Viacom18 SVP and INS business head Jaideep Singh
Year 2013
It has been a very interesting year for us. Viacom18 group had last year launched its new business division – Integrated Network Solutions (INS), which offers multiple brand solutions catering to the diverse needs of advertisers with varied marketing objectives. Under this we had organised the live properties like MTV Music Awards, awards in regional space, MTV Bollyland and Vh1 Supersonic to name a few. Last June, Integrated Network Solutions introduced a new property – ‘Emerge’. Last year, we also conducted a lot of activities in the movie space. We created lot of traction for celebrities and their movies. ‘Spotlight’ also did remarkably well. It is about managing the digital rights of celebrities and creating content around. It is about building a business model around them.
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All the three verticals performed very well last year. Our LIVE vertical has been the torch bearer and we have done a lot of work there. We had around ten properties in ten months last year, which is a huge achievement, but there is still a lot that can be done.
When we look back, last year we built quite a daunting space. We have done what other people would take three to four years to build.
MTV Pepsi Indies
In terms of LIVE space for the channel, we are in the brain storming process and will soon introduce something interesting for the space. For MTV Indies, we will add a new property. It will be a large property like most of the properties we developed for all our channels. There is no hurry about the property as our aim is to make it right.
Bollyland v/s Bollyboom
We had announced Bollyland way before Sunburn announced Bollyboom. For such properties we are concerned about getting the right artistes. In such situations, we need to space out the properties but it also depends on the season so you have to organise them during that time. We did not plan to do it around Bollyboom, it just happened. Properties like these are just based on your business calendar, getting the right artiste and mapping it out.
Our strategy in the live space is to do activities based on the genres which will be relevant to our broadcast platforms that they operate in.
For the Indie space, we will do more material on the English side. At times, strong youth passions will have an overlap in MTV Indies and Vh1.
MTV Xtreme 2013
For some time now, we have been wondering what can be done in the rock space. Our move was to have a property that was not just for music but for under culture that exist. The idea of having an international rock band along with adventure sports, accompanied with Indian rock bands performing was the whole idea about the festival. We tried to have heavy programming for this festival.
Vh1 Supersonic in 2014
We will be strengthening the content in the EDM space, and will use our broadcast space to promote the property. We want to go to more cities where people would like to hear EDM. We are planning to tour three to four cities before we have a main event.
Expected for 2014
For the property, ‘Emerge’ that is based on the club gig format, we are planning to have three or four gigs under the same name. Then we will think about which direction we want to go in. We will get emerging artistes to the space. The property has the potential to grow and become large but we have not really decided if we want to go make it large.
Jazz is still is a very niche category and one has to look at sponsorships to make it viable. We will keep it open and the minute we get the right sponsorship then we will go forward with it.
A sizable budget will go behind planning 2014. We would look at the growth of 20-25 per cent this year. We are not looking at adding new properties, but if needed, we will look into it.
When we move forward we will look at expanding the Bollywood space in the Indian market and a few international markets. In the international market, we have a sizable Indian population.
In regional space, we will focus on award functions as there is a lot that needs to be done there. 2014-2015 will be more about focusing on properties that exist and building on them. We will look at putting up extensions to our properties.
The dates of festivals will change but the month of all the properties will be unchanged. We have many properties so we have to space out various festivals
