By: Yohan P Chawla
Viacom18’s MTV has announced the next season of its flagship music show, MTV Unplugged — a show that most viewers must have watched on television or heard the lovely recreated music on the internet. This season’s line-up of artists is a long one: Sonu Nigam, Diljit Dosanjh, Guru Randhawa, Rekha Bhardwaj, the Kakkar sisters, Jonita Gandhi, Amit Mishra, Dhvani Bhanushali, Shahid Mallya, Bhuvan Bham and Arjun Kanungo, among many others.
I met with Ferzad Palia, Head – Youth, Music and English Entertainment, Viacom18 on the sidelines of the launch where he spoke about the year gone by, plans for the upcoming year, and shared his thoughts on TRAI New Tariff order. Edited excerpts.
2018 for MTV, MTVBeats and the English entertainment cluster of Viacom18
Palia described 2018 as the best year ever that MTV has had in the last couple of decades. He said, “We discussed this before, we have doubled our viewership, on a very large base. Which means the heart of the business, which is content, is firing on all cylinders. We experimented with various new formats of content in the unscripted and reality space and took big gambles like the Ace of Space, which was a daily reality show. The show did so well that we had to extend it for 30 days. We are launching 2 new formats every single quarter and we have done an exceptionally great job on that front.”
On the digital front Palia said “We’ve seen our content consumption on Voot skyrocket. As a platform, Voot has done extremely well and our content on Voot contributes significantly to that growth. Our content is not only getting consumed on TV but also on Voot. It’s been a landmark year for us.”
On the success of MTV Beats Palia said, “MTV Beats is the fastest growing channel in the genre. IN a very short span of time, we’ve overtaken many competitors who have been there for very long. That is extremely difficult to do when one gets into a market which is highly commoditized. It’s easier to create differentiation when one creates original content versus when you have content which is largely running across multiple channels but you differentiate. From the ratings point of view, or the growth point of view or the revenue point of view, it’s a channel which has hit an operating profit within 12 months of launch, which is great news!”
“With respect to the English Entertainment cluster also, 2018 has been a landmark year for us, because each of our channels has dominated the genre. Almost every week, Comedy Central or Colors Infinity or VH1 dominate the number one, two and three positions. We feel bad when any of our channels don’t feature in the top three; I think we’ve become a little spoilt on that front. Not to forget our HD feeds are also leaders across… We have four to five hours of fresh content every day across our English cluster, which is unheard of,” said Palia..
On the New Tariff Order
On the new tariff regime being implemented end of this month, I asked him if only content would act as a magnet for channels to be picked by consumers under the new tariff regime, if the channels’ marketing efforts and smart distribution bouquet offerings, both would need to work in sync?
To which Palia responded by saying, “So that’s a great question, I don’t think anything can work in isolation. It has to be a combined effort and in complete synchronization. Let’s take for example, today, you and I encounter several brands that spend hundreds of crores on marketing their brand, but if it’s not relevant to us it doesn’t become a part of our purchase buckets. Similarly I can spends tons of money on marketing, and if it’s not relevant to my consumers it will not be selected in their pack. Just because I spend money on marketing and its visible, doesn’t mean the channel will be subscribed to.”
“So I think at the heart of it, have you got any share of time From the consumer which is significant enough for that consumer to let you continue in their daily life cycle? I think that’s where as brands we have excelled because all of our brands are highest where ‘time spent’ is concerned. And that is the best indicator to see how much time people spend on a channel and therefore indicate how likely or unlikely they are to put that tick mark against your brand name when they are selecting a pack or a channel.”
Plans for 2019
Speaking about his plans for 2019, Palia said, “In the first quarter of 2019, on MTV we are launching three new shows, two of which are returning seasons of Love School and Roadies. We have a brand new show called Antisocial, which launches end of January, which is again our experiment into a brand new format. Two funny guys, Cyrus and Jose taking over your social media accounts. Over the course of the next two to three quarters we will launch atleast 7 to 8 new formats on MTV.”
Palia also informed that original English content on Colors Infinity is definitely something they would scale up further in 2019.
MTV Unplugged Season 8
Coming back to the new season of MTV Unplugged, Palia said, “We have experimented a lot this season, whether it is Sonu Nigam singing ghazals or bringing in Guru Randhawa who one would never expect to see on Unplugged. And that is why the musicians also love this property — because it allows them to challenge themselves, which otherwise is very difficult for them to get on other platforms. We also have brought a lot of new talent and upcoming stars that again differentiates us From others. I think it will be one of our best seasons.”
With a great 2018 for the network’s Music and English Entertainment cluster Palia and his team do not expect any less for 2019. And their optimism would be justified if their experiments with the new show formats connect with viewers like they did in 2018.
