Exclusive | All set to grow the existing properties: Sony MIX's Neeraj Vyas

Sony MIX, the channel which was established by Multi Screen Media in the year 2011 as the right destination for Hindi music, continues to be the only music channel completely focused on providing wholesome and expansive music based entertainment for the entire Indian family. Sony Mix has now become the No. 1 music channel as it tops the Hindi music genre for 10 consecutive weeks in a row. Till late 2013 9XM held the first position as per the average of 10 weeks ratings which Sony MIX has succeeded in overtaking. The latter has surged ahead with an average of 98 GVTs for week 49, 2013 – week 6, 2014.

In an exclusive interaction with Mr. Neeraj Vyas, Executive Vice President & Business Head Sony MAX & Sony MIX, Adgully gained more insights on their latest accomplishment and also their future plans.

The start of year 2014 has seen MIX become the no.1 music channel of the country. When asked to what he would attribute the  success of the channel, Vyas said, “With the beginning of the year, the sharp focus on music, investment in key distribution platforms and a promise that this is one channel where you will keep finding the most amazing music viewing experience made this possible.”

He went on to speak about the major milestone achieved by the channel in the recent past.  With regard to this he said, “We acquired one of the largest music libraries by having deals with all leading labels, day parted the playout to suit our viewers mood, gave credit to every artiste involved in putting together a composition, developed the only platform where leading artistes share their music experiences. MIX Solos, ensured retro songs looked better with technological intervention, innovated the breakthrough tie-up with Fever 104 FM in launching TV Ka Pehla Radio Show and ascertained that our channel is available across all leading cable and satellite platforms. Results are there for everyone to see now as we are the undisputed no. 1 music channel no matter how you cut the audience groups.”

One of the biggest drivers which helped in creating recognition for the channel was the Sony network support, extensive ground activations in all digitized markets, a regular and strong PR push, strong online presence and the very recent missed call campaign to drive awareness of MIX’s launch on free dish.

“The idea is to focus on music. Not just the newness of it, but also its variety and range; not just the focus on songs, but also on the people behind them; not just break-less music, but programming and scheduling as per mood and tempo of the audience; not just filler spots, but innovative and interesting programs like MIX Solos and TV Ka Pehla Radio Show. Anyone and everyone who seeks an audio visual music entertainment experience is our TG,” elaborated Vyas, when asked about the channel’s programming and TG.

With time music as a genre has evolved. Sharing his views on the growth he has seen in the genre compared to five years back. He explained, “Digitization and inventory cap have been two very big and positive changes for the music genre. To a whole lot of markets music channels are visible with the same clarity as the GECs and Movies genre in the analog environment. Coupled with the FCT cap our viewers are enjoying the vivid and longer programming segments. This has led to increase in the genre share.”

The channel is available in all urban markets through the most extensive distribution investment. MIX considers itself as the only music based channel.  For them competition could come from 9XM, Mastiii, 9X Jalwa, B4U Music, M Tunes etc. “Our focus on music and innovative programming production sets us apart from all our competitors,” he added.

The channel has grown to a genre share of 22% among music channels with an almost 24% larger share than the no.3 music channel, 9XM since the past 10 weeks now.

As far as promotions are concerned the channel prefers to stabilize its leadership position first following which the bandwidth of the Multi Screen Media network will be utilized  to promote the performance, along with properties like Indian Premier League, movie premiers and reality shows. The on-ground promotions will be mostly visible in UP, MP and Maharashtra. Digitization too has played an important role and helped the channel to be sampled. With spot buys and distribution being the only sources of revenue, brand integration was never a priority for the channel.

Vyas also shared the programming line-up the channel has planned for the year ahead.  “In the coming months you will find a lot of scaling up from MIX in terms of growing existing properties with bigger names from the music industry and also more innovating concepts on the line of original music production,” he concluded.