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Launched on October 19 last year, INX Media’s music channel 9XM was planned as a hip and happening channel for the youth. While the network’s main GE brand 9X, which was launched three weeks after 9XM, is struggling at seventh spot in the GE space, 9XM has surprised competition in the music genre on a sustained basis during the first year of its operation. According to Vikas Varma, head, music entertainment channels, INX Media, in the second week of its launch, 9XM overtook MTV and Channel [V] and in the fourth week 9XM emerged leader in the music genre after overtaking Zoom. Since then it has been occupying the top slot, way ahead of its closest contender and also rules the youth target group.
What makes a year-old channel such a strong player in the music space which already has strong brands? “I think for other channels M stands only for their logo. They have forgotten about music. Instead they believe in aggressive marketing and telling the youth what they should watch,” chuckles Vikas. Elaborating further, he says the youth don’t like to be told what to do, watch and consume. So while other channels spend huge sum on marketing and promotion, 9XM opted for the zero marketing route. “Just as you don’t require signboards to discover an oasis in desert, good content is noticed without marketing. If you are part of a distribution cycle, you are bound to get eyeballs. Word of mouth is one of the oldest and strongest marketing tools. We wanted the target audience to discover and savour the content for themselves. They did and remained with us because the product spoke for itself,” he explains.
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Since the aim was to hit the 15 to 24 target age group (TG) in a differentiating way, Vikas says they decided that the channel would have no conventional VJs but innovative packaging elements. These would include some great animated and irreverent dudes like Bakwas Band Kar, Bheegi Billi and Beetle Nuts who would come in between and during the latest hit Bollywood songs, plus an overall channel attitude and colours that would gel with the youth. While 9XM is the most viewed channel across all day parts and is a predominant player in all the main target groups, Vikas claims that the channel has had a major impact on the growth of the music genre. For instance, in September 2007, the music genre was at 47 GRPs and a year later it stands at 71(C&S, 4-plus). “9XM has filled a void in music space and created a distinctive new space in music and entertainment that targets the needs and attitude of youth, and not just the demographics,” he adds.
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Saurabh Kanwar, Channel [V]’s head of content and communication, agrees that the music genre has shown some great growth but it’s not entirely a 9XM effect. “The growth is largely on the back of the resurgence of Bollywood music as well as a host of other milestones, including the explosion of regional music,” he points out. The average time spent (C&C, 4-plus) on 9XM is 38 minutes against 14 to 18 minutes of its closest competitor while the average for the music genre is about 60 minutes per week. Thus while 9XM leads in terms of share and time spent, it’s not that the competition is completely down and out. According to Saurabh, Good Morning block has been a consistent performer, leading the category over the past couple of years.
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“In fact, TAM numbers for digital homes (where the umbers are not affected by factors of distribution) we are twice the nearest competitor. Apart from this, our entire set of new content, Tony B and his ‘intrepid’ journalism, Lola Kutty with her street GK show, [V] Pakao - our take on cooking, as well as [V] G-spot, our gadget show, have all showed up in the top 10 over the last few weeks. So that’s been very satisfactory,” says Saurabh. Going forward, Vikas is confident of staying ahead of the competition. “9XM reaches as many as 40 million viewers every week. The key to further growth is innovating and doing different things. TV is a medium which is like a child that needs constant caring and dressing,” he says.
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Saurabh is also confident of taking on the competition. “As part of the new programming lineup, we are launching Full On- a painful game show, like nothing you’ve ever seen before on Indian TV. Pain has never been more fun. There are also seven more weekly shows that press the key triggers of youth lifestyle. Keep watching,” he says confidently. As regards MTV’s decline in viewership share and how it plans to face the competition, all attempt to contact the channel’s general manager Ashish Patil failed as he was out of town.
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