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From eye-wear to adventure bikes and debit cards to tablets, MTV Consumer Products, which is present in 15 categories, plans to expand to 25 categories by the end of the next fiscal. In the next few months, it will step into several categories that include condoms, women’s inner-wear, relaunch of its apparel line, wrist-wear and laptops.
The company is also exploring partnerships with cafes and youth hostels. MTV products are also expected to be available in shop-in-shop formats in partnership with retail outlets.
Most of these brand licensing agreements with partners for the 15 categories are unique to India and are now being replicated in other countries. “Eight years ago, when the consumer products were launched, it was more of an out-of-television branding exercise. The way we look at it now is creating an ecosystem outside television, where youth can touch and feel our products and the brands become an intrinsic part of their lives,” Sandeep Dahiya, Senior Vice-President and Business Head-Consumer Products, Viacom18 Media, said.
For instance, MTV has collaborated with SWIPE Telecom to launch six-inch ‘fablet’ devices called MTV Volt, which have an app that offers on-the-go access to MTV. Dahiya said the company was now exploring unlocking synergies with group companies such as bookmyshow.com to offer cool apps and discounts to owners of MTV Volt.
“By the end of this fiscal, we expect MTV and Nickelodeon branded products to generate about Rs 250 crore in retail sales for our partners, and expect this to increase to about Rs 400 crore,” Dahiya said. The company has licensing deals with partners to launch co-branded products and earns a percentage of the revenues as brand royalty. Dahiya, however, did not disclose the revenues that Viacom 18 earns from the total retail sales generated.
Some of MTV’s key licensees include Bwitch, Citibank, Crusoe, Firefox, Aureole-Inspecs, BILT, PLG, J K Ansell, Mochi, Swipe Telecom and Global Fragrances.
The company is focusing on striking long-term deals and ramping up its creative team as it plans to expand consumer products under its other brands, such as VH1 and Comedy Central.
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