MTV gears up to launch more licensed products

The brand has recently joined hands with Firefox Bikes to launch co-branded adventure bikes

Ananya Saha | Delhi | July 18, 2012

MTV India, the youth entertainment channel from Viacom 18, ventured into merchandising and licensing in 2001in India. But the real game began when the brand started to look it as different P&L and as a different entity three years ago. With presence in over 15 categories, the brand is getting aggressive to connect with the youth off-air, and maintain its revenue stream.

Sandeep Dahiya, Sr. Vice President – Consumer Products & Communications, Viacom18 said, “MTV consumer products are present across 15 categories. In the last one year, we have decided to not only focus on conventional lifestyle categories but also on non-conventional categories.” The brand recently tied up with Firefox Bikes to launch co-branded adventure bikes.

He added, “The launch of MTV adventure bikes also mark the beginning of extending MTV licensed products in unconventional categories and 2012 is going to see more of that.” Having announced entry into categories such as innerwear, lingerie, and condoms, MTV is looking at launching body sprays (deodorants) and Eau de Toilettes (EDTs) for men and women soon. Currently, MTV consumer products extend into more than 16 categories that include eye-wear, bags, stationery and paper, debit cards, mobile phones, bed-line helmets, and bikes. Its key licensees include Citibank, Aureole-Inspecs, BILT, Portico, Micromax, Steelbird, Wildcraft, Lava Mobiles, Mochi and Firefox.

Aiming at revenue share of 8-10 per cent from co-branded bikes, Ajit Gandhi, DGM, Firefox Bikes elucidated, “We got MTV on board because we were losing out on the segment where MTV has mindshare and connect. We want to retain the 13-16-year-olds who are clued into MTV.”

The co-branding offers, “An added revenue stream, an exciting opportunity to co-create products and integrating the brand and the consumer off-air,” said Dahiya. While MTV gets 8-13 per cent of revenues as royalty, Dahiya insisted that the revenues from licensed products have seen an increase of 50 per cent year-on-year. “While 8-13 percent of the net price comes to you as royalty, the percentage share depends from category to category, and also depends on the price of the product,” he said. The sale of licensed products was close to Rs 120 crores last fiscal.

MTV consumer products are focussing on metros and non-metros, even as top 30 cities have been responding well to the licensed products, according to Dahiya. “In metros, organised retail adds to our benefit and in non-metros, it is the aspirations,” he said, adding, “Ninety seven per cent of unorganised retail still adds to the challenge of capturing a bigger market share.”

Ananya@BestMediaInfo.com

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