Zoom crosses 5 million fans on Facebook

With the fan count standing at 51,87,718 fans, Zoom's Facebook community is bigger than the combined online communities of some of the mainline GECs.

Social media is gradually becoming a second screen for TV channels. Zoom, the youth channel from Times Television Network, has said that its community on Facebook has crossed the 5 million mark, making it the biggest amongst all TV channels in India.

With the fan count standing at 51,87,718, it is bigger than the combined online communities of some of the mainline GECs (Star Plus, Zee and Sony Entertainment Television)! Elaborating on numbers, the company states that the Facebook community of Zoom ropes in a weekly reach of 95 lakh, with its posts delivering impressions in excess of four crore every week.

Besides Facebook, the channel's YouTube presence has garnered 80.19 crore views and the channel's Twitter following stands at 2.2 lakh. Also, according to 'Airtel Mobitude 2012', a consumer survey on mobile usage, Zoom is also the third most consumed TV channel on mobile TV.

Among other Indian TV channels, as on September 23, MTV India follows Zoom with 50,43,099 fans; Bindass comes next with 33,73,021 fans; Channel V has 29,26,497 fans; UTV Stars stands at 10,64,217 fans; Star Plus has 32,23,031 fans; Colors accounts for 22,76,666 fans; and Zee TV counts 5,33,607 fans.

According to the company, the content on Zoom's page is managed by a dedicated in house team. The team also ensures immediate response and other interactions with members. Zoom doesn't only use it to inform its loyal fan base about upcoming content, but also to design the content itself. A show called 'Zoom it' - which plays song dedications made by fans on Facebook, is one such example.

This property was initially built exclusively in the social media space and as the requests came flooding in, a dedicated property on the channel called 'Zoom it!' was created to close the engagement loop. The show is now a hit and its social jockey Nikita continues to enjoy her own loyal following in the social media space.

Speaking about the digital edge and Zoom's strategy, Avinash Kaul, chief executive officer, ET Now, Times Now and Zoom, states, "A user's interaction with content online or on social media happens entirely out of an individual's choice. Being the No.1 TV channel in our category, a dominating presence in this space is a double whammy for Zoom as it goes on to show that the youth finds a real connect with our content. Beyond just viewership, it is also engagement with the content, using it as a social currency, a conversation starter. So much so, that they are actively seeking it, consuming, sharing and interacting over it on a regular basis."

With the present avenues conquered, the success for Zoom now lies in constantly observing and responding to the changing trends of media. It already has a following of 11 lakh on Google+ that many other brands are yet to explore. Its presences on SocialCam, Tumblr and Pinterest offer opportunities of better content curation experience amongst its more evolved audiences.

When asked about the scope of getting other brands to integrate with Zoom in its social media space, Kaul informs, "The digital medium has given us an added advantage to target relevant audiences in a highly focused manner, engage with them and gain further amplification across peer groups, making it an interesting choice for contextually co-branded activities. It's not a mere marketing outreach, but a strong resonance with the youth that we can look at tapping into."

Zoom is a Bollywood channel available across 28 countries worldwide. It is a part of Times Television Network from The Times Group.

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