Their primary focus is on Gen Z, as the youth, music, and English entertainment cluster revolves around their preferences and, of course, the brand interests they generate. In an exclusive interview with Storyboard18, Anshul Ailawadi, Business Head of the Youth, Music, and English Entertainment Cluster at Viacom18, discusses original intellectual property (IP), youth-centric and inclusive content, advertiser interactions, MTV’s venture into a regional market for the first time since its inception, and more.
Edited excerpts:
How would you describe the overall performance and achievements of Viacom18’s YME (youth, media and entertainment) cluster in the past year, considering factors such as viewership, engagement, and audience response?
2023 was a remarkable year for the YME cluster, with the audience response reflecting in its growth story. In the dynamic landscape of viewership, MTV demonstrated robust growth throughout the past year, marking a commendable 15 percent increase in viewership. The average time spent (ATS) on MTV has risen substantially by 11 percent, reflecting the channel’s ability to captivate audiences for longer durations compared to the previous year. All of this has given us confidence to launch a new tentpole IP next year.
In the realm of music entertainment, MTV Beats demonstrated a resilient performance over the past year, reaching out to an extensive audience of 391 million viewers. Our new content initiatives such as Mani-Honey ka Space Station and Shortcuts (short videos on dance, music, comedy and other reel entertainment) and segments like Bhakti Beats, Dheeme Beats, and Sadda Adda have been received very well by our audiences. Vh1 has surged ahead by an impressive 60 percent in viewership. The cumulative reach has seen an extraordinary 85 percent upswing, reaching 27 million viewers, notable in Megacities NCCS AB 2+.
Comedy Central has demonstrated a commendable growth of 19 percent in viewership, while ColorsInfinity has experienced a robust 23 percent growth in viewership. The cumulative reach has increased by 36 percent, reaching 3 million viewers in Megacities NCCS AB 2+. These significant growth figures underscore the channels’ appeal and expanding viewer base, solidifying Comedy Central and Colors Infinity’s positions as the strongest players in a competitive landscape.
Can you elaborate on the strategies employed to achieve a significant increase in viewership and engagement across the YME Cluster’s channels, including MTV, MTV Beats, Comedy Central, Colors Infinity, and Vh1?
We are constantly developing and curating unique and compelling content that resonates with our cluster’s target audience. We have been successfully experimenting with new formats as well as themes to keep our content fresh and interesting for our viewers. MTV has always been a co-creator in India’s evolving youth story. Given our creative approach, our audiences have always appreciated and rewarded our knack for innovations and experiments.
On the content front, the grand success of MTV Hustle 2.0 gave us an impetus to launch and transform the third season as an equaliser, bringing together rap talent of varying experiences. In addition, the new season of MTV Roadies – Karm Ya Kaand, stood as a testament to the show’s unceasing popularity with a staggering new format. We also had an exciting season of MTV SplitsvillaSeason 14. Both formats saw significant, innovative changes that have been received well by our consumers. To drive engagement beyond the screens, we also fortified consumer experiences through a Roadies inspired experiential holiday staycation called Roadies Rostel, along with the Roadies Koffeehouz franchise that has launched pan-India.
What have been the key success stories in terms of shows, events, and campaigns that proved to be particularly resonant with the target audience of GenZ and millennials?
We are co-creators of India’s evolving youth story. That reflects in our dynamic initiatives, marketing and communication approach, transmedia storytelling with relevant and relatable content.
At MTV, we never shy away from shining the light on themes that matter. Our culture-defining pro-socio youth campaign, ‘MTV Question Marks’ addressed the growing mental health issues that young Indians face due to inadvertent academic pressure from parents. We organised a successful mindset reorientation workshop for parents, with Cause Ambassador Shaheen Bhatt and mental health experts, highlighting the campaign’s messaging that ‘Marks Hai Benchmark Nahi’. To drive further consumer awareness, we complemented it with an unprecedented product partnership – ‘Naye Zamane ka Dahi Shakkar’ yoghurt. The campaign was rooted in deep consumer insights from our own youth study report and garnered over 40 million impressions and views. With this initiative, we aimed to create a paradigm shift empowering young minds to define success on their own terms.
MTV Hustle 03 REPRESENT reinforced itself as the ultimate voice of India’s youth. I’ve always maintained we are not gatekeepers—the stage is open for everyone, with different beliefs, ideologies, cultural backgrounds, and more. True to the season’s theme and clarion call of ‘India Ab Tumhari Baari’, we saw some stellar music with pan-India representation and topics like music therapy, depression, domestic violence, etc. and more. We also recently announced MTV Hustle Namma Pettai, the Tamil version of the show, moving beyond the HSM markets and breaking linguistic as well as geographical barriers.
Across all our channels within the Youth, Music and English Entertainment cluster, we have been on a steady growth path. MTV Roadies – ‘Karm ya Kaand’, season 19 of our genre-defining adventure reality television show, garnered 1.5 billion plus reach and 2.3 billion plus impressions across digital platforms and 5 billion viewing minutes with 48 million reach on linear, making it a hit with our young audience, and the biggest season of MTV Roadies in the last five years.
How has the YME cluster adapted its content to align with the evolving content consumption patterns of GenZ and millennials throughout the year?
Our approach towards content creation is multifold and unique. We are urban youth specialists who understand that GenZ consumes content in a truly non-linear way, across multiple social platforms, OTT and broadcast. This insight drives our unique and immersive strategy.
Anchored on transmedia storytelling, our multichannel strategy ensures that our content reaches all viewers, as media becomes more interconnected. As a dynamic cluster of youth brands, we are the go-to destination for content creators, brands, advertisers, and viewers, making us a strong player in the brand-creator economy.
We have always moved the needle for youth entertainment, by picking up on youth trends that are kind of simmering beneath the surface but are about to become mainstream. Given our creative approach, our audiences have always appreciated and rewarded our knack for innovations and experiments—across content, media, and platforms. Our content strategy is data and insight driven, leaning on trends, generational preferences, and relatability, while keeping our consumers at the heart of it.
Regarding the digital platforms KaanPhod and Fully Faltoo, could you provide insights into their growth and the role they played in expanding the cluster’s digital presence?
Fully Faltoo emerged as an indigenous digital-first youth brand, witnessing an impressive growth of 2.2 times in 2023, amassing over 1.2 billion views, and an extensive reach of 5.6 billion impressions on YouTube. The subscriber base has also expanded significantly, increasing by 1.8x and reaching 3.7 million subscribers.
In 2023, KaanPhod Music’s YouTube channel made significant strides, accumulating over 2.1 billion views, and an impressive 10.4 billion impressions. The channel’s community saw remarkable growth, doubling from 3.6 million subscribers at the end of 2022 to 6.9 million subscribers as of December 2023, firmly establishing itself as the go-to digital music destination. Experiences like ‘McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It Live’ and Royal Stag Boom Box featuring collaborations and fusions contributed to its success. KaanPhod Music, garnering over 80 percent of viewership from individuals under 34 years old, stands as the ultimate one-stop-shop for all things music, catering to the dynamic preferences of the youth. It is also the ultimate destination for fans to access their favourite MTV Hustle songs, as well as short-form content.
We believe in being omnipresent and reaching our audiences wherever they are, be it Spotify, Resso, Hungama, JioSaavn, Moj, or Glance, Amazon Prime Music and more.
In what ways has the YME cluster addressed the demand for gender-inclusive content, and how have viewers responded to such initiatives?
The YME content has always showcased inclusivity on multiple fronts, which includes but is not limited to gender inclusivity, LGBTQAI representation, opportunities for the differently abled and providing a stage for regional representation. That said, this will never be seen as a force fit. It’s very important that in all our casting and creative decisions, ‘merit’ takes centrestage as the sole criterion.
MTV Roadies, a show known for the spirit of resilience and adventure, had dynamic contestants this season exemplify under-represented communities, based on merit, talent, and skills. The show included its first transgender woman contestant, a model with hearing-impairment who made it to the top 30. Similarly, on MTV Hustle 03 REPRESENT, we had a contestant with a speech impediment, whose rapping skills took the world by storm. That platform has been an incontestable representation of the Indian youth, and as an equaliser for all rap talent across the nation. The inclusive pan-India pool includes budding female rappers of our country, as well as talent from socio-economically challenged areas to tell their stories on a national stage.
Young India is a diverse community—and we will continue to ensure that we represent it, in the truest sense, in everything we do.
Help us understand the strategy behind creating original IPs to keep the target audience engaged and excited. Can you highlight specific examples of successful original content?
100 percent IP ownership has always been at the heart of what we do. It ensures that we continue to set trends with an obsessive focus on the consumer. We drive our narratives based on data and insights, particularly the MTV Youth Study, India’s largest youth research and a go-to handbook for the advertising and marketing community. It is a reckoner for brands to understand the youth and GenZ and the choice that defines them.
We go after Gen Z in a very focused way and then we do have spillages over that demographic and below it. One of the unique things is that Gen Alpha are also getting hooked on IPs, based on our latest insights. Based on our learnings of the audience’s consumption patterns, we are exploring unconventional mediums, including outdoor innovations around college campuses, college contact programs and digital innovations (interactivity) to effectively reach and engage our target audience.
What has been the growth trajectory in terms of advertisers for the YME cluster in the past year? Also share insights into the new advertisers onboarded in 2023.
2023 has been robust; with a dozen new sponsors on tent-pole properties, we have seen significant uptick in terms of ad growth. For example, for MTV Hustle 03 REPRESENT, we onboarded POCO as the title sponsor. The show was co-powered by sponsors GOVO Soundbars, T-Series, Wildstone, and Appy Fizz, while associate sponsors included Adidas Originals and Cadbury 5 Star. Our multi-platform approach gives brands and advertisers a one-of-its-kind opportunity to leverage our social, TV, on-ground and streaming (video and audio) touchpoints.
Looking ahead, what strategies and initiatives does the YME cluster plan to implement in the coming year?
MTV has redefined audience outreach in the past couple of years, with short-format video dissemination across various social media channels, funnelling into OTT and broadcast canvases. MTV’s original music has found its way to everyone’s playlists through their favourite streaming platforms and IG Reels. The cluster will build upon these new audiences earned by launching a new tentpole IP next fiscal year, in addition to new seasons of MTV Roadies, MTV Hustle and MTV Splitsvilla. Currently our IPs cater to passion points around adventure, travel, dating, relationships, and music. We see a strong opportunity to innovate in dance and comedy genres. For the first time since its inception, MTV will be foraying into a regional market (Tamil) by launching MTV Hustle Namma Pettai next year, to showcase the best of Tamil hip-hop. Colors Infinity has an upcoming fresh line-up of international content and Indian lifestyle content, while Comedy Central will bring the best of laughs from across the world to India with brand-new content. As Fully Faltoo’s subscriber base continues to swell, fans can expect fresh short-format content to drive virality. KaanPhod Music has a roster of fresh music from budding artists coming up, too. YME will continue to raise the bar for a disruptive and immersive youth entertainment experience. In the coming year, we will also double down on our drive to create the next gen of social media influencers and offer new interactive experiences across social video and OTT.