MUMBAI: When things are going well, it’s time to take them to the next level, especially when the market is highly competitive with a host of music channels and each one trying to outdo the other with newer and better offerings.
And so, the 15-year-old music channel, B4U Music, has reinvented itself once again with a fresh new look coupled with refreshed content and a punchy tagline, ‘Play Ahead’.
It had gone under the knife many times over the past few years, because such is the requirement of the audience which is its core viewer – the youth, believes B4U Network editorial head Kalyan Sundaram. He further goes on to say that viewers have been exposed to a lot of new concepts and in many cases it is developed to meet the socio-economic paradigm of the country that has changed over a period of time.
“Times have changed and viewers we had a couple of years back have changed too completely. Now, the new generation wants everything very fast and want to watch more exciting things,” he says.
In order to keep it to the likes of its TG i.e. 15-24 year olds, it has conceptualized a new logo and also introduced a line-up of new shows with a twist. The channel has defined its key components in the right direction. The new tagline -‘Play Ahead’ is the inspiration behind the new logo, which is synonymous with music and youth. Correspondingly, the ‘play’ symbol is universally recognised and associated with music. “We promise to deliver what the viewers would want to look forward to,” says Sundaram.
The new logo, decked with the combination of purple and pink shades, has an arrow in the shape of ‘4’ which is moving towards the upward direction. “It’s anonymous with prosperity, progress, looking forward, optimism and that is how we locked on to this look.”
The channel undergoes a rigorous research every quarter and it revealed that change is a must and dynamism is a key to growth. It took 60 days for the channel to conceptualise and bring it to execution. The new look has been designed by the in-house creative team.
“The ideas keep generating every second day. The minute we think that we need to come up with a light switch, we pull out the existing programs and see what the research has actually revealed and sink the research with the existing properties that we have created,” points out Sundaram.
With a music library of 3,000 songs, the channel which reaches out to 80 million households, recently, extended its viewership bracket by being available on DD Direct and Tata Sky marking a big leap.
It has also introduced new shows like – Insider, a weekly show which brings to the audience an insider’s perspective on the brewing controversies of tinsel town. B4U Music in association with a noted Bollywood journalist will bring the latest scoops of the B-Town directly to the audience.
In the Pink, will showcase fashion updates of Bollywood celebrities. From their current fashion statements, faux pas and grooming tips to their earlier fashion avatars.
Viewers will get to know the fitness and diet mantra of favourite Bollywood stars as they talk about what is the secret of their great shape on Caught Being Healthy. The show is an off shoot of Star Stop and we will have stars talking about their diet preferences and work out routines themselves.
But the main highlight of the channel revamp is Naanism. The snippet revolves around Edith Taylor, an old lady on the wrong side of 60 yet full of hyper energy and an acidic tongue that has earned her the moniker of “Crazy Naani”. It is a collection of Crazy Naani’s wordly wise sayings, which are laced with sharp humour and intelligent wit.
Other shows include, Co Star, Star vs Star, I’m a Star, Cover Story, YOU – Have It, Flaunt It, Celeb Fix.
“Gone are the days when they had to come to the television and watch television unless you really arrest them with good programming. You have to be on-ground with them and reflect their likes,” reasons Sundaram.
On the marketing front, the channel has promoted heavily on the digital medium like Facebook where most of the young audience exist. It delivers good amount of 1,11,427 likes on Facebook (at the time of penning the article.)
Going forward, to further promote the development, it plans to tie up with college festivals to reach out and connect more with the youth.
Though Sundaram refused to divulge any financial details, media planners believe that the music channel has grown significantly in terms of revenues and clients as well. On the revenue front, the topline of the company is profitable.
