Sandeep Aggarwal of Droom talks about his association with MTV for a reality show. Vivek Srivastava of Times Network talks about the rebranding of English Movie Channel Movies Now 2 to MNX. Siddharth Biswas of Dainik Jagran Inext talks about its nationwide B2B umbrella campaign, Hindia
DRIVING ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH REALITY TV
Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Droom.in, makes his first reality TV appearance on MTV’s Dropout Pvt Ltd. Droom.in is the title sponsor of the show, aimed at identifying future entrepreneurs and enabling them to kick-start their business journey. As one of the mentors on the show, Aggarwal talks about his passion for entrepreneurship and India being on the brink of an entrepreneurial revolution.
The Reality TV Experience
This show has been a different and new experience. I have been lucky to have my cake and eat it too! I am passionate about entrepreneurism and this country is going through an entrepreneurial revolution with the booming start-up culture. The biggest take-away from the show has been meeting entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds who dared to challenge the status quo in their lives.
The Brand Connection
MTV had initially approached me to a mentor on the programme. However, the show’s youth focus was a perfect brand fit for Droom. Going forward, our sizable ad budge of Rs 225 crore will ensure that we have the scope to explore many more interesting partnerships like these. We have a lot of things in the pipeline that we will announce shortly!
WE WANT MNX TO GIVE TOUGH COMPETITION TO THE TOP THREE BRANDS IN ENGLISH MOVIE SPACE: VIVEK SRIVASTAVA
Times Network has rebranded its year-old English Movie Channel Movies Now 2 to MNX. Vivek Srivastava, Executive Vice President & Head Entertainment Cluster, Times Network tells us more
Rebranding MN2 to MNX
The channel has taken off well and we invested in content to make the proposition stronger. The positioning and communication from a content standpoint was working well but unfortunately the name was lending itself to the mother brand, Movies Now which is a mass brand. We want MNX to be new age, edgy. Therefore, we decided to give the channel its own identity and there’s no better time to do it than when the numbers are ramping up, and we have strong content to take this viewership forward.
The Numbers
From an ad sales perspective, English movies genre is around Rs 600-700 crore and in terms of TVTs, it is about 15,000- 16,000 TVTs. At this point, we have 30% of the viewership of the overall English entertainment space. Our aim would be to get to one third of the revenue pie as well.
MNX: One Year On
Since mid-February, we have consistently been above HBO and are among the top four channels. We would love to see MNX in the top slot. We want MNX to give tough competition to the top three brands - Star Movies and Sony Pix and also Movies Now.
INEXT PROMISES BETTER ROI WITH HINDIA CAMPAIGN
Dainik Jagran’s Inext is running a nationwide B2B umbrella campaign, Hindia that is generating much curiosity with its unique title reflecting its bi-lingual content. Siddharth Biswas, GM, Brand Development, Dainik Jagran Inext, tells us how the campaign showcases the paper’s unique positioning.
With 12 editions in cities such as Dehradun, Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi and Jamshedpur, Inext’s research has shown that the average literacy rate is 77% and the per capita income is almost Rs 2 lakh in these cities. Biswas explains, “Our newspaper is the only one with a 99% urban, upmarket readership that ensures a better ROI for advertisers. Most other newspapers have an upcountry-urban circulation split of roughly 60:40 respectively. At Inext we are not interested in creating a large circulation base but rather a more focused one. Our circulation is currently 5.5 lakh across the 12 target cities and we reach out to the target audience that has the purchasing power. We offer advertisers a focused connect with urban readers, something no other paper does.”
Biswas adds that Inext is amplifying the campaign with a mini-golf series for various agencies across India. “The entire Hindia campaign is aimed at driving awareness among media planners and decision makers, offering them insights into these markets, while providing them with a more focused approach.”
