Indian television has witnessed a lot of change in the last few years. If you analyse the trend of TV viewing in India, you would find that during the period between 2000 and 2012, the primary target audience of television consisted of women, especially housewives. Almost every entertainment channel on Indian television had daily soaps with female protagonists and narratives, which appealed mainly to women. However, after 2012, a new wave hit Indian TV with refreshing stories that helped in broadening the range of target audience from women to every other member of the family.
Viacom 18 has been the pioneer in this regard. The programmes made by Viacom 18 are loved by people of all ages. The best thing about Viacom 18 is that it has a much diversified range of channels. It runs the most popular youth entertainment channel of the country, MTV. MTV started as a music channel and gradually, became the pioneer of youth-oriented shows. Today, MTV airs reality shows, youth-based drama shows and music-based studio shows. MTV also launched Emerge recently, which is a programme conceptualized to bridge the gap between Indian and International music scenes. MTV is now planning to build a common platform for Indian and Western musicians to collaborate for music.
If you ponder over the root of Viacom 18’s success, you would find that it employs the best marketing tools in the industry. Where most TV channels use print and digital media for promotion, Viacom 18 uses events. One such example is Comedy Central Chuckle Festival. In the last few years, this festival, which was introduced to popularise the channel Comedy Central among Indian youth, has made its own identity as a successful performance event. Another such example is MTV Extreme, an annual event held in almost every major city of the country to provide a platform for budding comedians to showcase their talent.
Another strategy that led to making Viacom18 a leader in its industry was its focus on the youth of India. Most youngsters in India despise Hindi drama and resort to watching US and UK television series online. Viacom 18 realised this need and launched its first English drama channel, Colors Infinity, which perfectly caters to the sensibilities of Indian youth.
It is quite surprising how an American media house realised the choices and preferences of Indian audiences, and is continuously producing programmes which are likely to appeal to people from every section of Indian society.
