Exclusive | Access to info is empowering the youth: MTV's Sumeli Chatterjee

MTV is a brand that is synonymous to youth, is one of the most watched channels by the segment, along with being amongst the most followed brand by the youngsters. Being a followed – brand, understandably, insight mining and trend spotting is oxygen for their positioning. The youth are a pack of well informed people, thanks to easy accessibility to resource points. So, what was trending last year is not necessarily the aspiration this year. The expiry dates of trends are shortening. Hence, it is just mandatory for such a channel to camp out with young people, to know of their theories of life as they are evolving in their world.

Holding onto this philosophy and taking measure to take it ahead MTVplay.in has recently come up with a new research on titled ‘The Empowered Gen’. When talking about empowerment here, it is a sense of having access to information and implementation of this information by the young minds on the country.  

To know more about the research and get deeper insights on the same, Adgully caught up with Sumeli Chatterjee, Head Marketing, Media and Insights, MTV.

MTVPlay.in is a unique youth insight portal where they co-created the world of Youth along with them. MTV taps into several researches and insights camps that it conducts from time to time, and brings together the trends that shape the attitude of this new generation. The website design, the lingo and grammar, even the puns signify the attitude and ambitions of the Young. "Last month, we introduced a new section that is composed by the millennial, about the millennial. In this section we ask our young trend-spotters to write for us about anything they feel like- be it break ups, new lingo or partying" she told us.

According to her, this is the most practical generation ever; and has a mind of its own. You cannot force them to like you or follow you or buy you. Call it being selfish, the youth likes to choose and decide for itself. Why so? ‘Because this is the generation which is the most empowered and vocal that has ever been. 98% of them state they have the power to influence the society; and 92% do not seek society’s permission to his life. Not only do these youngsters have a point of view on current happenings, they also are vocal about it on different platforms. If they care of a particular cause / issue, a 56% proactively discuss that with friends on their social media handles; 39% join online communities and a 17% volunteer to work on a part-time basis. Boys are more pre-disposed to write about issues bothering them on social media. These statistics have been collated through interviews with 5000+ youngsters across 25+ cities in India.

So, what has changed in recent years that drive this expressiveness of this generation? "The answer is simple – the access to information has been made simpler by the technology esp. internet. Digital has opened up a world of possibilities and knowledge for the young minds. Conversations are loaded with information and global perspectives. They derive their sense of empowerment by being connected to the community across various media," she said.

MTVPlay.in also highlights infographics that capture a slice of their life where you can get a peek in their lives, their thoughts, their needs, even their fears. What to expect in future – anything that is relevant to youth – will be captured through various sections and infographics on MTVPlay.in. Get young, yet again!

Well the question that raised here was that How do you think this is going to add value to MTV as a projected Youth brand?

Answering that Chatterjee said, "Over years, MTV has published many Insights publications which are now marketing handbook for the industry. MTV Power of One, MTV Age of Sinnocence, MTV State of Cool are some of the publications that have won appreciation of the industry. We spend a lot of time and effort (and investments) in mining for youth insights. Knowledge grows as you share it; and thus we have created MTVPlay.in as open source portal. We have put all the cool stuff that MTV knows about the millenials in one place – all available to be downloaded and used by the industry."