Viacom 18 has always taken strategic decisions which have been the driving force behind its journey towards the top of the game. The best thing about the decision taken by Viacom 18 is that they are never random. The media network invests a lot of money in market research to understand the changing preferences of the audience. This is the reason why most of its decisions have proven to be right. In this article, we shall cite a few examples of how Viacom 18’s decisions helped it climb the stairs of success.
The flagship channel of Viacom 18 is Colors, which is a Hindi general entertainment channel. The channel is known for its soap operas and reality shows. If you analyse the content of the soap operas and reality shows broadcasted on Colors, you would notice that the shows have great potential to connect with the rural audience. Needless to say, this was the reason why Colors gained instant popularity among the Indian audience despite being a relatively newer channel in the market. Indians, in general, are connected to their roots and values which are beautifully and sensitively portrayed through the shows on Colors channel.
However, Viacom 18 knew very well that it cannot over indulge in rural-specific content as it might lose its urban ground. There was a need for something that can keep their connection with the urban audience. Hence the decision to launch the English comedy channel Comedy Central was taken. Comedy Central is an American comedy channel which managed to grab the eyeballs of the English-speaking population of the country as well as the urban audience in general. It took time for the channel to gain popularity due to its novel content, but today it is the most viewed comedy channel not only in Tier 1 but also Tier 2 cities.
A few years back, Viacom 18 started organizing the Comedy Central Chuckle Festival which basically provides a platform to the budding comedians of the country. The Chuckle Festival was basically introduced to popularise the Comedy Central channel among the Indian youth but the event is so immersive in its format that it has managed to make its own identity as a successful performance event over the years.
In the light of digitalization, the best decision that Viacom 18 took was to enter the mobile entertainment scene with the launch of Voot. With the increasing usage of mobile phones, entertainment needed to be streamed on the smaller screen instead of being limited to the televisions. The launch of Voot enabled Viacom 18 programmes to become accessible to the people anytime and anywhere.
