Disney to shut bindass Play, to shift music programming to bindass

Disney India has decided to bring the curtain down on its Hindi music channel ‘bindass Play’ post Diwali and shift some of its music programming to the youth entertainment channel ‘bindass’.

The all new ‘bindass’ will undergo a complete makeover with a new look and the best of programming from both the entities on September 29. The channel will be available on the music or youth channels within the EPGs of various distribution platforms.

Abhishek Maheshwari

“We are not planning to position it as youth or music channel. The content strategy is for the millenials and these are one of the most fickle viewership genres. We have made a mix of content and are making it available on different platforms at the same time. We are sure it will generate viewership across platforms,” said Abhishek Maheshwari, VP and Head, Media Networks & Interactive, Disney India.

On whether Hindi music channels are not a profitable business anymore, Maheshwari said, “We can’t say anything generic about the music channels. I am sure there are profitable music channels too.” When asked about bindass Play’s monetisation and profitability status, he said, “The way we looked at the economics is that it worked for us. Youth has a demand for music but they can’t be told what they want to watch.”

The channel has plans to replace bindass Play, which is also a very strong brand in its core TG. “Yes. bindass Play is a strong brand but we want to stick to bindass as a brand. We have some plans on replacing bindass Play, but it will take some time,” Maheshwari added.

The network plans to start focussing on the brand ‘bindass’, which will be platform agnostic. The content will be simulcast on the television channel, Facebook page and the YouTube channel. Going forward, the network will launch its own mobile app/OTT platform around Diwali. “The idea is to cater to our consumers directly, especially after having such touchpoints with our viewers. We will be able to interact with our consumers directly and to offer them all our content at one place,” said Maheshwari.

bindass will now have the best programming of both the channels. The channel will have 13 hours of music content while earlier bindass had seven hours of music content. Starting with, there will be five hours of uninterrupted music in the morning, including bindass Play’s show Selfie Wala request show. There will also be a two-hour block of Tia’s Request show that will provide loads of energy in the evenings.

There on, the television series will continue to be a part of the channel’s content, with four hours of stories through the day, including Yeh Hai Aashiqui and the upcoming show in the bindass stable, Dil Buffering. The movie content will also increase on the channel since the movie block is being extended till Friday, every afternoon of the weekend.

All of this content and scheduling will be available on the newly refreshed brand bindass after the transformation from October 2017.

In its promise to be present across platforms, bindass will also launch an OTT platform for the millennials, who want to consume content on-the- go and are the core TG of the channel. With the addition of this platform, bindass will have complete presence across linear and digital platforms, providing users opportunities to interact with the brand.

“Since we will be having more presence on various platforms, we wanted to come up with a new look for the brand,” added Maheshwari.

The channel had launched its first web series last year, Girl in the City, which was successful and hence came season two and The Trip, which was present on multi-platforms with a strategy to win over millennials. These shows, along with other content on the web, accumulated about 180 million views on YouTube and Facebook in 2016.

“Whichever platform or format we use, the core of it is storytelling and content. We came for a linear channel and launched our multi-platform strategy. It worked because our thinking was very simple that we are making our content for the millennials. We do engage with brands and weave them into the story, but the story is what leads everything else. We don’t recognise anything as a digital brand, or a television brand. A brand has to be strong first and the platform doesn’t matter much,” explained Maheshwari.

bindass will soon launch two news shows in October (Dil Buffering) and November (Tere Liye Bro) 2017, respectively. Dil Buffering is slated at 7pm, a 15-18 minute 10-episode series. Brands that have come aboard are Micromax (presenting sponsor), Tinder and Sofy (co-powered By sponsors) and Ginger by lifestyle (associate sponsor).

Tere Liye Bro is a 22-minute long 10-episode series. The network has set up a separate team for ad sales of the digital platforms.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com