Tag: MTV India

MTV makes music, again

MUMBAI: While it counts as the oldest music television network in Asia and the one brand that has always stood for all things youth, MTV India, Viacom18’s youth entertainment channel, is not one to rest on its laurels.

And so, in a bid to add an exciting new dimension to its youth connect as much as stay ahead in an already cluttered space, the channel has, in collaboration with Soundlogic, an American gadget major that set shop in India two years ago, and Croma, launched a range of music accessories under the flagship brand, MTV Fashiontronix.

The accessories including trendy earphones, Bluetooth ear buds and many more will be exclusively available at Croma stores across the country and on its website.

Speaking on the launch, Viacom 18 senior VP consumer products Saugato Bhowmik said: “We believe in catering to the youngsters and only want to expand our horizons across categories which cater to our thought process, be it related to fashion, gadgets, Bollywood etc.”

About the tie-up with MTV, Soundlogic director Sagar Gwallani said: “After the successful response we got here, we thought of enhancing our reach more among the youngsters. Hence, we collaborated with MTV because of its popularity among the youth and its digital following. The combination of our technical bandwidth along with the channel’s creative edge in the market will help us achieve our goal.”

On the collaboration, Infiniti Retail CEO & managing director Ajit Joshi said: “We sell products like JVL and Bose but today, youngsters want music on the go. It is a religion for them. And when we got an opportunity to address the needs of the youth of the country, we were glad to be part of it.”

MTV will market the new product range through its digital space. “Where do youngsters hangout? It’s cafes, colleges and are always on the digital platform. Apart from us, Croma too will be supporting us on its digital space,” informed Bhowmik, adding that the channel is in the planning stage of launching a marketing plan on its sister channels. “We have all the edge at our disposal and we will be utilizing our sister channels in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Joshi opined that the range, priced between Rs 899 and Rs 3999, doesn’t really need marketing as he could predict it would fly off the shelves as soon as youngsters got their hands on it.

November 28, 2013
Spuul joins hands with IndiaCast

MUMBAI: Spuul, an online streaming service for Indian cinema and television shows has joined hands with IndiaCast, a Viacom18 and TV18 venture, to offer shows from Colors, MTV India and the ETV bouquet of channels to its subscribers.

The deal allows Spuul to showcase hits like Comedy Nights with Kapil, Balika Vadhu, Uttaran, Sanskaar, Bani, Madhubala and Sasural Simar Ka from Colors and Timeout with Imam and Webbed from MTV India.

Reaffirming Spuul’s brand promise of providing premium entertainment anytime, anywhere, Spuul CEO India Prakash Ramchandani said, “Colors and MTV are leading channels across the general entertainment and youth space in the Indian television market. By bringing shows of Colors, MTV India and ETV channels to our platform, we plan to give our users an instant and continued access to their favourite shows at their convenience. This association with IndiaCast only highlights our proposition of providing entertainment on the go.”

Spuul users can now have unrestricted access to shows of Colors, MTV India and ETV channel on their PCs, iOS and Android smart phones and tablets.

IndiaCast Media Distribution group CEO Anuj Gandhi said, “Spuul makes popular Indian entertainment content available on internet-connected devices through its platform. We are pleased to partner with Spuul to offer consumers our premium TV content and movies at their convenience, anytime, anywhere.”

November 11, 2013
Contextual marketing with web content is the next big thing

MUMBAI: The third WatSummit took place in Mumbai and it brought together executives from the digital industry to a single platform. The panellists not only shared industry insights but also gave a forecast of the biggest trends for this year.

The summit began with a welcome note from WatMedia founder, CEO Rajiv Dingra.

Keynote speaker Microsoft senior director for Emerging Markets, India, Malaysia, Thailand & Korea Advertising and Online Neville Taraporewalla shared his views on the growth of social media, the smartphone culture across the world. “Growth of smartphones and tablets are changing consumer experience are catalysts in building an identity in the digital space” he said. According to him the smart phone culture has given a huge impetus to gamification. “Games are everywhere. Everything is becoming a game. In Korea, games are ranked no. 2 activity, after talking on phone”he added.

The first panel discussion of the summit – Social Media Marketing – Making sense of jibber-jabber by brands saw personalities like MTV India head digital Eklavya Bhattacharya, PaulWriter CEO Jessie Paul, KRDS business head Asia Preetham Venky and Komli Media VP and country head Ad Network Gulshan Verma discussing social media platforms and the opportunities it brings for the B2B and B2C brands.

While Jessie Paul thought that B2B is a major challenge on social media, Eklavya deciphered the pros of contextual advertising catering to the B2C industry. It was commonly agreed that platforms like Facebook and Twitter drive engagement and help you converse with the B2C group and platforms like Linkedin are more influential for B2B. “B2B is a slow adopter of social media.” said Paul.

The second panel discussion – Digital Media Marketing – ‘Can it build a brand on its own?’ saw panelists discussing conversions and the effectiveness of the digital medium to enable conversions. There is a lot of investment that goes into digital. Madison Media digital director Amit Duggal said, “Any medium that converts more than 100 million users is a huge medium in itself.”

The effectiveness and importance of mobile marketing was discussed at length at the fourth panel discussion – Mobile Marketing – Promises of reach Vs. Actual Impact. The panelists were seen conferring the various aspects of mobile marketing. Mobile First is the way for marketers. The point was made that advertisers have realised the need of the mobile medium and its penetration. It was also stated by the panelists that there is a lot of impact-oriented strategies taking place on mobile. ‘App routes’ and ‘Web routes’ are the best ways to target consumers on mobile.

Known for his expertise at start-up Games2Win co-founder, CEO Alok Kejriwal said, “If you are a start-up, you don’t spend money, you spend your brain.”

February 19, 2013
Hiking ad rates a tough task for music channels

MUMBAI: MTV India has decided to hike its ad rates even as it has readied international format show launches, something the youth-music genre has found it difficult to enforce in a cluttered environment.

The change in positioning of music channels has followed a market logic – that non-music content can command higher ad rates. Channel [V] had launched some big-ticket shows in the past for the same reason and has recently started airing a fiction show. UTV Bindass also has a mix of non-fiction and fiction shows where they claim to charge a premium.

While the youth-music channels do have shows where they can ask for a premium, making them profitable has not been easy as content costs are higher.

Can pure play music channels up ad rates?

Says 9X Media EVP network sales Pawan Jailkhani, “9XM time and again has got rate hikes from the market because the channel is most stable and dependable in terms of deliveries and it is one of the most cost efficient and relevant channels in the client’s plan.”

So does the industry, which is marred with high competition, similar or no exclusive content, and high cost of non-fiction, have to increase its ad rates to survive? Media executives believe that they have to. Jailkhani says, “The music genre has to have rate hikes as it is still undervalued in terms of rates vis-?-vis deliveries.”

But some media pundits feel players need to understand that there has to be consistency in their performance.

A media buyer said it will be hard for youth and music channels to ask for higher rates. “Advertisers have already put in money on Cricket World Cup and now IPL. They may not be interested on spending more money on these channels this year.”

The existing players can be broadly categorised under three categories. The youth channels consist of MTV, Channel [V] and UTV Bindass; the pure play music channels are 9XM, Mastiii, Music India, B4U Music and Zing; and the Bollywood entertainment/trade channels include Zoom, ETC, E24 and Big Magic (earlier known as Imagine Showbiz).

So will MTV‘s decision lead to an ad rate hike in the youth channel category? Channel [V] has no such plans. EVP and GM Prem Kamath believes that whenever advertisers see value in the offering, they do pay premium. “Advertisers look for fair value,” he says.

UTV Software Communications‘ Bindass did not want to participate in this story.

For the pure play music channels, the game will get tougher.

How will players like Zing and ETC be impacted? Says Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) chief revenue officer and head, niche channels Joy Chakraborthy, “Increasing the ad rates is a continuous process. In the new fiscal, we are signing deals on incremental price.”

April 16, 2011
‘We aim to be among the top 3 studios in the country within 3 years’ : Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra

Knocked down by a model that relied heavily on acquisitions, Network18 founder-promoter Raghav Bahl has reworked on the movie production business that he has moved to a joint venture company with Viacom as a partner.

Having snapped up The Indian Film Company that was listed on London‘s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Bahl will now have movies rolled out from Viacom18, the company that also houses Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, MTV India, Nick and Vh1.

A cautious spender this time, Bahl has earmarked Rs 1.20 billion for a seven-movie slate that will run through early 2012. The peak funding requirement in a three-year horizon will be Rs 2.50 billion

In an interview with Indiantelevision.com‘s Sibabrata Das, Viacom18 Motion Pictures chief operating officer Vikram Malhotra talks about the mistakes learnt from Studio18, the focus on building a sustainable capability and the company‘s revival plans.

Excerpts:

The Indian Film Company churned out several hits like Ghajini, Singh is Kinng, Jab We Met, Welcome and Golmaal Returns in the initial years. Why it suddenly collapsed and couldn‘t survive the downturn?
TIFC had a great run in the first two years. Then came the downturn in the industry. The business model of acquisition was fraught with risks and it lost more value share than the others.

One year of stupidity wiped out the hard work that TIFC had initially done. What did it do fundamentally wrong for this to happen?
In 2006 and 2007 capital was easily available to the industry and the acquisition model suited the business environment at that time. But the risks are much higher than the market and the operating margins much thinner. In the changed climate, the model needed to be revisited.

Was the team not capable to change in the changing times?
Clearly, the team at that time chose to stick to the then existing model and could not read fully into where the market was heading. The motion pictures business is a dynamic and competitive one and your eye needs to be constantly on the ball. A large part of the focus at that time was on distribution and not on building capabilities to create and produce films. This industry needs a model that is fundamentally sound but agile enough to suit the operating environment.

How is the business model more protected now?
We have moved away from the old business model of trading and acquisitions. We won‘t be making first copy ready made acquisitions. We are de-risking by building IP and our own creation. Even in co-productions, we will be involved at every stage. We will be a streamlined organisation that is nimble footed and is focused on profitability, sustainability and capability. We are, in short, rebooting the business.

Why was the movie business shifted to Viacom18 before working on a revival plan?
I can‘t comment extensively on this as it happened before my time here. But for Viacom18 which is in the entertainment broadcasting space, the movie production business is only a logical extension – particularly when the business was being revisited. Movies are a fundamental part of the entertainment space in India.

Studio18 is now rebranded as Viacom18 Motion Pictures. A linked advantage to this realignment of the business is the immense synergies that we will draw from the multiple media platforms that Viacom18 has.

‘We are 20-25% de-risked before entering into a movie project because of our integrated model. We have a good non-theatrical revenue opportunity with Colors, the upcoming movie channel, MTV and Nick‘

How much of the movie business is led by the need to feed content into Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, the upcoming Hindi movie channel, MTV and Nick?
We are, in fact, 20-25 per cent de-risked before entering into a movie project because of our integrated model. We have a good non-theatrical revenue opportunity with Colors, the movie channel, MTV and Nick. Incidentally, Colors currently happens to be the leading acquirer of motion pictures content.

Sources say the revival plan includes an investment of Rs 1.20 billion for the first line up of movies and a peak funding requirement of Rs 2.50 billion over three years. Why is Viacom18 taking such a cautious approach?
I can‘t comment on the financials. But fundamentally, we are going to be prudent in capital spending. We have lined up a slate of seven movies through early 2012, with Players being the most expensive (sources say Rs 400 million upwards). We are doing four films with first time directors.

We will kick off our slate with a rom-com titled ‘Tanu Weds Manu‘ that will hit the screens on 25 February. This will be followed by two films that are co-productions with Anurag Kashyap – Michael (Working Title) & Shaitan. These films are set for release in the first quarter of the next fiscal year.

The roster also includes Gang of Waseeypur (2 Series), Buddah (starring Amitabh Bachchan) by Puri Jaganathan, and David Dhawan‘s Chashme Baddoor.

We will weigh the financial success of each movie. The first two years will be a crucial build-up. In the third year, we will review the business and change track accordingly.

Is this the best time to stage a comeback with the inflationary costs correcting to a great extent?
Irrationality has definitely been thrown out of the window. There is a need for further correction in star costs but we will spend our pennies very carefully. Besides, our marketing costs will be 10-15 per cent lower due to the wide reach of our channels like Colors, MTV, Vh1 and Nick.

How wide will the movie slate be?
We are going to have a minimum threshold of six movie releases a year. We are in no hurry to deploy capital. We are in no hurry to produce the costliest movie. We are in a hurry to get it right. We are building our business brick-by-brick.

Will you be producing smaller movies under a different brand name?
An important part of the gameplan is to produce movies in the urban-youth genre under the brand of ‘Tipping Point Films‘. This kind of targeted movies will also be content for MTV. We have projects in the urban-youth genre in co-production with Irock Media.

As for animation movies, we are evaluating them along with our partnership with Nick. But there is nothing concrete on this front.

Is regional language movies on the agenda?
We are very keenly watching the regional space, particularly Marathi and Bengali. The cultural and economic dynamics are different. We will spend the next few months understanding that market.

Viacom18 has plans to launch Marathi and Bengali language entertainment channels. Will you wait till then before you decide on movie projects in these languages?
The movie projects are not linked to the launch of the regional channels. While we will share a relationship with the channels if and when they come, we are not inter-dependent for the launch of regional language movies.

What is the distribution gameplan?
We will distribute our own movies. We have our outfits in Mumbai, Delhi and UP territories. The distribution network is being expanded to the South markets, Rajasthan and the North. We will also handle overseas distribution. We will continue to build on our backbone and take up other movies for distribution if the costs are rational.

Will you get into the home video segment as well?
We are not entering this segment. The way consumption is happening is changing very fast – you have satellite release windows shortening, new media is growing and 3G is coming. Besides, one has to tackle piracy.

How do you plan to scale up?
The scale-up plan will involve creating franchise properties that will have a sliding cost model while upping box office revenues. Players is positioned as a franchise property. We plan to have 2-3 properties by 2012. We aim to be among the top three studios in the country within three years – at least in terms of profitability.

February 7, 2011
MTV India adopts a new ‘Raw’ look

MUMBAI: MTV, the youth brand channel, will go “raw” as it repositions for its Indian viewers from 27 November.

The new philosophy – ‘Stay Raw’ – will be supported by a new logo and packaging that will start promoting across Viacom18 network channels, print, outdoor and Internet.

Changing its earlier gameplan, MTV is also upping its music quotient as the M in MTV gets a boost to play a key role in India‘s rapidly changing marketplace..

Says MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy, “What we have started is not an ad campaign or new tagline. It’s a philosophy. It’s an idea that is based on what young people today believe, expressed in an edgy yet tongue in cheek manner which is trademark MTV. A powerful idea has a limitless canvas and way this has come together is proof of just that.”

In a strategic content shift, MTV is creating four music blocks – MTV BBM (Big Bang Mornings); MTV Music Xprs; MTV Mash Ups; and MTV International.

MTV BBM will play latest Bollywood music in the morning, while the afternoon music block (MTV Music Xprs) will have film music from across the years.

In the evenings, the global MTV phenomenon will hit India. MTV Mash Ups, the unique concept of East meets West, will see VJ Nikhil mashing up the Indian and International tracks from the same genre.

And the channel has decided to get back the global music charts with MTV International, the midnight block.

“The success of pure music channels 9XM and the newly launched Mastiii is, perhaps, forcing the older music channels to relook on their music content. MTV and Channel [V] had taken steps to reduce their music content as they repositioned themselves as youth brand channels. MTV could now be trying to play a fine balance between their reality and music content,” says a media tracker.

Swamy, however, feels that there is a need for youth channel brands to reinvent themselves from time to time to stay ahead of the curve. “Our core TG evolves very fast, and so we have to reinvent ourselves. We are just resonating,” he says.

On the reality content front, MTV is feeling the heat from UTV Bindass that has succeeded with bold homegrown reality shows like Emotional Attyachaar and Dadagiri.

Swamy denies that the move has anything to do with competition in the youth genre. “Today MTV is much bigger than a TV channel. Only 50 per cent of our revenues come from airtime sales,” he says.

For years, music channels in India have struggled to develop subscription and licensing and merchandising as strong revenue streams.

MTV has taken progressive steps to reduce its overarching dependence on advertising revenue. In an interview in mid-2009, the then MTV India head Ashish Patil had told Indiantelevision.com that ad sales accounted for 65 per cent of the overall revenues, of which 5 per cent comes from international clients. “Around 15 per cent comes from affiliates, which is also increasing. 15 per cent comes from Viacom Brand Solutions (client lead stuff, events and advertiser funded programming) like The Fast and The Gorgeorus, Stunt Mania etc. The remaining 5 per cent comes from L&M and movie previews (Ghajini).”

For promoting its new ‘raw‘ look, the channel is going ad free over the weekend for the first time, doing a “roadblock for itself.”

The new look of MTV is designed by UK-based Petrol, while the creatives are done by Bates 141.

The channel is going to promote the change heavily with graphics. It has created a series of 3D channel IDs and over 100 creatives that will communicate its ‘Stay Raw’ philosophy through mass media and digital.

MTV said Friday it is launching the second season of ‘Kurkure Desi Beats Rock On with MTV’ on 27 November at 7 pm and ‘Vodafone MTV Splitsvilla Season 4’ on 3 December at 7 pm.

“The channel has got rock band Indian Ocean and music director and composer Pritam to judge the singing reality show this season,” says Swamy.

MTV recently launched its first ever magazine globally, MTV Noise Factory. It also launched a website mtvplay.in, which captures and shares what’s going on in the minds of young people with marketers and advertisers.

“MTV plans to enter a new growth phase. All its new moves are a step in this direction. The challenge is for it to succeed on the content front as well as on the new brand position it has taken,” says a senior executive from a rival network.

November 26, 2010
Where goest the broadcast bill?

The fate of the broadcast bill hangs on a razor’s edge, despite Braodcast Minister Arun Jaitley’s pledge to table it in the surrent budget session of parliament.

Lobbying for the Broadcast bill is expected to reach fever pitch after March during the Budget session recess. The broadcasters lobby group, The Indian Broadcast Foundation has set up three committees for the purpose. Discovery India’s Kiran Karnik, News Television India’s Peter Mukherjee and Urmila Gupta, and Sony Entertainment Television’s Kunal Dasgupta are looking at convergence and spectrum allocation issues. ESPN’s Manu Sawney and Turner International’s Anshuman Misra are reviewing technology convergence, especially the last mile infrastructure.

Content provider UTV’s Ronnie Screwvala and Khursheeda Mody, Nimbus Communications Harish Thawani and MTV India’s Alex Kuruvilla are looking at Internet regulatory issues. Three government committees are also reviewing critical areas in the bill.

Jaitley expects to reach a consensus during the recess before tabling the bill in parliament. Some analysts believe that foreign equity in cross media holding and DTH may not form a part of the bill, plagued by opposing political viewpoints. Others indicate that the bill may be tabled, but will go into a sub committee for further review.

September 16, 2006