Exclusive | Increased ad-rates backed by rising viewership: MTV's Swamy

Well it seems that year 2014 is proving to be lucky for a lot of people, especially the broadcasters. While GEC’s and movie channels have their success story to boast about, MTV has its own. MTV’s year began with a bang - new shows, increase in reach, viewership and a lot more. The channel took a big leap in viewership since Jan’14 and has grown by 45%; from 10.9 MN to 15.8 MN in July 2014 which surely, is a remarkable number.

Also with a spur in the success rate of the channel, there is something new for the advertisers too. The channel has increased its ad-rate to 35% viz-a-viz its viewership numbers.  

Observation marks that ‘content’ has always been a differentiating factor for the channel and has made it reach newer heights. With ratings pouring in, MTV’s viewership grew to a phenomenal 7.2 million from 4 million in January 2014, pushing the channel to the number one slot in the music and youth genre. On the back of all this phenomenal success in the last few months, MTV has recently launched two new shows – MTV Fanaah: An impossible love story and MTV Kaisi Yeh Yaariyan – which are touted to take the channel to even greater heights.

Following such an interesting number game, Adgully caught up with Aditya Swamy, EVP - Viacom18 & Head, MTV & Pepsi MTV Indies to get a deeper understanding on where the channel is headed and what the viewers should be looking forward to in the coming days. 

Story behind increased ratings:

Taking us through the journey, Swamy said, “From June 2014 to July 2014 the channel has taken a 50% jump in terms of viewership witnessing an encouraging growth for the channel. The success came at the back of our study, MTV Curious Minds which has helped us taking insights from it and implementing in our programming. The insights worked on our show Roadies wherein we removed the concept of vote out and the research said Youth wants to succeed and not fight, then the research said Youth wants education with entertainment so Webbed is about how protect yourself from internet which connected well and we will keep using further too.”

Swamy believes that the basic reason behind this success is their effort of producing differentiated content and insight-based programming.   

Amplified ad-rates:
The channel has increased its ad-rates to 35% against the 50% increase in their viewership. “We have hiked our ad-rates from Monday but still if you look at it we are still not asking 50-50% (50% ad-rate high against 50% viewership) as we still want to be an effective platform for our advertisers. Also this viewership (50%) is excluding the new shows launched past Monday with which the viewership is expected to increase more”, Swamy explained.

It may be noted that MTV India is among the few channels in the youth and music space adhering to the ad cap regulation because of which the channel, sources say, has witnessed a 25% inventory crunch. However, with a rise in ratings and a 35% jump in pricing, industry sources state that taking market sentiments into consideration, it could offset the advertisers.

Though MTV’s channel rates have gone up, but interestingly, significant ratings for Splitsvilla season 7 indicate that the ad-rates for the show are ten times bigger and larger than the channel’s itself. Swamy strongly believes that today advertisers believe in getting value and if the increase in ratings is evident they will not mind spending.

While industry experts we spoke to (on condition of anonymity) have welcomed this rate change, they have also offered a bag of mixed reactions to this move.

One expert opined that while the market conditions are currently uncertain and wobbly to an extent, this act by the broadcaster may not go down too well with advertisers, who are taking every step with prudence. However, he believes that increase in rates can be viewed as a yardstick for probable returns a spender can expect from the channel.

Similarly, another expert stated that tough MTV leads the pack in the genre, the competition players may turn to be attractive to advertisers as rate-hikes is not something that every advertiser will agree to.

However, industry personnel on a positive note said that, rate hike or not, if advertisers in the past have received the expected ROI, they will remain unaffected by this act and continue to deal with the channel in the future as well. However, she said that it may be too early to sketch the remaining days of the year on the financial charts of both broadcasters and advertisers.

Altering content strategy and audience response:

The entire content strategy changes as the channel now focuses on TG with 13 as the new 18! Hence with newer shows on the block, the channel is leaving no stone unturned in terms of giving content to their viewers. He said, “Yes totally true. So with Webbed we are targeting the ‘First-time-internet-users’ so you will see characters in school uniform etc to build a better connect with the TG”.

Apart from Webbed, the channel has also received good response from one of their older properties that is MTV Splitsvilla. The reality show opened well but dipped midway, but as told by Swamy, Splitsvilla’s graph has gone higher and higher this year. “Splitsvilla’s first episode opened at 123 TVTs and fifth episode saw 169 TVTs which marks the show’s success and connect. So the reason is just not Sunny Leone but the fact is that the format has also changed”, he added. The channel also decided to shake up things a bit on the show by bringing in seven known male faces and creating a very competitive atmosphere by having twenty female contestants. The show became an instant hit with the youth and opened at the highest ratings for a reality show on MTV. The show premiered at the number one spot across competition and since then has continued to occupy the number one spot on a week on week basis. On the digital front, the show’s premier episode even trended on YouTube.

Apart from the shows, the channel has also strengthened its Music side with new playlist and new formats springing up here too. Every day has new theme for music lover visiting MTV, like Masala Mondays, Dhinchak Saturdays, Romantic Wednesdays and so on.

From teenagers to screen-agers (Multi-media and surround-sound approach):
Looking at the growing opportunities and acceptance of number of screens, MTV believes in following the multi-screen approach - whether it’s the music that is being played on the channel or any show, the channel builds a very well sync on the digital platforms as well. “Looking at the TG that we cater to, it was very important to go beyond just television screens and with this philosophy with the viewership there was a huge upsurge on our web-traffic also”, he stated. Interestingly the website this year crossed the mark of 11 million unique users.

The philosophy of tapping all the opportunities possible has not only led the channel grow among its viewers but has also enormous opportunities and values to the advertisers. He said, “Absolutely, so if Killer Jeans is sponsoring Splitsvilla, the client is not only getting value for the television but is also getting value across platforms including web, digital, outdoor, live events and a lot more thus meaning that the client is getting all the more opportunities to connect to its customers”.

With the newly launched MTV Fanaah, the channel has upped the game for making the show’s presence felt across the country. The channel is looking to be everywhere, be hoardings (OOH), to spots running on all channels in Viacom 18’s bouquet, extensive marketing in LC1 markets and a lot more. 

Going forward:
Speaking about the content strategy going forward, Swamy said, “We have already put our content strategy in place. So from this Monday we would be focusing more on original content and out viewers will get to see 7 hours of original content from 2 hours (earlier)”. With newer shows: Kaisi Yeh Yaariyan and Fanaah the viewers will get to see a 5 hour increase in original content weekly unlike earlier when the channel had only two shows including Roadies X1 and Webbed.

New look, new feel:
Following the renewed channel philosophy of ‘Kill Boring’, MTV now has a new look and feel to itself from graphics to the packaging. “The Monday that just gone-by has changed a lot of things at MTV, we have changed the entire MTV experience for our viewers. The entire ideation of programming and shows has gone through a change, the repeat patterns have changed. So from 21st July onwards, viewers have witnessed a completely new MTV”, added Swamy.

Roles, Responsibilities and Priorities at MTV:
Swamy said, “Firstly, the most important thing that we have in our business are our viewers. Our assets are our people that we work with. It takes a lot of effort to get the like-minded people to come on board and work one property. Making the aspirations of people, keeping them energized, keeping them charged up and making them work as a team is what has been my focus at MTV because if that is not in the place our product MTV can never flourish. Secondly, what plays an important role is the focus to increase and grow MTV’s footprints from just being on TV to how to become a part of our viewers with other platforms. Thirdly, ‘to put the consumer at the centre of everything’ is an important area.”   

Riding hard on the philosophy of kill boring everyday and everywhere and keeping quality over quantity, MTV surely has the capability of touching newer benchmarks and we at Adgully wish the team success.  

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