Aditi Bhan
Media

New-look Zee Muzic set to fly high

After a complete makeover, the channel promises to be ‘hip, happening and savvy’ with new programmes and happening anchors

Zee Music has transformed itself into Zee Muzic.

Zee Music has been around for quite a few years now. But because of fierce competition from other music channels such as Channel [v] and MTV, or even ETC, the channel never found priority among either viewers or advertisers.

As media planners such as Kajal Malik, regional director, Optimum Media Solutions (OMS), say, “The genre of music television, which primarily caters to a young audience, is itself very niche. For long, this genre has been ruled by the likes of Channel [v] and MTV, with their innovative programming. Even the VJs, who work as sub-brands for a music channel, have been young and sporting in these two channels. In comparison, Zee Music has never been very aggressive.”

Debraj Tripathi, general manager, Maxus Delhi, concurs. He says, “Zee Music was not very popular among the masses. Right from the beginning, it wasn’t able to create a distinctive identity for itself.”

But now, the newly made over Zee Muzic plans to get back into the consideration with Bollywood centric shows. With its new look and new programmes, the channel promises to be ‘hip, happening and savvy’.

Zee Muzic has roped in some known faces – ramp models Nina Manuel and Aparna Kumar, cricket presenter Roshni Chopra and models and actors Mayank Anand and Vikas Bhalla – as anchors.

Manuel and Kumar host the sizzling late night show, ‘Midnite Manual’, and ‘Bollywood Tonight’, respectively.

Irshwin Balvani, Zee Muzic’s business head, is confident that the revamped look will get the channel that ‘much-needed’ attention. “While other channels are more campus oriented, Zee Muzic will mainly focus on Bollywood, which is quite a rage in the country.”

According to Balvani, “About 80 per cent of our content will now be based on Bollywood.”

Balvani adds, “Given the fact that we have our own library, we will be able to air complete songs of many movies, which is not possible for most other music channels.”

However, media planners are still sceptical about Zee Muzic’s prospects.

Malik of OMS says, “The niche viewers of music channels prefer to watch movie trailers or new songs. This is something that every music channel provides. The youth are not all that interested in full-fledged versions of old songs.”

© 2005 agencyfaqs!

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com