The tussle between India’s two biggest music channels, MTV and Channel [V], has reached yet another level — this time with the latter’s foray into serials.
Channel [V] came up with its debutante tele-serial ‘Roomies’ on July 10, showcasing the lives of five friends living in the same house. Channel [V] General Manager ( Marketing) Prem Kamath says “the content is highly unique and it is the first fiction serial to dwell on the problems of the youth with so much of depth.”
The channel’s research team, called ‘Bloody cool’ conducted a survey across 22 cities in India to find the likes/dislikes of today’s youth. The serial has been conceptualised for 26-episodes.
However, the concept of music channels coming up with serials is not an entire new concept. In 2004, MTV India, in collaboration with Balaji Telefilms, launched its first fiction serial ‘Kitni Mast Hain Zindagi’. The popularity of the serial prompted MTV to extend the number of episodes from 39 to 107.
The channel has also recently tried its hand in movie-making in a show named ‘MTV Luv Reels’ for which it tied up with Red Chillies Idiot Box and Milestone Movies. In this show, three romantic movies were aired every Saturday at the 7 pm slot. “The story, cast and the music were created by viewers and the channel only took care of the production part,” says MTV India Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) Aditya Swamy. Luv Reels is India’s first user-generated film series in India.
Is Channel [V] late to the party? Kamath says that a comparison between the two serials won’t be a fair one.
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Channel [V], unlike MTV India, has no plans of trying its hands in movie-making. The channel is not biased towards any particular genre and is ready to explore any area which will cater to the taste of the youth. It is right now focused on two new shows — Get Gorgeous-Season 6 and Dare to Date- Season 2.
MTV India will now be exploring a new concept called ‘fantasy reality’ by launching a show named Eristoff MTV MF101- what guys want. The show will be launched on September, 11. In this show, four guys will be given a chance to make their every fantasy alive.
Media analyst Jehil Thakkar of KPMG feels the decision taken by Channel [V] to diversify into serials is a very sound business strategy. These channels had to come up with something new as at one point of time the music space became commoditised.
“A show is advertised mainly by looking at two factors, it should cater to the tastes of youth and male audience,” says Kunal Jamwaal, media buying, Madison. It costs two and a half to three times more to produce a reality/entertainment show as compared to the normal music stuff, but still producers are ready to put their money into it as it attracts huge viewerships.
According to TAM data, in the last seven weeks, MTV had a channel share of 11.7 per cent and Channel [V] 9.8 per cent. The popular genres on music channels are film songs (59.6 per cent), music shows (16.3 per cent) and reality shows (8.3 per cent).
