Exclusive | Refreshed NDTV Good Times is for the youth: Aarti Singh

NDTV Good Times is new channel to join the array ‘refresh’ and ‘re-position’ happing in the television space off-late. NDTV Good Times from NDTV lifestyle's bouquet has positioned itself from being a Lifestyle channel to 'Youngest Lifestyle Channel'. The channel heads are approaching this exercise as a 'refresh' after diving deep into the hearts and mind of young audience in terms of sticking and delivering as per their need and demands. The channel's new tagline #LiveYoung says it all.

Adgully caught up with Arati Singh, Channel Head, and Kanishk Khanna, AVP, Marketing Services, NDTV Good Times to know more about the same.

Speaking about the rationale behind taking the step, Singh said, "Looking at the increasingly maturing lifestyle space in India at an inflection point, and as pioneers/leaders in that space, we are redefining the lifestyle entertainment category codes by now catering to the youth and focusing on food, travel and fashion. Our content, look, feel and packaging will now clearly reflect this change."

With the thought of refreshing the channel, the demographics for the channel widen the age bracket of their target audience from 15 to 35 years including both urban males and females. When it comes to psychographics, the channel will be targeting someone who is constantly exploring and excited by new ideas and experiences across food, travel, career, relationships etc.

Singh also shared that to take the new thought ahead there are 8- 10 new shows coming up with the main ones being John Abraham: A Simple Life, Chopped – a food reality show (top-rated in the US) that will be aired every night at 9 pm and Boundless - a travel reality show to be aired at 8 Pm every night Monday – Thursday. Also, while Kingfisher Supermodel which is already on air, a host of Indian and international shows will be launched in a phased manner.

In terms of altering the content strategy for the new NDTV Good Times, Singh explained, "Over the last 6 months, we’ve done a fairly deep dive in to the tastes, preferences and consumption patterns of our target audience in our key markets." The channel custodians say that with multiple rounds of focus groups, in-depth interviews, commissioned studies and working with industry experts to back this exercise, what will be seen now as part of the refresh is a culmination of months of research and tweaking.

The colour of the logo will change seasonally as the new packaging and logo will reflect a far more dynamic and younger, cooler brand imagery. The eventual product is in line with latest development on the global design front with neat, clean mnemonics and logo animations.

Speaking on the marketing front, Khanna said, "While we firmly believe that content is our greatest advertisement, we will be focussing on online and social media to get the hashtag - liveyoung message across. We are where the youth and young-at-heart consumers are. As arguably the only brand in the country to deeply integrate and recognise social media as a part of its DNA, we plan to leverage our digital assets to promote the refresh. We will also make use of conventional media like radio and print." The idea is to provide an immersive and experiential Good Times experience to our consumers, across touch-points. Whether it’s using their communities on social media to give people the holiday of their lifetime through our launch #LiveYoung contest, the world’s leading food reality show, makeovers to change people and even their homes or just involving consumers in across the country; the channel is trying to make sure that they leverage and communicate our expertise as content creators on-air, online, on-ground, mobile, print, web and everything in between.

Apart from getting new shows on board, Singh also mentioned that while they will retain their extremely popular sub-brands like HOMP (Highway On My Plate); BBB (Band Baja Bride) and TGM (Travel with Good Times), the team is making sure that their overall content gets tweaked to make it more relevant and meaningful. With LiveYoung as the mantra, the custodians are taking this message to heart and minds of young, young-at-heart and youthful Indians. "Furthermore, we are reordering our programming schedule to be even more viewer friendly with clearly defined bands for fashion, food, travel and reality, and our packaging seamlessly reflects the same," she added.

Concluding she said, "We are extremely clear about who our audience is, what they like, what they will like and where and how they consume content. We feel that with this refresh, we will forge a deeper and more relevant connect with our audience and cement our position as India’s leading lifestyle entertainment destination."