Vh1 has advantage of being only player in the English music space, says Viacom18's Ferzad Palia

Over the years, the channel has added content like lifestyle, reality, live events, long format and music from global artists and this time is focusing on pop culture

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | November 15, 2016

Ferzad Palia

Viacom18's Vh1 is all set to undergo a brand refresh on November 19 with a new programming line-up from local productions along with a lot of entertainment and pop culture content.

On the new brand identity, BestMediaInfo.com caught up with Ferzad Palia, Business Head, English and Youth Entertainment, Viacom18, to know all about what's in store for the consumer.

Palia said the brand refresh was a well thought out process. The media conglomerate has been doing research for about a year on its new brand image. The last time the international music channel underwent a brand refresh exercise was five years back.

Over the last decade, the channel has added a lot of content and was not a pure-play international music destination. It had a pinch of lifestyle and reality content, live events, long format content and of course music from favourite global artists. This time, the brand goes beyond a look and feel of the channel. It brings in an element of freshness, says Palia.

“It is heavily digitally integrated,” added Palia. Along with digital, social integration is part of the plan. The channel is set to launch its first original programming with 'Vh1 inside access with Miss Malini' and 'Vh1 India Diaries.' There will also be entertainment and pop culture content for the Indian audience.

While the channel doesn't really look at ratings, it is the only English music channel so far, which eventually makes it the only player in the space. Palia is glad to be in the space and also happy that they have grown their advertiser base over the years.

When asked about pop culture, Palia said, “It is a vacant space right now and nobody does pop culture. We've continuously invested in the brand and heavily invested in marketing.”

On the digital front, Vh1 new shows Vh1 inside access with Miss Malini and Vh1 India Diaries will be showcased on Viacom18's Voot. The channel is still exploring on whether to make its music content available on the digital platform (Voot). Palia is more focussed on doing digital activities than using traditional media to market the new image of the brand.

Content-wise, the channel will have differentiated long form content with shows like The Fabulous Life, Lip Sync Battle, Catfish and more. New refreshed music blocks will be curated to include shows like Vh1 Secret Stash – a handpicked playlist, Vh1 Stomp – the party mood-setter, and Vh1 Mint – the one stop music block to get up to date with the latest in international music.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com