By Alisha Singhal
It was in 1994 that the Star Network introduced Channel V to India, and since then it has revolutionised the way music channels work. However, there has recently been news that the network is shutting down the channel because of its inability to attract sufficient viewership. Star Network plans to introduce a vernacular sports channel, Star Sports Kannada, to boost its 10 channel strong sports portfolio and to reach a more diverse audience.
The Journey
The journey of Channel V is worth taking notice of, considering it has been around for 23 years now. Channel V was started as a competitor?to MTV India. MTV was originally introduced to India through the Star Network. However, differences in the future ideology for the channel content made MTV split ways with Star Network. Channel V was introduced in the Indian and South Asian markets, with Hindi and English programmes aimed at the youth. As it came at a time of India?s transformation in the years of liberalisation, the channel bought the music of international superstars like Madonna and Michael Jackson to everyone?s house. It then introduced the country to the concept of VJ (video jockeys) who became popular than many celebrities they interviewed. Who can forget the famous Lola Kutty, played by Anuradha Menon or the very bold, Sophiya Haque. These artists who would impart music information to the viewers became a sensation among the youth for possessing the ?cool? quotient, which was very different from the characters in the mundane shows on GEC?s.
The genre of channels, Channel V and MTV India in the early 1990?s gave a platform to homegrown Indian musicians like Alisha Chinai, Daler Mehandi and Baba Sehgal to make their own music. The non-bollywood music industry was finally growing. This is what Channel V stood for at that time, it brought global to India and made it a mainstream channel for the youth.
Brand Revamp
Over the years, as new channels popped up because of low cost to entry in this genre, Channel V brand strategy revised multiple times. For instance, Mastiii which is a music channel by Shri Adhikar brothers got launched in 2010 and since then has been constantly remained in the top position in terms of viewership. MTV India around this time shifted its content from only music to a more youth entertainment channel with programs like Roadies and Splitsvilla. It reduced its dependence on acquired music to 20-25% and produced original format shows like Coke Studio and Unplugged. It is also important to realise the saturation of music content because of its limited availability and redundancy as all music channels churn the same content. Thus, Channel V, in 2012 decided to become a youth entertainment channel by producing original content through fiction and non-fiction shows. In 2016, there were rumours of Channel V shutting down. However, the brand was again transformed into being a youth-focused music channel from July.
Future
It is evident that Star Network has struggled to make Channel V sustainable over the years through multiple brand revamp strategy. This genre of channels usually face a struggle in terms of viewership and attracting advertisement revenue. Even the top channel in this genre garners 3-4% of the advertisement revenue present in total TV despite 6-7% viewership impressions in total TV. There has been a lot of efforts made by channels to make themselves sustainable, like packaging and marketing of the same content in innovative ways through channels like Sony Rox and MTV beats for independent music artists. The future for Channel V looks tough as Star Network is streamlining its focus to invest its resources in other genres, especially sports.
Star?s acquisition of IPL broadcasting and digital rights for about 16,000 crores is a testimony to the fact that it plans to become the go-to channel for sports in India. It will be interesting to see how this strategy pans out for the network and whether it will attempt to rebuild the channels for its music portfolio.
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