IIM ROHTAK

ASPM Project MTV : The way Ahead

Team Chameleons

Name Jaison Joseph Ashish Diwedi Aman Gupta Vikram Dahiya Avinash Agarwal

Roll No Pgp02.083 Pgp02. Pgp02. Pgp02. Pgp02.

MTV: The Way Ahead?

A relaxed Ranvijay stands on the sets during the shooting of an MTVs reality show, Roadies 8 at the MTV Networks Vile Parle, Mumbai Studio. Despite technical problems that have stretched the taping of a 15minute segment to nearly two hours, the unflappable MTV shows anchor cum VJ calmly sips apple juice between occasional puffs from a cigarette. Also, sitting on the sets, Mr. Abraham Thomas, Head MTVs advertising sales, is going through the audience activity data of the previous seasons of the on-going series of Roadies. Before joining MTV, Abraham was renowned as the man for devising the magical advertisement program and rejuvenating the sales of Kelloggs corn flakes. Apart from graduating from Harvard Business School, he also has credentials of having worked with other youth brands such as Nestle, Close-Up, Chiclet, and etcetera. The youth audience has recently shown a trend of shifting focus towards online medium especially social networking sites and indigenous websites from traditional medium such as television. Abraham finds this trend quite conspicuously reflected from the available data as the television viewership of the series has shown a decline. Abraham has to come up with a strategy as soon as possible to reduce time to market taking the above trend and other factors into consideration .Hence, he has to devise a media planning strategy effectively to regain the lost viewership momentum, which results in high TRP ratings.

BRIEF HISTORY
Owned by Viacom in New York, MTV was launched in the United States in 1981 as a twenty-four-hour cable program service presenting a continuous flow of music videos featuring pop and rock songs. MTV India is the Indian version of MTV, a channel specialising in music, reality, and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 and is now part of the Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd based in Mumbai, a 50/50 joint venture operation between Viacom Inc. and Network TV 18. When MTV had first come in, it simply tried to relocate Western MTV product (e.g., Western pop music) in India .Besides the choice of music, MTVs wholly English-language programming presented an obstacle. Practical matters aside (i.e., that more people speak Hindi than English), on a symbolic level, people felt disrespect over MTVs choice of language. In 1995, MTV was forced to go off the air to reconsider its strategies, including conducting market research. At this stage, it was on the brink of closing down altogether in India.

Indianization of MTV
During this time, a crucial event occurred. Channel V, a strong competitor to MTV for the music video market, hired Ruby Bhatia, an Indian VJ from Canada, who had been Miss India-Canada. Bhatia went on air speaking Hinglish, a mixture of Hindi and English, to introduce Hindi music clips from Bollywood films. She came across as very Indian to viewers, and Channel V became an instant success. Channel V had discovered the key to the successful VJ: good looks, hipness, and the ability to break into Hindi when cracking a joke. People literally began to leave work early to catch her show. This event was taken to demonstrate that the success of music television lies in going local. MTV realized it had to Indianize to stay alive. Channel V had become by far the favourite during this time, but MTV proved extremely agile at indigenizing.

Indigenizing: Outside the Studio

In contrast with the DD model, in which a heterogeneous audience is asked to identify with an abstract ideal of the spectator as model citizen, MTV presents itself as a channel that identifies with its audiences desires and worldview. One way it does this is emphatically locating the MTV world within an India inhabited by and recognizable to the urban middle class.

For example, in Bakra, the anchor of the show absconds on a regular basis. The show is an ongoing saga of this hosts whereabouts in the local streets of Mumbai. Bakra, like other programs on MTV, is clearly situated in the sights and sounds of urban India. Taking the visuals outside of a studio and into the streets is the quickest way to localize programming and enhance the sense of being a national, or local, channel. Involving the person in the streets (the potential viewer) is also key. For instance, one countdown show relies on shots of the public: young men and women standing on a street corner singing a popular Hindi song into a microphone. They are framed by an animated graphic (a TV screen), and one of these everyday people holds the microphone. The mixing of non-professionals and professionals is critical to a sense of democratization of programming, making the programs accessible to the viewer and making the programs the viewers programswhich is essential to MTVs viewership lure.

Initial Market Size

According to the often repeated statistic, the MTV target customers, i.e. the upper and middle class constitute 30 percent of Indias population, or 300 million people. This is the target group for MTV and other satellite stations. MTVs director of strategy and research, Sangeeta Gupta said, First and foremost you want to leave out the 700 million in rural India and look at things only for the 300 million, or about thirty cities in India.

MTV MARKETING STRATEGY

Geared toward the most influential and outspoken portion of our society and population, MTV targets youth interest. They champion an image of young role models and superstars for todays youth to idealize. Teens are presented with reality shows like Roadies seemingly to portray a truth that life is not necessarily as pure and perfect as some television programs may convey; the kinds of shows to which they may relate. MTVs shows are successful at attracting viewers and keeping them interested enough to keep coming back. The first step in successfully marketing to a specific group is defining what the strategy will be directed towards- understanding what makes them tick. Successfully marketing a product lies in satisfying one or more of the target audiences emotional needs. Some examples of these needs in relation to todays youth are: acceptance, belonging, pride, and security. MTV has especially tapped into the need for belonging and acceptance by giving youth something common to talk about and experience together- something specifically created with them in mind. Five years ago the digital marketing work that went alongside Viacom international Media Networks (VIMN) television assets left much to be desired..The international arm of the company runs MTV operations outside its native US. Considering the potential of MTV, Thomas says the international part of the business was displaying a lacklustre performance online. Going online is a '360-degree' strategy in which websites do not simply reflect television shows but are separate entities with unique content. Sites can then help generate and reinvigorate interest in a show, particularly through invitations to 'follow' or 'like' a programmed and its main characters on Twitter and Facebook. Few years earlier a websites pretty much just gave information about shows and so were a mirror of what one might get through the TV channel. There was nothing new or unique; there was no real reason for visiting. " While the MTV channel, in particular, would be awash with household names in music and entertainment, when the public searched for those stars, there were no high-ranking links back to MTV. As a result, the

company has made a major effort to get its name higher up search rankings. Today TV is not only viewed live, but is also watched through personal video recorders and online services, such as Sky Player. This has prompted the company to carry its efforts in search over into social media, so fans of the channels can interact with, discuss and point friends and contacts towards Facebook pages and Twitter feeds for shows and their stars. This is leading MTV to seek to appeal to the second screen of a Laptop, iPad or Mobile that young adults may have in front of them. Apart from streaming the reality show content Second Screen App to encourage fans to tweet and post about the show before, during and after each episode.

Social Media Campaign

The social media is becoming far more popular and effective in todays world with more and more youth using the social websites and the internet rather than watching TV or other print media. As the channel targets the youth, it uses those media which are popular amongst the youth to run its ad campaigns. The channel also stresses on the social causes and other issues which are of concern amongst the youth. For example, the channel has run campaigns to create awareness among the youth regarding the repercussions of drunk driving and also on environmental issues. Currently, the channel is running an ad campaign to encourage safe sex among the youths and asking them to use condom. The ad campaign originated in Germany and went viral on the internet. The campaign was started as a multi panel cartoons depicting hilarious situations while at the same time emphasizing the serious issue underlying it. The campaign drew a lot of attention in Germany and now several videos are launched in the same campaign. The ad campaign consisting of cartoon strips and also animated videos uses the elements of humour and also depict the delicate issue of sex in a way so as not to offend any sections of the society and also drive the message home. The videos are short so that the viewers do not experience boredom and also the videos are humorous so as to catch the attention of the youth.

Background on Online/TV Advertising

Advantages of Online Advertising
Advertising online has huge advantages over traditional forms of advertising. With traditional advertising, in most cases the advertiser pays to show their advert to thousands of people in the hope that a small percentage will take notice. Online advertising allows you to target your audience so well, that you only need to pay when someone chooses to find out more information after seeing the advert. For example a furniture store can show their advertisements to people who are searching Google for leather sofas or even buy oak tables. Online ads can even follow people around. If someone has visited your website, and has an interest in your industry, ad networks can use this information to display adverts promoting your products to those people when they visit other websites this is another example of precision marketing. Online advertising also has a much lower risk factor. Within a day or even hours you can often gauge how successful a campaign is. If the return on investment is low then simple stop the advert from showing any more.

It also provides ways to constantly improve your marketing. For example, you can easily set up 10 different versions of an advert and test which is the most successful for a low cost, before continuing with promoting that advertisement.

Disadvantages of Online Advertising

One disadvantage of advertising on the Internet is that your marketing materials are automatically available for anyone in the world to copy, regardless of the legal ramifications. Logos, images and trademarks can be copied and used for commercial purposes, or even to slander or mock your company. This is not the case with television and magazine advertising, wherein images must be replicated rather than simply copied electronically. Another disadvantage is the fact that the Internet-advertising gold rush has begun to introduce ad clutter to the Web. Web users are so inundated with banner ads and spam email that they have begun to ignore internet advertising just as much as ads on traditional media.

Advantages of TV Advertising
Market Coverage and Cost Effectiveness: Almost everyone watches television once in a while. This is why television makes it possible to reach a large audience. Marketers that sell and market products/services that appeal to a large audience find television as a media tool to be very cost effective. Captivity and Attention: Viewers that are watching their favourite programs are usually exposed to thousands of advertisements a year. TV advertisements have a tremendous effect on consumers just by repetition and exposure of catchy jingles and slogans. Creativity and Impact: One of the biggest advantages of using television as a media is the fact that it provides one with the opportunity for presenting the advertising message. This media vehicle is ideal when you need to demonstrate your product or service. It offers great flexibility in the fact that you can combine interaction of the sight and sound.

Disadvantages of TV Advertising
Television advertising can be very expensive. Depending on your budget, you may have to hire writers, actors, and editors as well as your air time. If you dont have a large advertising budget, you wont be able to buy enough air time to make a difference. Changing your television advertisement to feature a different sale or to reflect a new season takes a lot of time, energy and money. Its certainly not as simple as the hour it might take to update the coupon in your print ad. Television advertising only works if youre already very familiar with your audience. Knowing who your audience is will help you to determine the best time and place to show your ad. Not knowing your audience will lead you to waste your money on times when theyre not even watching.

MTV the social presence

MTV one of the biggest youth brand in India is one of the most talked about brand in social space. In fact every 2 minutes MTV India gets socially mentioned online. The top platforms where MTV gets mentioned included YouTube, Google Blog, Twitter, Plurk, Identica, Facebook (See Exhibit.). MTV, a dynamic and youth oriented brand has a 5:1 (positive to negative) Sentiment ratio. Though this was not a very good ratio considering the fact that it is the top TV brand in India. Search trend analysis shows that online users search about MTV India throughout the year. In last one month the search about MTV India has increased significantly mainly due to Roadies.

MTV India takes their social media marketing very seriously and involves their employees, celebrities, VJs to actively involve with social media and act as influencers. They are using twitter widget to showcase all tweets by their VJs on their website. They have a well designed Facebook fan box to convert the website visitor into a Facebook fan. The features like Videos, photos and social sharing option make the website content rich attractive and highly engaging. How serious MTV India takes its social media is reflected with the fact that they have used FB connect application on their website which can enable a lot of FB integrated features for the website like easy sharing publishing and friends connect. MTV India website acts as a youth community where conversations can be engaged. Their website enables bloggers to start their blog and contribute content for MTV users and Indian youth. MTV India also supported social media campaigns on their website. One of their campaigns College Beat(Exhibit 8) had helped them to build MTV India influencers in youth centres like colleges. The Customers were also rewarded by providing the winner the opportunity to be a VJ. This also enables MTV to connect with youth of India across all colleges using social media without any extra efforts. ROADIES the Biggest, oldest and most successful reality show in Indian Television that changed MTVs fortune is always a matter of Social conversation offline and online. Online users like talking about Roadies8 reflected by this mind boggling fact that every 46 second Roadies8 is getting socially mentioned online. People are mentioning and talking about Roadies8 on different online platforms, the top platforms are Digg, Youtube, Google Blog, Facebook, and Pixsy. Its surprising to see that social mentions about Roadies8 are not very active on twitter. MTV, a dynamic and youth oriented brand has a 12:1 (positive to negative) Sentiment ratio. This reflects that there is a negative conversation about MTV India for every 12 positive conversations. Search Trend shows that online users started searching for information related to Roadies 8 from August Itself. This reflects that popularity of the show that people were awaiting for information about the Roadies 8. Trend analysis about Roadies also reflects an important thing about its regional search where Madhya Pradesh again is the leader in search followed by Gujarat and Delhi. There is an enormous search trend going for Roadies 8 where most of the search about Roadies are on Breakout which shows that Roadies 8 is searched beyond a normal pattern compare to any other brand.Roadies8 is most searched for, Roadies Theme Song / lyrics, Roadies Audition (mainly videos).

Exhibits

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

Exhibit 3 Exhibit 4

Exhibit 6

Exhibit 5 Exhibit 7

Exhibit 8

References
1. www.yindia.co.in 2.www.facebook.com/yindia4ever 3. www.socialyindia.wordpress.com 4.Advertising and promotion, An Integrated marketing perspective by Bleach and Bleach. 5. http://mtv.in.com/ 6. http://www2.hec.ca/en/casecentre/case/guide_redaction_np_a.pdf

Teaching note
Summary
The case aims to give the students a brief preview into the social media marketing industry and how it has affected the way different industries advertise and the way they have changed their own business model to achieve maximum benefit. The case brings to attention the situation of Mr. Abraham Thomas, Head, and MTV India- Advertising who has been given the opportunity to lead the new strategy of advertising for MTV. While trying to understand his dilemma case bring about the history of MTV the past methods of advertising and its advantages and how social media adverting has affected the ways people decide and why it is important to a firm such as MTV.

Teaching objectives
The case may serve to help students develop skills related to decision making or the analysis of factors specific to Television industry. The case may also provide an opportunity to induce or illustrate theoretical concepts such as Creativity ;Zipping/Zapping (Digital TV) ;Product Placement / Embedded Advertising ; JND ;Viral Marketing ;Reality Shows ;No unique ; positioning ;Personalization Blogs, Comments ;Advantages/Disadvantages of Online Advertising & TV Advertising ;TRP Ratings ;Internet Direct Marketing ;Social Media Campaigns ;Influencerscan be applied to actual situations, including need to conduct market studies for new products, financial analyses for investment projects; the consequences of major strategic changes; the impact of technological change on a companys different functions. Suitability for use in what types of training programs or courses This Case can be utilised in courses related to advertising and social media marketing. Sources and methods of collecting case material The Materials for the preparation of the case has been collected primarily through secondary research online. The text book prescribed for the purposed of the current course has also been used extensively while building the concepts of the case.

Links to other cases

https://business.twitter.com/optimize/case-studies/mtv/ http://slingdigital.com/media/Visibli%20Case%20Study-MTV%20Twitter%20Ads.pdf http://www.evs.tv/sites/default/files/download_area/resource/Case%20Studies/CS_MTVChannel_0207_ENG.pdf http://vimeo.com/7797473

In-class discussion
Questions to prepare students for in-class discussion