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MUMBAI:
9XM, the most-watched music channel in India and the world's biggest
Bollywood music channel from India's INX Network, turned one year
old this month.
In
a market where the youth population outstrips the entire population
of the USA and Japan combined, 9XM hit Indian television sets in
October last year with nothing in the way of mass media marketing
and promotion. With its non-stop uncut Bollywood hits format, animated
self-deprecating channel hosts, and an irreverent attitude - encapsulated
in the brand slogan "Haq Se" (in English this can be translated
as "It's my right") - the channel shot to number one within
three weeks of its launch. It has since completely dominated the
music and youth centric genre and today commands a 41% share of
audience, leaving MTV and a raft of domestic channels in its wake.
"The
9XM brand has become part of the youth culture in India organically
by giving young people a platform to express themselves", says
Indrani Mukerjea, Founder & CEO - INX Media. "Our launch
strategy was to let young people discover the channel for themselves
and identify with the brand. It rapidly took on a life of its own
when young people began to interact with the channel via SMS messaging
and discuss the brand within their own peer groups and online communities.
What we are witnessing now," says Mukerjea, "is that same
phenomenon in other countries such as the United Kingdom as our
distribution network expands, taking the universal appeal of Bollywood
song and dance to new markets around the world."
Anthony
Pettifer, Group Director Brand and Communications - INX Media, adds,
"For advertisers 9XM is an excellent fit with the youth market
for brands such as Coca-Cola and Vodafone which benefit not only
from the viewer numbers but also from the unique characteristics
of the channel and its presentation style. This," says Pettifer
"is often done by integrating advertisers' messages and visual
icons with the animated content in a natural, unforced way, where
the advertiser's brand is positively associated with the viewer's
affinity for 9XM."
One
year on, 9XM reaches more than 56 million viewers each week in India
alone, and its audience is still growing. The channel is available
to more than 8 million subscribers on the BskyB platform in the
United Kingdom, where it is also carried on the BBC/ITV satellite
joint venture, freesat, making it possible for a huge British audience
to experience the best of Bollywood music at any time they want.
9XM also reaches a large footprint covering Asia, the Middle East,
North Africa and Australasia, and in the pipeline are distribution
plans which include the United States and other European countries.
Vikas
Varma, Head, Music Entertainment Channels - INX Media, says, "In
all, the channel can reach around 65 million viewers each week in
more than 20 countries. SMS traffic to the channel is around 25,000
messages each day, and views of our animated VJ's video clips on
community sites such as YouTube are in the tens of thousands. As
Bollywood films become even more popular around the world, 9XM is
well-positioned to become the window through which young people
in other countries are introduced to the music and dance that is
so integral to the fabric of modern Indian films, and which transcend
language and cultural barriers to be appreciated by anyone, anywhere."
Bollywood
films rank second only to Hollywood in the United States, doing
more business there than films from any other country - and the
same is true of Australia and New Zealand. In the United Kingdom
Bollywood movies regularly enter the top ten listing, and in countries
such as Germany, Bollywood films are often dubbed in German and
shown regularly on TV.
As
9XM enters its second year of dominance in India and embarks on
a broader mission to reach youth markets in other countries, its
winning formula of back-to-back uncut Bollywood hits and no video
jockeys to interrupt their flow is poised to continue filling a
void in the music and entertainment television space.
"9XM
has created a distinctive new space in music and entertainment that
targets the needs and attitudes of youth, and not just the demographics",
says Varma. "Thanks to its entertaining and innovative format
and content we are entering our second year not only as the leading
music and entertainment channel in India, but also as the World's
biggest Bollywood music channel", he concludes.
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