Sanjeev
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MUMBAI: After completing two years of operations, English music channel 9XO from 9X Media is looking to grow its reach as well as go beyond music videos. “One of the learnings for us is that interaction with our TG 15-24 SEC A,B six Metros is key. We have a lot more credibility and awareness. We get a lot of traction on social media which tells us that people watch us,” 9XO channel head Luke Kenny told TelevisionPost.com. The focus of the channel is on popular music which Kenny admits is transitionary in nature. “Our focus is on music that is popular right now and have a mix of it that is upbeat. That is what our TG wants. We do not have music blocks because that alienates music lovers who might not be a fan of that kind of music. If for instance I have a one hour block of rock music, then people who are not fans of that music will switch off the channel. What we have found is that people are alright with a mix.” One learning for the channel is that people just want to watch and listen to music without interruptions. “Earlier we had tried to have some amount of humour content interspersed between videos. But this did not work. Going forward, we are looking to curate content that goes beyond music videos. We are working on the modalities of this,” Kenny said. A big part of the channel’s strategy revolved around associating with dance events and college festivals. “We associated with Sunburn. We associate with six to seven dance events a year. We also associate with 15-20 college events like Malhar and IIT events. Our branding is present along with our booth and promos. So people come to know that 9X0 is there for them.” On-air, one area of focus is pushing artists who have a new album coming out. “For instance 50 Cent has a new album coming out. To promote this, they are releasing five videos – one each week. We are creating awareness for fans using social media that each week there is a new music video to look forward to.” Asked about youngsters using online platforms like YouTube to listen to music, Kenny notes that content discovery on the popular platform is difficult. “YouTube is very cluttered. You need a medium that tells you what to watch. While some people search for videos online, the others are happy to watch us as we give them what is currently popular without them having to search for popular music online. Our TG wants to hear new sounds. 9XO offers a filtration process for them to hear what is new.” 9X0 does not have appointment viewing. Also its viewers multitask. “This generation multitasks. Many of them are not doing just one activity at a time. They are not passive viewers which is also why engagement is important. We have a hashtag on Twitter about us turning two and the feedback has been encouraging. We have a Twitter based countdown where we give 10 hot songs and ask fans to choose their favourite. We then air the songs on the channel in order of their popularity. We also run tweets on the bottom of the screen,” Kenny said. In terms of English music going beyond the six metros, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) has grown. “Pop music is also growing. A song should be a simple melody. When we did ‘One Direction’ special last year, we asked people to send videos of themselves dancing to songs of ‘One Direction’. A lot of entries came from the smaller metros and the satellite towns.” 9XO, which is carried on several cable and direct-to-home (DTH) platforms, is expected to do a distribution deal with Tata Sky soon.
