NDTV Good Times gets younger

NDTV Good Times, the flagship channel of NDTV Lifestyle, part of the NDTV Group, has redefined its positioning from India's Leading Lifestyle Channel to India's Youngest Lifestyle Channel.

It has adorned a fresh look with its all new tagline, #LiveYoung. This makes it the first channel on Indian television to incorporate a hashtag as part of its tagline.

Talking about the reason for the rebranding and the research supporting it, Smeeta Chakrabarti, CEO, NDTV Lifestyle tells afaqs!, "Now with digitisation and suddenly people being exposed to a lot of options, we felt that it's time to redefine this category. Typically lifestyle internationally is watched by slightly older people, however India is a young country and bulk of our viewers are young. Youth today is defining the course for lifestyle in the country."

"We did a whole series of focused group in our key markets. We covered small towns in India, including Delhi and Mumbai's aspirational markets. We asked them about their aspirations in the lifestyle space, what they watch and why. Based on those codes we did a deep dive and got feedbacks on programmes. Thereafter, we decided to look at lifestyle not only from the side of future of youth. Hence, the target audience we are looking at now is not just youngsters but also people who are young at heart," Chakrabarti adds.

Demographically, the channel is now targeting 18-25 year olds in particular, and extended to include a wider age group of 15-35 years.

The channel has modernised its logo for youthful appeal. The new packaging is based on emoticon and smiley icons instead of language or text. All programmes will have icons, whether in the food or in the travel space. The packaging for NDTV Good Times has been designed by Steinbranding.

On the content part, the stance of the channel has changed from being a "relaxed and chilled out", to being an "energetic and active one". The content, according to Chakrabarti, is a lot more edgy, fun, energetic and irreverent now. The channel is breaking up its prime time space in four parts on the basis of appointment viewing - Fashion & Style at 7 pm, Travel at 8 pm, Food at 9 pm, Reality at 10 pm and Escape (like Kingfisher calendar) at 11 pm.

The channel is carrying out active promotions about the change on social media. It is also running a contest, winners of which will get a chance to go to China.

With change in content, the channel also expects a change in its advertisers' portfolios. "We hope the repositioning will open up to the brands that are looking for young, upmarket imagery," she avers.

While NDTV Good Times will continue to air its big properties like Band Baja Bride and Highway on my Plate, it is introducing new shows like Chopped (US' food reality show) that is aired Monday to Friday at 9 pm, Boundless that airs Monday to Thursday at 8 pm, John Abraham: A Simple Life that airs Monday to Thursday at 10 pm and Kingfisher Super Models - an on-going show that is aired every Saturday and Sunday at 10 pm, and Swiss Made Challenge that will be launched on January 4, 2014 and will be aired every Saturday at 8 pm.

In each episode of Chopped, four chefs compete to turn a mystery basket of ingredients into a dish that is judged on their creativity, presentation and taste, with minimal time to plan and execute.

Meanwhile, Boundless is an adrenaline-charged documentary series following the adventures of friends/fierce competitors Simon Donato and Paul "Turbo" Trebilcock in their worldwide quest to challenge their limits in some of the most extreme competitive events on earth.