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MTV on its way to more experimentation

The channel plans to get aggressive with merchandising and also to increase its interactive quotient

It is a decade now since MTV was launched in India to cater to youth in the age group of 15-24 years. So much so that yesteryear’s viewers were called the MTV Generation.

But in the last few years, the original set of viewers has moved on and new sets of 15-24 year olds have come; industry analysts say that today’s youth do not belong to the MTV generation.

Ashish Patil, V-P and GM, creative and content, MTV Networks India, says, “This is why we constantly keep on experimenting with our programming. While we always look forward to accommodating the new sets of viewers in our TG, the challenge is also to retain the previous set of viewers, who have a tendency to move on.”

The channel recently launched its first full-length feature film, ‘Ghoom’, a spoof on the Bollywood blockbuster, ‘Dhoom’.

Patil claims that this initiative was a money spinner for the channel. “We recovered almost three times the money we spent in producing the movie,” he says.

Patil adds, “We started off with a usual television show, shaped up into a full-fledged film and that, too, was a profitable venture for us.”

Launched only in June, the film boasts of 55,000 ring tone downloads. Patil claims that ‘Ghoom’ got high viewership when premiered on television as well.

In addition, the channel managed to sell the rights of the movie to Sahara One.

But not all its experiments have worked for MTV. In fact, the channel had tried its hand at two daily shows in the past, but those fell flat on their face.

“We win some, we lose some, but MTV believes in experimenting,” asserts Patil.

He even claims that vis-a-vis its competitor (Channel [V]), MTV is doing well in various other programming genres, be it humour, adventure, romance, style and fashion, music, films or just plain countdown shows.

MTV plans to increase interactivity with the consumers on the channel. The channel has introduced live polls and intimate message scrollers.

MTV is also looking forward to a strong revenue stream through merchandising. MTV Clothing and Accessories has always been there, but now it plans to club the brand with popular shows such as ‘Roadies’.

For instance, the MTV officials plan to roll out fresh merchandise around the latest season of ‘Roadies’, the fourth in the series.

The channel promises that this season of ‘Roadies’ will be even more gruelling and edgy than the previous three, with a martial arts task and other equally challenging stuff lined up for the contestants.

Gulshan Grover will be among the panel of judges as also the show’s producer, Nikhil Chinappa, and Mika.

The initial round of auditions began in Mumbai on August 6. This will be followed in other cities such as Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Lucknow.

This year’s ‘Roadies’ will see seven boys and six girls travelling on Hero Honda Karizmas, covering almost 8,500 km in all kinds of weather conditions.

The show will be aired every Saturday beginning August 26.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!

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