The Hindu Business Line : Back into the rocking

In the crowded world of Indian cable television, channels across segments are in a mad race for eyeballs. But one channel is taking a slightly different path. Instead of trying to appeal to the largest possible audience, Channel [V] is choosing to target the individual music fan.

"Rather than go the classic shotgun approach, we are going sniper," said [V] India channel head Amar K. Deb.

And in another example of marching to the beat of a different drum, the channel is choosing to focus on music-related content instead of reality-based or general entertainment content, as some other music channels have done.

"Last year we went back completely to our roots and said it has to be about the music, Deb said. "In this urge to get massive channel share, you don't start playing serials. You can't do that because then you are being untrue to your core audience, which doesn't want to watch that."

"We had this worried fan base asking, dude, where I am going to get the music?" he added. "So we thought we have to be about the music. The question became: so how do we expose the fan to the music on every level."

Music Director Bappi Lahiri with DJ Archana at the launch in 2005 of Channel [V] Mobile Singer, a first-of-itskind interactive hunt on the wireless

One of the ways [V] is doing this is through the Back to Music Project the channel began last year. The project takes an artist and places him or her in a very private setting - traditionally Mocha in Juhu, which seats about 70 people - with a small group of fans who are free to ask the artist any questions that come to mind. Fans are selected off the Internet, with the channel making sure that only real fans of the artist are chosen. Khailash Kher was the first artist to perform for the project and he has now become the show's mentor.

There is no script to follow. The fans ask questions and the artist responds. The project, however, is not a commercial venture. [V] deliberately chose not to have sponsors and the performances have not been aired except in capsule form. Podcasts of the performances will be available on the channel's Web site, though.

"It is a wonderful listening experience," Deb said. "The intention is to create a tight community around the music because music needs the support."

The Back to Music Project will take a break in January as [V] concentrates on the Big [V] concert but will be back again in February.

"We are coming up with artists not on the basis of how big they are or how unique they are, but on the basis of where the rabid fans are," Deb said

The channel is also, in the words of Deb, going open source. Or at least as open source as a television channel can get.

At the Big [V] concert two weeks ago, ten music fans in their early twenties were given cameras to make video blogs of their concert-going experience. The footage shot by these fans will be converted into a `blogumentary', which will be aired on Channel [V] in roughly three weeks time. The footage will also find its way onto Channel [V]'s Web site, so fans won't miss out on the experience just because they missed the telecast.

"What is going to happen is there will be the Big [V] Concert as captured by [V]," Deb said, "and then the Big [V] concert as captured by me."

"The focus is on the fan," he added. "It is about the individual. It is `my experience' of the concert."

Here too [V] went to the Internet to look for participants, with great success. The channel found people across all spectrums - MBAs, economic graduates, guitar players - wanting to be part of the blogumentary, Deb said. And it isn't only the music fan but the technology fan as well who wants to do it.

[V] is also bringing back a few shows that fit in with targeting the music fan and giving him some control over content. There is Launch Pad, for which [V] has made arrangements to have an `open mike' night at the Hard Rock Café on Sundays where rock bands selected by the channel will be able to "do whatever the hell they want," and based on what the fans say, will move up or down in the pecking order. There is Jammin, which involves bringing together two artists to jam together. There is also going to be an updated version of Freedom Express, which was loosely based on the Rough Guide.

"We are taking the fan and viewing India through his eyes," Deb said. It will be a video blog of India in its splendour through the eyes of the fan."

"We have started using non-traditional media because the niche-seeking audience of ours goes and searches for it [music] in a non-traditional form," he added.

Another reason [V] has chosen to focus on the fan is the number of experiences outside the home that compete for a viewer's attention.

"Five years ago the Indian viewer went to see a movie and came back," Deb explains. "Now it is an event in his life. The experience that was restricted to 90 minutes or three hours has become a six-hour experience. It is a challenge, which is why things that we do that lead back to the fan are very important"

Channel [V] targets the 15-24 age set, where it currently trails rival MTV. According to data provided by TAM, MTV has a 40 per cent share of the CS 15-24 segment with [V] capturing 31 per cent of the same pie. The numbers are almost identical for the all-India market, with MTV leading [V] by 39 per cent to 31 per cent.

More Stories on : Strategy | Music & Dance | Radio/TV

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