other content including user generated content and clips not aired on the show. We will also have Bindass.com which will showcase the brand and the shows.

    Are the retail and merchandising plans for Bindass already underway?
    I am going to start focusing on our retail ventures post the launch of the channel. I have given myself 12 months before I launch two cafés in Mumbai and Delhi. These will be brand extensions of Bindass to create a touch and feel of our brand. We are still in the process of conducting research to arrive at the right representations of the brand. But we have zeroed in on gaming consoles, web zones and merchandising counters that will be a part of the ambience along with some other big ideas. These café’s will be unique to an entertainment brand.

    With the first two café’s, I would like to see how these concepts click with our TG and then we will roll out completely. I don’t want to push it.

    Are you considering roping in a partner for this initiative? The investments for this are outside the Rs two billion that was declared earlier. So what are the investments for this?
    No, not at the moment I am not considering a partner. Maybe I will kick off on my own and get a partner later.

    Yes, the investments are outside the JV and are very high. The investments from the JV alone are Rs 2.7 billion which will be largely dedicated to the four channels.

    What is the marketing push that you have planned to get Bindass off the ground?
    For the media plan, we will start with a big push for Lagegi on TV and with the website in August. This will be followed by Space Yatra which is a contest that will kick off in September giving seven Bindass people across the country the opportunity to go into space.

    With several players now eyeing the youth demographic, how do you see the television space shaping up this year?
    We love competition, without competition we are dead. I am so happy that many people have announced their plans to enter this space. You don’t want to be alone, you want competition to grow the space, to come up with better ideas, you keep going one up and the space grows. I know this sector is going to hot up, in fact it already has. In the Rs 65 billion market there is Rs 18 billion targeting our “sweet spot” – the college going kids. The opportunity is huge as 72 per cent of India is below the age of 34 years.

    What about your plans to take a prototype of the channel overseas (Southeast Asia) like you did with Hungama TV in Malaysia?
    Absolutely, but first it is important to make the mother brand successful at home and then duplicate it. We are looking to extend the brand not only to Southeast Asia but also to take it to the Middle East and East Asia by late 2008 or early 2009.
  • Mauj and Gaming Hungama unveil ‘Baabul’

    Mauj and Gaming Hungama unveil ‘Baabul’

    MUMBAI: BR Films forthcoming movie Baabul is being launched in form of a game, simultaneously on mobile and online games. Mauj is assigned for the mobile gaming and Gaming Humgama for online games.

    The game was launched by the Babul star Amitabh Bachchan.

    Commenting on the launch Amitabh Bachchan said, “The Babul game will definitely generate more interest in the film. Its completely new and unique platform to Bollywood as such games based on films involve the audiences actively, while also opening new revenue stream for the industry.”

    Hungama MD and CEO Neeraj Roy said, “Gaming is one of the fastest growing avenues on the World Wide Web and is already the in thing among the youth of the country. There is huge potential for Hindi films to explore gaming as a promotional vehicle. Worldwide gaming is an integral part of the entertainment industry and will become a US$ 1 Billion industry in India by 2010″

    BR Films business head Sanjay Bhutani added ” The game basically engages the player in the brand, the more he playes the deeper he gets involved in the product, which is very good for the promotion of the film.”

    About the game

    On Gaming Hungama

    Player can play the game as Salman or John. He needs to find Rani Mukherjee who is hidden behind a door. There are in all eight characters including Rani and behind every door there can be any character, asserts an official release.

    The game would be available on www.gaminghungama.com.

    The Mobile Game

    There are two mobile games that Mauj has launched, Babul-The Garland and Baabul-Shaadi Ki Rasam.

    In the former once can choose to be John or Salman and has to try to garland Rani whereas the latter is based on finding coins in the water bowl.

    The games can be downloaded by sending SMS BAABUL to 7007.The content will be available through both SMS and WAP platforms, adds the release.

  • Hungama unveils free multi user gaming portal; targets 1mn users in first year

    Hungama unveils free multi user gaming portal; targets 1mn users in first year

    MUMBAI: Hungama, entertainment portal, content developer and aggregator has launched India’s first free multi user online gaming portal, www.gaminghungama.com. Hungama is targeting a registered user base of one million in the first year.

    The games have a simple and easy to understand gaming interface coupled with a chat window. This allows the user to interact with his opponent as he plays a game, a first among gaming sites. Along with games the site also has the latest reviews of PC, console and mobile games from across the world, the freshest gaming news relayed using RSS feeds, a user forum and a downloads section, informs an official release.

    Commenting on the launch of its latest offering in the digital space, Hungama CEO and MD Neeraj Roy said, “It is estimated that, the online gaming market in India is at $30 million, of which mobile gaming and internet based gaming contribute
    $8 million each in revenues. It is being expected that by the year 2010 11 the software gaming industry will be $700 million in size and console, mobile and broadband or internet based gaming will each be one third of the pie and through
    gaming, hungama we will be ready to meet this ever growing demand.”

    “The prime focus of the site is to provide an engaging platform for the gamers across the world and our aim is to become the cle facto gaming portal in India within six months,” says Hungama creative director Carlton D’Silva.

    The games are original concepts and are based on popular themes with titles such as Bollywood Squares, a hilarious take on Hollywood Squares, the American TV show. The other titles include Quick Et, a fast cricket game, Star Gaze, a Bollywood celebrity quiz game, Top the Class, a multi user game that can support over 500 users at any given point, adds the release.

    “The site will be launched with multi user games to begin with which will serve as an educational exercise for the gamers that are not so used to multi user games. The games are kept simple in nature and at sometime in our lives played the physical form of the game. This makes it easier for the gamers to comprehend the games and quicker to get started. Post the initial push of multi user games; we will eventually release single user online and casual games,” adds D’Silva.

  • Sunfeast and Hungama TV join hands for ‘The Sunfeast Open Ball boy/Ball Girl Contest 2006’

    MUMBAI: Sunfeast and Hungama TV have announced ‘The Sunfeast Open Ball boy/Ball Girl Contest 2006’. This contest will give children across the country a chance to be the ball boy/girl in a match played on center court during the Sunfeast Open tournament to kick off in Kolkata from 18 – 24 September 2006.

    To participate in the contest kids will have to answer a
    question that will be aired on Hungama TV till 15 September. It appears that the question will be related to India’s top woman’s tennis player. Correct responses will give five lucky winners a chance to participate as ball boys/ ball girls at the tournament.

    What’s more, these five kids will also be featured on Ten Sports and Hungama TV, in addition to receiving special training for this role at the Jaidip Mukerjea Tennis Academy promoted by former India tennis ace and Tournament director for Sunfeast Open, Jaidip Mukerjea.

    Contestants can enter the contest by sending their answers either by SMS to 6767888 or email to sunfeastopen@itc.in.

    Besides providing the kids with an opportunity to rub shoulders with International Tennis Stars, it is also an attempt to promote the game in India.

    ITC Foods Ltd. divisional chief executive Ravi Naware said, “Sunfeast’s association with sports was to foster love for the game and groom generation next for keener participation in sporting activities. It is our constant endeavor to connect with our audiences by providing constant interface between the tournament and the audiences in order to form a strong connect and create a sense of ownership for the tournament among viewers.”

    Further commenting on the association Hungama TV COO Zarina Mehta said, “Hungama TV always believes in empowering, engaging and entertaining kids through various touch points, both on-air and off-air. This unique initiative with Sunfeast is an opportunity to provide a wholesome experience of both our brands by giving our consumers an access to their role models and enabling them to get a step closer to their aspirations.

    Touted as South Asia’s biggest sporting spectacle, the Sunfeast Open 2006 is Tier III WTA (Women Tennis Association) event with prize money of US$ 170,000. It will be played at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata from 18 to 24 September 2006. The tournament is being brought to Kolkata by Globosport, the sports management company owned by Mahesh Bhupathi, under the auspices of the Government of West Bengal.

     

  • Hungama launches third Captains Hunt; to search for leaders of tomorrow

    Hungama launches third Captains Hunt; to search for leaders of tomorrow

    MUMBAI: Hungama TV has launched the third edition of its Captains Hunt, which will search for 10 of the smartest kids across the country, between the age group 8 – 14 years. These kids will be on the board of directors of Hungama TV and run the channel for the next one year.

    The channel has set aside a budget of Rs 10+ million for this year’s Captain’s Hunt. While in the initial phase the concentration will be on school contact programmes in 10 cities; the focus will shift to mass media during November – December, when the hunt will culminate.

    The hunt kickstarted on 15 August 2006 and will travel to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Indore and Baroda targeting more than 500,000 kids in 500 schools across these cities. These kids will offer regular inputs on programming, marketing, distribution and competition.

    This year the premise of the Captain’s Hunt has been changed. The aim is to find and shape the future leaders of India. The final 10 will be trained by industry leaders from various fields and will provide them with advice and direction to develop their potential and emerge as leaders of tomorrow. The kids will be judged on the basis of articulation, intelligence, confidence, ambition and talent.

    UTV senior vice president – marketing and communications Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “At Hungama TV, our Captains are always an integral part of decision making, be it programming, marketing initiatives or on-ground research. Hungama TV Captains have helped the channel reach the position it has today and we really value their inputs. This year we are looking for the best and brightest kids across the country to run the channel and benefit from personal mentoring by iconic leaders of today.”

    Once the entries are received from the 10 cities, 1000 kids will be shortlisted from each city in the second round. Thereafter, 50 kids will be chosen in the third round after which the number boils down to two kids from each city. Out of these 20 kids, 10 will then be chosen (one per city) to be the Captains.

    The last day for receiving entries is 30 September. The auditions will take place in November and the finale on 9 – 10 December.

    The 2007 captains will have many opportunities in store. A Captains Advisory Council (CAC), which will comprise leaders from various walks of life, will mentor these captains. The Captains will have exclusive access to the Council to seek advice and guidance on a regular basis. Also, Hungama TV will support a unique talent of every Captain by funding their coaching or training during their tenure.

    Origentest, the research and implementation arm of IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd, has been roped in as the knowledge partner and will be responsible for developing the various tests of the hunt.

    This year’s hunt has Parle-G as the presenting sponsor and Boost Chocoblast as the co-presenting sponsor. The associate sponsors are Colgate, The Sugar & Spice, Reynolds, Kellogg’s Chocos, Dukes Big Bite and Boomer Mango Jelly.

  • Post Hungama, UTV to plan for second stage of growth

    Post Hungama, UTV to plan for second stage of growth

    MUMBAI: UTV will be cash rich by Rs 2.36 billion as a fallout of the Walt Disney deal, allowing it to pursue movie and animation businesses on a large scale.

    The preferential allotment to Walt Disney of 14.9 per cent of the expanded equity capital at Rs 192.5 per share will fetch UTV an aggregate value of Rs 654.5 million ($14 million). Founder-promoter Ronnie Screwvala will contribute Rs 360 million as UTV issues him 1,949,360 warrants, which are convertible into one equity share each, at the same price.

    A further $29.3 million (Rs 1.35 billion) will trickle in from Walt Disney’s buyout of Hungama TV, in a total deal size of $30.5 million with Screwvala getting $1.2 million for his 51 per cent holding in the Hindi kids channel.

    “The huge cash UTV will be sitting on will help us leverage funds for future expansion of the company. Once we set out exercising the synergies with Walt Disney, we can substantially scale up the movies and animation business,” says Screwvala.

    This line of optimism is making Screwvala protect his old stake in UTV. The issue of warrants will help him increase his shareholding in UTV from 42.38 per cent to 47.62 per cent before any issue of 3.4 million shares to Walt Disney. After alloting shares to Disney, Screwvala will hold around 44 per cent in UTV.

    Screwvala plans to use the fresh capital to wipe out UTV’s debt of Rs 900 million. “We will become a zero debt company,” he says.

    So what will the master of deals take up as his next challenge? “UTV, which is currently at the helm of affairs in its specific business segments in the Indian media and entertainment industry, is poised for its second stage of growth. As the Disney investment consummates over the next few months, post regulatory approvals, I am positive that UTV will enter a new phase of growth and strengthen its multi-revenue integrated model.”

    On Screwvala’s expansion plate is not just movies and animation but also new media content including gaming. Be prepared for acquisitions in this space. And Screwvala doesn’t rule out the launch of niche channels. “We incubated and grew Vijay TV and Hungama TV before we sold out to News Corp and Walt Disney. We have the experience in the broadcasting space. With the emergence of digital platforms, there is scope to launch niche channels,” he says

  • MTV charts a Viacom growth path for India

    MTV charts a Viacom growth path for India

    MUMBAI: Freeing of cash flow and focus. That primarily is what the split of Viacom into two entities at the beginning of the year means in practical terms for the MTV Networks India team headed by Amit Jain.

    What Jain has before him is a five-year growth plan that sees India contributing “significantly” to the global revenues of Viacom Inc. That Viacom president and CEO Tom Freston is an “Indophile” seems to be a huge plus as far as Jain is concerned, particularly because India, South America and Europe (in that order) are seen as the key growth markets for the media conglomerate over the next five years.Questioned as to how and where he saw revenues coming considering that music channels have been steadily losing share of voice and mind in the broadcast space, Jain had this to offer.

    According to Jain, broadcast would remain the key revenue source for his network in India but its share would go down to two thirds in the course of the next five years. The remaining one third revenues will come from new media platforms like mobile and broadband and also from the movies business (Paramount’s acquisition of Dreamworks will mean significant ramp ups on the animation side as well, particularly as India is seen as a strong outsource hub).
    MTV BRAND TO BE LEVERAGED

    The three channels that MTV has launched in India will pretty much set the template as far as the network’s broadcast script unfolds.

    First there is Brand MTV, which will be at the centre of a slew of undertakings ranging from market activation, creative solutions, youth understanding, client branding. The central premise of all this is that “Viacom brand solutions can be devised and tailored to unique brand needs”.

    NICK TO GET MAJOR PUSH

    From a long term channel growth perspective, it is Nick that will provide the momentum, not MTV. And while Jain admits that the kids channel in his network, despite early mover advantage, has singularly failed to make an impact, he believes that is all about to change. And sooner rather than later.

    The first task, according to Jain, is to get back to the basics and get the programming, scheduling, packaging and distribution on track. Once these issues have been sorted out and “cleaned up”, then budgets for driving the channel forward will not be an issue, he asserts.

    The fact of the matter though is that a home grown channel like UTV’s Hungama and an international powerhouse like Disney, despite having entered the Indian market years after Nick first made its debut, have all gone ahead. So its going to require a committed and sustained effort for Nick to be anywhere in the reckoning. Whether Viacom will seriously show Nick the money is the moot point.

    VH1 WILL ULTIMATELY BE A DTH STORY

    It’s been 18 months since international lifestyle and music channel Vh1, which targets an older TG, launched in India and the management is more than satisfied with its performance, asserts Jain. Vh1 is on target both as regards advertising and distribution revenues, he points out. “By the end of the year (Viacom has a January to December fiscal) Vh1 will hit break even,” says Jain.

    But Jain does admit that Vh1 and other niche offerings from the MTV Networks stable like Comedy Central, CMT: Country Music Television, Spike TV and the like can only offer any real returns if they are on addressable platforms. For these channels therefore, it will be the rollout of DTH in the country that will likely determine their arrival.

    MOVIES AND NEW MEDIA

    Jain’s reference to the movies ties in with what Freston had to say while speaking at the Ficci Frames media convention in Mumbai earlier this year. Which was that Viacom was looking to co-produce films in India instead of merely exporting its films in to the country through its partner United International Pictures (UIP).

    The India movies picture remains a hazy one at present though, considering that about the only products of note have been the spoofs dished out by MTV’s movie making unit (and aptly titled) Fully Faltoo Films. Its most recent offering Ghoom, which was a spoof on last year’s action hit Dhoom from the Yash Raj Films banner, only serves to emphasise the quirky nature of MTV India’s movie offerings.

    As for mobile and broadband, it will depend again on bandwidth capacities that telecom players in particular will be able to roll out.

    While MTV Asia Pacific has been able to enter into a collaboration with Korean multimedia developer Wizmax to launch a customizable on-demand music and entertainment broadband and mobile community platform in Korea called MTV BoomBox, something similar in India looks to be a while away.

    Having said that, it is MTV BoomBox that will serve as a model for customisable MTV platforms in the broadband and wireless content services arena in India as well.