Peerscope, digital shadowing - MTV Many Me presents new face of young India

Youth is a life stage or a mindset – the debate continues across boardrooms. But, what everyone agrees is that it is extremely difficult to earn their attention and love. Change is the new order. Born with a technology gene, youngsters today are comfortable with the concept of change. Every year, MTV undertakes a massive immersive research to capture the trending themes of this generation and highlight the emergent trends. This year, MTV is launching its biggest youth study ever that covers 11,000 youngsters across 50+ cities across India. Titled ‘MTV Many Me Project’, this in-depth research explores the many facets of youth life – their attitudes, motivations, aspirations and anxieties that was presented with much fanfare at the MTV Youth Marketing Forum 2016 – flagship insights event that studies and dissects the world of the youth.

Explaining the theme of ‘The Many Me Project’ further, Ferzad Palia, Head – Youth and English Entertainment, Viacom18, said, “The Many Me Project is a look into the ever changing, ever dynamic youth of India. The headline of what has emerged is that today young people are fascinatingly multi-dimensional and multi-faceted. For them, being multitasking isn’t enough, they want to be multi-achievers. The world of the young is changing rapidly and the pace of this change is only doubling with time. At MTV, the universe of the young, we are passionate about tracking this change, because today, more than ever, the youth is incredibly dynamic. What’s more, they expect us, their brands, to be as dynamic, ever evolving and layered. It is a great pleasure for me to share these insights in order to help youth marketers build a strong connect with young people through cutting edge content.”

Speaking about the MTV Youth Marketing Forum 2016, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18, said, “As a content powerhouse, it is mandatory for us to understand the pulse of our audience. Hence, MTV’s constant endeavour to understand its primary target audience – the youth, what they are up to and how they feel about various aspects of life – is extremely crucial. For the last 10 years, MTV has been working incessantly to understand every nuance of each interaction young people have amongst themselves and their media consumption habits.  It is these patterns of consumption and interaction which then form the basis of everything we do at MTV. The headline study for this year – ‘MTV Many Me Project’ – has thrown up some fascinating insights into the lives and minds of this absolutely dynamic demographic. I am positive that every single person who has been a part of the MTV Youth Marketing Forum 2016 will now be able to decode the ever-changing youth of India much better!”

This year, the study also explores the role of content in life of youngsters and questions the existing paradigm that content is just a social currency. MTV also investigates on the emergent social etiquettes on the social media platforms, and the plurality of the online and offline lives of the youngsters. This research explores the manifestation of new-age gender definitions and therefore, its impact on the relationships between friends, families and significant others.

MTV Insights Studio, which is the insights arm of MTV, conducts the detailed exploration on what makes the youth tick. MTV had conversations with more than 11,000 youth across more than 50 cities across NCCS (new definition of SEC) A B & C in India to find out what exactly what makes them tick. Spanning an age group of 13-25 years, MTV used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methodology. This year, MTV deployed interesting non-intrusive yet immersive techniques like selfie-project, peerscope, digital shadowing along with ethnographic interviews, peer group discussions to understand the new emerging face of young India. The insights gathered from this research were presented through interactive seminars and presentations at the MTV Youth Marketing Forum 2016, which also featured speakers such as:

Ferzad Palia, Head, Youth and English Entertainment, Viacom18 
Mike Reiss, Co-creator, producer and writer of The Simpsons 
Cindy Gallop, Founder, MakeLovenotPorn and IfWeRantheWorld 
Will Sansom, Director, Content & Strategy, Contagious Insider 
Kerry Taylor, SVP, Youth and Music, Viacom International & CMO, Viacom UK
Shravan and Sanjay Kumaran, CEOs, GoDimensions (India’s youngest CEOs)
Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer and youth icon

Simple is boring and today’s young is anything but that. They’re unique and authentic. They’re mindful and ambitious. They’re raring to go, but they aren’t impatient. They know good things come to those who wait. And plan. And act accordingly. They’re dynamic, but not impulsive. They’re self- reflective, but not existential. They’re optimistic, but not impractical. They’re multifaceted, but not schizophrenic. They are seamless across online and offline. The Many Me headline truly captures the multi-dimensionality of today’s generation.

With the World Wide Web and mobile devices, comes immense opportunity and exposure, and this helps them be whatever they want to be. They are able to hand-pick and curate the best version of themselves. In fact, at any point of time, they carry several best versions of themselves. This does not make them confused or chaotic; rather it makes them merely smart thinkers, who are driven, creative and resourceful. They cannot be contained in one dimension, leading the marketers to rethink their demography based target definitions. They live their life in plural. They are seamless. They are their beta versions. They are a sum of their ‘Many Me’.

Over years, MTV Insights Studio publications have become quite popular amongst the marketing fraternity. Through years, MTV have published insights studies like MTV Curios Minds, MTV Power of One, MTV Age of Sinnocence. Last year, MTV was also invited to present the insights publication as Esomar Congress (Nice, France) and share the insights with the counterparts across 80 countries. This year, ThirdEye Qualitative and Juxt Smart Mandate have done the fieldwork for the project.