channel V favorite Shows

Music to melodrama- the transition of music channels to youth oriented general entertainment channels is purely based on the game of TRPs. We all know MTV andChannel V are the two dominant music channels in India. Since two years these channels have changed their programming content to great extent slowly.

Earlier there were songs which were ruling these channels but the business started declining as there was mushrooming of hundreds of channels which were serving music to audience.

MTV started a series of reality shows like Roadies and Splitsvilla and gained lot of TRPs which came from the young audiences. Following the footsteps channel V came out with few reality dramas based on love, dating and friendship such as " Dare 2 Date", "Axe Ur Ex", "Agent Love", "Love Net" and " Roomies". These were not enough for Channel V to gain momentum over its competitors. Hence concept of fusing drama of daily soaps into fiction shows came that was targeted to youths.

"We wanted to move out of music as we realized that as a business, it was not making sense at all. The way people are consuming music has changed now. We thought there are multiple ways where we can connect to the youth and also grow our market share considerably," says Prem Kamath, the channel's executive vice president and general manager.

No wonder the channel is now replete with shows like " The Buddy Project", "Dil Dosti Dance", "Suvreen Guggal – Topper of The Year" and " Best Friends Forever", which offer light-hearted fictional content, surrounding teenage and youth issues. It is a departure from the music countdowns, and video jockey-led music shows that were a hit in the 1990s.

Youth don't want to waste their time in watching saas bahu ka rona dhona so they tune into V or MTV for their daily dose of entertainment to which they feel connected. In this age of technology, music is readily available on IPods, Ipads, You Tube hence they don't need a music channel.

To fill the void of content music channels are now depended on Youth based daily soaps.Channel V is now coming up with a new show Crazy Stupid Ishq which will revolve around 4 young people and their love stories.

MTV on the other hand is trying and testing at what they are best- creating youth based reality shows with all the ingredients of love, envy, lies, adventure and opinions. This channel has a pool of shows like Roadies, Splitsvilla, Campus Diaries, Unplugged, Panga ON and Reality Stars.

Both the channels have their niche audiences but Channel V is leading because of its serial based youth shows which are a huge hit among their target audiences.

Recently, the channel's shows " Gumrah" and "The Buddy Project" won the best non-fiction and the best fiction show, respectively, at the Indian Telly Awards.

Their team experimented with this genre of entertainment shows and now there is no looking back for them.

Funda is clear, money and TRPs are bread & butter for these channels, they will serve what people want to watch. I am sure in future there will be influx of more and more of such daily dramas on all the leading music channels. Channel V has indeed set a benchmark for all. Share your Views, Reviews, Comments and Suggestions on Twitter-iDubba and set reminders for your favorite shows on iDubba app..