MTV Beats will continue to raise the level of differentiation: Ferzad Palia

Viacom18’s second music channel, MTV Beats, is into its second year of presence in the Indian market and has seen 118 per cent growth in its viewership, with increasing time being spent on the channel. 

The channel’s strategy to create differentiation for itself via short format content, strategic scheduling, monetisation, customisation and social integration have paid off rich dividends for MTV Beats. 

Going forward in its journey, the channel aims to strengthen its promise to provide an intense musical indulgence through specially curated properties, which includes Wednesday programming with ‘Dil Beats’, among others. 

In conversation with Adgully, Ferzad Palia, Head, Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Viacom18, traces MTV Beat’s journey so far, the factors that have contributed to the channel’s growth, the way forward for the music genre in India, and much more. Excerpts: 

How has MTV Beats’ journey been since its launch?
The journey has been good and in a span of one year we have attained the highest number of viewers. The viewership grew by 118 per cent and MTV Beats is the most watched channel in the genre; the time spent – 25 minutes – is the highest watched among contemporary music channels. We have created a lot of differentiation and disruption in the way we schedule, with different themes for each day of the week, besides we muddled a lot of short form content, which is a departure from what everybody else is doing. ‘Baba Ki Chowki’, ‘Gaano Ka Rafu Center 2.0’ and so on are some of the shows that are very important for us and now we are seeing a lot of interest from our advertisers. 

Could you share the growth graph of MTV Beats?
The numbers are available in the public domain. We have been growing in a big way, but I would not be able to share the exact figures. Suffice it to say that the growth percentage would be astronomical, according to me, we have grown 200 per cent since the time we launched. 

Which TG are you focussing on more?
People who watch TV, overall the universe consists of 400+ million annual number of viewers reached (2+ All India), and given that broad fit, it includes every single household in the country. There are a set of channels in the music genre that focus on mature people in the household, like the retro channels. We focus on the youth TG, that is, people in the 15-30 age group across the country. 

What are the key factors that you think help you stand apart from the competition?
It is the differentiation that we have created for the channel right from the beginning – the scheduling that we have done, the ‘thematization’ that we have done, the short format that we have introduced, utilisation of 100 per cent of the screen space (we were the first channel to have full screen videos), we have also launched our HD channel. These are the factors, along with the innovative marketing that we do, which make us stand apart from the regular music channels and make us a leader in the Music genre. 

With music now available easily on digital platforms, has it impacted MTV’s viewership?
The music genre has grown 60 per cent; digital is growing, but so is television. What this tells us is that one is not growing at the cost of the other. The overall consumption of music has gone up hugely across all platforms, especially on television. 

The music genre is very perception driven. Your comment...
True, the music genre is perception driven and the brand that clearly leads perception in the music genre is MTV. We have been generating value from perception for many years to create brand MTV and now for MTV Beats as well. 

With the music genre being under-indexed, what are MTV’s efforts to get its pound of flesh?
When MTV launches a 24-hour music channel, advertisers and the trade genuinely believes in us as we don’t treat it as a commodity. The reason why the music genre is under-indexed is because at times it is sold as a commodity. We do not sell it as a commodity, we are not part of that rat race. Our advertisers get a lot of branding and get a clear differentiation for their advertising dollar – whether it is in terms of the way we project them, or the number of spots that we run during ad breaks, or providing a clean environment where people are happy to consume advertising communication, and so on and so forth. 

What category of clients would you recommend your sales team to work on, considering the success you have received?
My recommendation to the marketing team is to talk to every category and I am happy that my team has spoken to every category and all categories advertise with us. This is a very positive response for us – right from FMCGs to automobiles to jewellery brands to telecom to e-commerce, that is, across genres. 

What are your association strategies with celebrities?
Association with celebrities is part of our differentiation strategy in terms of content and they will continue to increase. There will be a lot more friends of MTV and people who believe in us will come to the fore. It is also a product which is by the music industry itself and we will continue to grow these music associations. 

When you look back at 2017, how was the year for the music genre?
I would say it was a great year for the music genre, wherein it grew 50 per cent YOY. We saw more and more people coming into the genre and spending more time on music. This was a very positive trend and worked well for everyone. Actually if you look at the trends of 2017, if I may say, they were led by MTV Beats. We led from the front content wise. 

How do you see the music genre growing in 2018?
The year 2018 offers multiple opportunities for growth in the music genre, however the pace of growth will not be the same. Though everybody would like to see a growth of 50-60 per cent, it’s very unlikely that this genre will see such growth. The percentage of growth will not be as phenomenal and it will be difficult to put a finger on. But the fact of the matter is that everyone is bullish about 2018 as we move forward. 

What are your plans for 2018 regarding content and marketing strategy?
The differentiation that we have created has worked very well for us and we will continue to raise the level of differentiation with more and more short format content, great scheduling thoughts, monetisation, customisation , social integration, etc. These will be the key focus for us, and we would also start expanding the brand and taking it on-ground.

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