Media companies try to board early on Indian Idol-2’s success

The television event, ‘Indian Idol’ on Sony Entertainment Television can certainly be pronounced as a marketing success, even if there may be some doubts on its success as a television programme considering the TVR numbers attained by it.

With second series of Indian Idol ready to go on air, other media companies are in no mood to miss the bus. Be it other television channels, radio stations or the print or web companies, every one is trying to ride on the success of this programme.

This evident from the number of media tie-ups which Sony has managed for ‘Indian Idol Series 2’.

Starting with the print publications, Sony has struck a deal with Hindustan Times, and Loksatta. These dailies will get exclusive content and the inside story of the Indian Idol participants. While these publications hope to add-value to its readers, Sony hopes to get free publicity through these write-ups.

In association with the Bhaskar group of publications, Sony has organised a special tour of the first Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant, and the ten finalists.

Sony has also struck a deal with TV Today Network, wherein the network’s two news channels, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today will telecast exclusive content from ‘Indian Idol Series 2’, and even have special shows around this talent hunt programme.

In addition, Sony will also run promos on channels such as NDTV, Cartoon Network, Ten Sports, CVO and Toon Disney, in order to bring in those viewers, who are not regular with Sony.

The official radio partner for ‘Indian Idol Series 2’ is Radio City. As per this agreement,

radio jockeys will keep its listeners updated on the show, and will even play out the radio versions of the episodes shown on television.

In addition, a radio contest, ‘Spot the Mask’, has also been launched in association with Radio City. In this contest, participants need to obtain masks from certain specific locations. One of these masks contain a lucky number, and the contestant who manages to get it will go on a date with Abhijeet Sawant.

On the web front, the channel has tied up with Sify. The web portal, www.sify.com, will provide news related to the show. In addition, a Sify broadband user can also watch the show online.

For mobile marketing, Sony has roped in cellular service provider Airtel. In fact, Airtel was also a co-promotions partner for the auditions, that were recently held across India. Sony claims to have garnered a response of one million registrations.

Besides, various opinion polls will also be conducted from time to time, exclusive to Airtel users.

Meanwhile, Sony is all set to launch a new show ‘Ek Ladki Anjaani Si’ from Monday to Thursday at 9.30 pm. The current show on this time slot ‘Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin’ will be pushed to 10 pm replacing ‘Yeh Meri Life Hai’.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!