Viacom18 is betting big on the live events business. Under its Integrated Networks Solution (INS) vertical, the company plans to scale up its live events to over 300 from the current 210.

“When we launched in 2013, we had about 12 properties or events. Now we have about 210 events. We are scaling this [up] to about 300 events,” INS Viacom18 Head Jaideep Singh said.

INS has three verticals under its umbrella — Live Viacom18, BE Viacom18, and Spotlight.

Live Viacom18 engages with consumers through large format live properties such as Vh1 Supersonic MTV VMAI, Nickelodeon KCA, Emerge, MTV Xtreme, and Comedy Central Chuckle Festival among others.

Singh said the company is also looking to create sub-extensions to IPs to monetise on different formats by partnering with various brands.

“The aim is to be present on all formats — content, digital and broadcast. We currently have about 40 youth-centric brands in categories like electronics, e-commerce and apparels partnering with us,” he added.

Asked if the company was looking to take property created in the domestic market, such as Bollyland, to the international market, Singh said it could eye the Indian Diaspora in South-East and West Asia.

Speaking on the live entertainment scene in India, Singh said the company saw huge growth opportunities in live gigs, comedy and musical shows even in tier II and III cities.

“We have been growing in double digits,” he said, without divulging any revenue numbers. He, however, added that venue infrastructure, permission for holdings live events and taxation structures still remained challenge for the nascent industry.

He said the average price of tickets was also witnessing a rise, reflecting the willingness of people to pay for live events. Ticket prices for live events stand anywhere between ₹500 and ₹7,500, industry watchers said.

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