Bindass to 'Play' it out loud...!

Remember the time when music on television meant MTV and Channel V…? Well, things have changed now and how! While many music lovers in India may have disliked that hard-core music channels in India have now shifted to creating and offering youth-related content, Disney India’s announcement has come in as a surprise.

Disney India has announced the launch of its new pure play music channel - Bindass Play, which company custodians state will replace, UTV Stars, the Bollywood entertainment channel from the stable. To be launched on 1st October 2014, the channel is an extension of the brand 'Bindass' and therefore is believed to have strong acceptance, at the back of the vast reach of UTV Stars to 60 million homes in India.

Sticking to the principles of ‘inspire’, ‘empower’ and ‘celebrate’, Bindass Play will cater to music lovers, across age group, however, 15-35 years shall be the focus. Sharing the plausible reasons for launching Bindass Play, Siddharth Roy Kapur, MD, Disney India said, “Though UTV Stars was an interesting channel in that genre, we wanted to develop and strengthen our network with something that would complement one of our most successful arms – Bindass. Thus, I believe that Bindass Play will, as an extension of ‘brand Bindass’, do that for the network. It is a channel with which the youth can relate to and represents what their choices are”.

It may be early to say, however, one would not refrain from drawing parallels with other channels in the business. While Bindass falls in the broad category of youth GECs with competition from MTV and Channel V, Bindass Play will have to make that extra effort to mark out its space in a settled market with players like Sony MIX, 9XM, MTunes etc.

Sharing the different content strategies that would be adopted at Bindass Play, Vijay Subramaniam, VP & Head - Content & Communication, Disney India Media Networks said, “The content of Bindass will be based on 'mood-mapping', in which the songs will be played according to the mood of the people during the day. So, while the day start will be high on energy, the melodies will relax down to slower tempos towards the end on the day. Also, while other players in the business usually are passive-viewing, we look at changing this and becoming an ‘active’ channel with audience participation. The audiences will be engaging with the channel throughout the day, as a major part of the music that will be played on the channel will be viewer-request based shows. We are looking at involving our viewers through various social media and communication platforms like Facebook, Twitter and SMS”.

Subramaniam informs that Bindass Play will air 13 music-based shows over the week and cater to various moods. So while there is a Facebook driven ‘Tia’s Request Show’, there is a Twitter-driven request show titled ‘Tweet Meri Beat’ and an SMS driven show titled ‘Ishq Messenger’. “The philosophy of ‘you choose, we play’ has been a part of Bindass as well, and this we believe enables the viewers to curate shows with the music of their choice. So while mood mapping is the music strategy, the Bindass brand values are the driving strategy on the whole”.

He also mentions that while Bindass Play will not see any ghazals or music from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s; and non-filmi music however, will only comprise around 5–10% of the music playlist, but will be within the ambit of popular music. “By December 2014 or January 2015, the channel will unveil its second-level content plans which are already underway”, he added. On the digital front, he said that the network has planned a good deal of brand-driven and AFP-led activity on digital and on ground.

Speaking about the distribution of Bindass Play, Nikhil Gandhi, VP & Head of Revenue - Disney India said, “The aim is to have Bindass Play in the top slot. It’s already got a platform and is available on all DTH platforms and top MSOs across the Hindi-speaking markets. Hence, we will launch with a bang.” He goes on to mention that while Bindass has moved on the EPG with the GECs and does not sit with the music channels anymore; by virtue of the presence of UTV Stars, Bindass Play will get that from the very first day.

On the advertising front Gandhi mentions that while the idea is to sell both the channels individually, until there are clients who look at a certain value proposition by packaging them together. “The channel will launch with four brand partners and will be sold at a healthy price”, he added. The vibrant packaging has been created by the in-house team with a channel tagline - ‘Saath Hai Toh Baat Hai’.

Responding to the query as to what will or will not change at Bindass, Subramaniam said, “Bindass has had a consistent strategy of having five hours of music in early in the day between 7 am and 12 noon. The channel will continue with that and going ahead there will be music only in the early day part; everything else will be show-based storytelling. While we have gained success for our storytelling, be assured that there is more in the pipeline! We are looking at both fiction and non-fiction mix as per the demand of our audiences which is ever changing”.  

Adgully spoke to some experts across the board to gain their reaction on this announcement. Sharing his views on this, Gautam Kiyawat, CEO, Madison Media Group said, “A channel revamp or rebranding is a great way to bring back lost viewers to something new and attract newer eyeballs. It all depends on the content and the way the channel markets itself to the TG. While the youth genre is growing, it is essential that the channel checks on the strategies on the content and programming to hold onto their attention. As far as selling the channel is concerned, it depends on the client and what he is looking for and the channel as to how much can justify their demands”.

Tarun Malik, Director & Head, Media Solutions Center & Cloud Services, South-West Asia, Samsung Electronics said, “It is definitely a great opportunity for the channel and advertiser; however, it is a wait and watch situation as to how and what kind of value proposition the channel offers to the marketers”.

Similarly, another senior official on condition of anonymity said, “While the channel does have a brand to bank upon, it is for marketers to wait and wait what value proposition would Bindass Play offer. As far as selling it at premium cost or no, is still early to say, however I believe they may have to sell it off as a package in the start and then move on to individual selling on the basis of the channel’s performance”.

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