Stung by competition, the music channel is going back to its roots with a vengeance.
After a slew of reality shows that dominated its prime time slot, MTV India is returning to its roots. It's adding more music to the mix after rivals such as Mastiii, 9XM and Bindaas knocked it down from the leadership perch.
"The focus will be more on music now," says Aditya Swamy, MTV India business head and EVP. "Earlier, 70 per cent of our content was non-music format shows and just 30 per cent was reserved for pure music shows. Now the division will be 50:50," Swamy says.
So what prompted MTV to change its much hyped strategy? Viacom Inc-owned MTV launched its operations in India in 1996 with a programming list dominated by US and British rock music that gradually became more Bollywood-oriented.
The channel subsequently added reality shows such as MTV Roadies, Spilitsvilaa which met with a great deal of success, but lost popularity subsequently.
"Given the signs of fatigue, the repackaging was essential," says Mona Jain, chief operating officer of VivaKi Exchange, the centralised buying agency for Publicis Groupe SA.
According to TAM ratings for the Hindi-speaking markets in week 42, 9XM was the number one music channel with a 15.3 per cent share, followed by Mastiii (14.3%), Channel V (11.6%), B4U Music ( 10.4%) and MTV (9%).
"Being a music channel, the core offering has to be music. Even though we are constantly tweaking our content and introducing new formats, 90 percent of our content is solely music," said the head of programming of a rival channel.
Swamy says, "We need to reinvent ourselves. For us, if something is similar or if there is anything which has been tried and tested, it's a negative idea. We rather take risks and experiment with something new. Stay Raw, our ad campaign, is our central theme and all the shows will be launched around this," adds Swamy.
MTV India now has four new music blocks -MTV Big Bang Mornings, MTV Music Xprs, MTV Mash Ups and MTV International - to serve Bollywood and international hits and has launched the Indian editions of Coke Studio, MTV Unplugged and Grind. It will also continue to telecast new seasons of popular shows such as Rock On, Splitsvillaa, Roadies and Stunt Mania.
"We feel India is on the brink of a music revolution and lots of experiments are happening in both music and films. Going forward, newer formats of music will evolve, music festivals will gain in popularity and new artists will find their way to the big screen, " adds Swamy.
Songs from bands like Delhi 2 Dublin, Avial, Advaita, Mixman Shawn, Mekaal Hasan Band and Jernade Miah have been featured in the shows and attracted a lot of viewers. "Through the programmes, we are providing an opportunity to artists who are big in the local gig circuit and on Youtube, but have not yet got into the mainstream platform," he says.
It's not just on television, the channel is also trying to leverage these brands using on-ground events, live performances, music festivals across the country and also trying to build up the brand in the online and mobile space with YouTube, Facebook, music sharing sites, mobile downloads and Twitter.
For instance, all the episodes of Unplugged are immediately uploaded on Youtube post the telecast. According to MTV India, the online viewership is higher than television. With Coke Studio, the artists have done mini-concerts in 10 cities and have also released an album of songs recorded by 40-artists, including Shaan, Shafqat Aamant Ali, Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kailash Kher, Khogen Da, Wadali Brothers, Chinna Ponnu, Harshdeep Kaur, in their maiden journey.
Although Swamy agrees most of these shows have not hit gold in their first season, he explains the idea is to extend these properties with on-ground initiatives and develop a strong fan-base.
"In the next three-five years, we want at least 30-50 per cent of our revenues to come from such initiatives," he says. According to media experts, music TV advertising is roughly Rs 300 crore a year with over 10 channels competing in this genre.
The head of a rival channel also agrees. "The music at Coke Studio and Unplugged will cater to a more informed audience, and hence will not impact television ratings significantly. But extending the television property into an on-ground initiative will create a lot more buzz," he says.
(Source-: afaqs.com)