She waits with baited breath, jittery to unlock her next treasure. Bindass CEO Zarina Mehta is bubbling with energy as she talks about her second baby Bindass. This time round, Mehta is casting her magic wand over the Indian youth segment, but with a mammoth approach as she navigates across multiple media platforms to capture her target audience. Some question whether she will rewrite the Hungama TV story and the impact it had on the Indian kid's space. However, in this case she looking to unveil a quartette of four Bindass television channels by April 2008.
With the backing of Malaysia based media company Astro, she seems geared up to take on competition with other broadcasters also foraying into the youth general entertainment segment. As this television space is heating up, Mehta is leaving no stone unturned to capture what she calls the "sweet spot." In an exclusive t?te-?-t?te with Indiantelevision.com's Renelle Snelleksz, Zarina Mehta exudes the excitement and the anxiety before she breathes life into her next creation.
Excerpts:
Why have you decided to change your TG positioning by extending the demographic beyond the 15-24 year olds even before launching Bindass? But how do you manage to make one brand appeal to this wide audience? It is all about targeting what we call our "sweet spot" or the 17 -21 year olds. We realized that if we target our sweet spot, then we will automatically attract the larger segment of 15 - 34. This is because the 15 year olds long to belong, while the 34 year olds just do not want to grow up. This 'down aging' phenomena is a sensational find because if I get my 17 - 21 year olds correct (which I pray I do, she laughs), then I will capture this larger segment as well. |
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What opportunities does this segment offer? The 15 -34 year olds comprise 42 per cent of all TV viewing. This is a fantastic opportunity for us. The viewership patterns from 2005 till now are also changing, which shows the decline of the GECs as viewers are moving away from their traditional consumption and trying new things. There is thus a gap in the general entertainment space on television and we want to cater to this segment. We want to become the GEC for young India. |
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The concept behind Bindass has largely been supported by research. Are there any significant findings that have helped give shape to your upcoming channel? The 'Bindass' name is imbued with certain brand properties that resonate with factors like chilled out, edgy, sexy and young. But as the creators of brand Bindass these values were not sufficient to create a 360 degree long term brand. So we added values that will further energize the brand and came up with the following propositions. If you are not "yo dude" and you are not "saas bahu" then you are Bindass. We are the reality of young India that consists of the four F's - Fun, Frank, Fearless and Freedom. Our logo has been designed by BDA and is exactly what we represent, completely Indian with a cool exterior, that is what we believe will work. |
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On the programming front, what's your strategy? Our daily driver primetime shows include a stand up comedy Lagegi that is shot 24 to 48 hours prior to telecast from Monday to Thursday. We will have seven BIA's - Bindass Intellegent Agents from the top cities giving us reports on what is happening across India. Then there is Shakira, a dark angel fighting for justice, every man's fantasy, while another daily comedy is Sun Yaar Chill Maar. We also have a street magician show by Ugesh Sarcar. Our programming is tailored to fit our research findings which show that the 15 -24 age group watches two and half hours of TV a week and movie channels are consumed for six hours a week by this TG. |
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In the highly cluttered TV environment, have you identified what your primetime is going to be? |
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But won't this interfere with GEC primetime, especially in the reality of a single TV household? |
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You are also looking to have a strong movie line up on Bindass? We are not going to have Hindi movies on our channel, for the same reason that we are not having music, because it is 'undifferentiated viewing.' The way Hindi movies are bought in bulk, you are not allowed to pick and choose, thus you cannot build your brand, but in case of international films you can do this. |
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Will this mean that you will not have any films from the UTV stable? |
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What is your movie strategy for the channel? |
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What about animated content on the channel? |
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Are all the Bindass shows produced in-house? |
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How many locally produced shows will be on the channel? |
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Will the mix be largely skewed towards local content? What is the proportion of local versus acquired content? Local programming will consist of 45 per cent and acquired 55 per cent. But we have to first see what works and then decide eventually. |
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What are the plans to introduce other Bindass channels in India? |
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Will this new channel also have only international movies dubbed in Hindi or are you also looking to infuse some Bollywood content? |
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Will this also be a pay channel like Bindass? |
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What will Bindass across the mobile and online platform be like? All this is an opportunity to get the content of my brand across all touch points. We don't see it as competition to TV, we see online and mobile as fantastic opportunities to communicate with our audience. So by taking our content across platforms we will kick off with Lagegi.com an online comedy portal having Lagegi content and other content including user generated content and clips not aired on the show. We will also have Bindass.com which will showcase the brand and the shows. |
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Are the retail and merchandising plans for Bindass already underway? With the first two café's, I would like to see how these concepts click with our TG and then we will roll out completely. I don't want to push it. |
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Are you considering roping in a partner for this initiative? The investments for this are outside the Rs two billion that was declared earlier. So what are the investments for this? Yes, the investments are outside the JV and are very high. The investments from the JV alone are Rs 2.7 billion which will be largely dedicated to the four channels. |
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What is the marketing push that you have planned to get Bindass off the ground? |
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With several players now eyeing the youth demographic, how do you see the television space shaping up this year? |
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What about your plans to take a prototype of the channel overseas (Southeast Asia) like you did with Hungama TV in Malaysia? |