NEW DELHI: MagicBricks Now, a new real estate and property channel from the Times Group, was today formally launched by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who said television channels should learn to differentiate between news and views so that the people could discern the real situation themselves.
The Minister said he was happy to know that Times Network is launching a news channel to create a platform for the real estate and housing sector “because it is going to partner with me in our plans to provide housing for everyone by 2032.” He said that the aim of the government was housing for all and smart cities and around Rs 4 lakh crore had been set aside for this.
Initially slated to be called Property Now, the channel was re-christened as MagicBricks Now and will begin beaming from 1 November.
The prime sponsor is the real estate website MagicBricks.com.which is a Times Internet property. Other confirmed sponsors include Lotus Greens Developers, Hirannadani and Mantri Developers.
Magicbricks Now will be distributed across all direct to home (DTH) and cable platforms and is already present on all platforms, which carry the Times Network’s channels. However, it will not be available on DD’s Freedish as it is a pay channel.
Times Group MD and CEO M K Anand told Indiantelevision.com that research had been carried out in six cities before the channel was launched. The research group had talked to thousands of people who wanted to buy property but were confused about how they could get the money and cross various bureaucratic or other hurdles.
Anand said that it had been found in the research that there were two types of people who wanted to buy property. One was the investor who was clearly looking at only buying to sell when prices rose, and the other was the layman who wanted to either buy property for personal stay or buy a second property to earn some income through rent.
He said both these categories of buyers had diametrically opposite ways of behaviour and the aim would be to bring the two together.
Speaking at a press meet later, Anand expressed confidence that the channel will break even in four to five years. He said the ad base in the country was around 40 per cent, of which the Times Group had a significant share.
Terming MagicBricks Now as a ‘property cousin’ of business channels, he added it was a real estate rather than a media endeavour.
In answer to a question, he said that most people felt recession was the best time to buy property and investments were made only with a futuristic profit in view. “If the media gives correct and real analysis, people will come forward to put money in property,” he added. The aim was also to facilitate an understanding of the processes of the government with regards to property.
The 24×7 channel will target NCCS A and B viewers in the 25-37 and 38-50 years age groups. In viewer profile terms, it will target both consumers who are looking to buy, sell or rent real estate, and businesses and service providers like brokers, builders, interior decorators, paint companies and others.
MagicBricks Now editor Faye D’Souza added, “It has been found that most people were confused about laws relating to property and real estate and the effort would be to declutter the various laws so the common man understands how he can go about purchasing the property.”
D’Souza informed that the channel would be multilingual so that it could reach all viewers.
MagicBricks Now will be using the prime time band of 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm to reach out to the common buyer. The channel will also have separate weekend programming, including live programmes where people could ask questions from experts in the studio. “the channel will have around two hours of live shows every weekend,” D’Souza added.
The channel will have shows on Vaastu and décor, etc, along with feature shows including some from the overseas market.
“MagicBricks Now has a singular focus – on the end consumer. It will offer a rich array of programs that range from news bulletins to property hotlines, debates, leadership insights and more. These will not just keep the end consumer informed, but will serve as a common meeting ground for knowledge-driven individual buyers, sellers and businesses looking seriously at the world of property and real estate,” she said.
Marquee channel programming includes The Property Guide, The Home Buyer’s Guide, Property Hotline, The Interiors Show, The Vastu Show, Real Estate Tycoons and, of course, The News, every hour on the hour.
Speaking about the association with Times Network to create the new channel, Magicbricks.com CEO Sudhir Pai said, “Magicbricks is delighted to be a part of this initiative with the Times Network. Our endeavour has always been to make our brand ubiquitous across media so as to provide consumers with rich and in-depth information when it comes to matters of property. With this association we leverage the visual appeal of television to communicate our rich data and analytics in an easy-to-consume manner for the consumer. With this launch, we strengthen the offering and make ourselves available at every touch point to consumers.”
