Growing regional channels aggressively is a key thrust: Sudhanshu Vats

Viacom18 is all set to release its 3D animation movie based on Nickelodeon channel’s popular cartoon characters – Motu Patlu. The film, titled ‘Motu Patlu King of Kings’, will have its theatrical release on October 14, 2016.

Apart from this forthcoming movie, Viacom18 recently also strengthened its youth offering with a new Hindi music channel – MTV Beats. MTV Beats, while catering to all eclectic music tastes, will predominantly focus on Bollywood music and will soon be available on air.

Motu Patlu’s Big Screen Venture

Leading these and other ventures from the front is Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18. AdGully recently caught up with Vats to have a freewheeling chat on some of the recent developments at Viacom18 and more.

For ‘Motu Patlu King of Kings’, Viacom Motion Pictures has entered into a first of its kind association with Maya Digital Studios. Commenting on the Motu Patlu property, Vats said, “The characters are very huge and popular. The series completed 10 tele-films, which did exceedingly well. If you look at the digital platforms as well, the characters are very popular. I think a great story and popular characters with top class production, especially great 3D animation, make it a total combination.”

Leveraging on popular characters and earning additional revenues by way of merchandising is not a rare practice. And with the upcoming launch of movie, Vats shared some more plans as he said, “With the film, as the character becomes more powerful, merchandising will also happen. This is because merchandising follows the classic principle of popularity of characters. Films normally go a long way. This film will further boost the popularity of Motu Patlu. With this, our next go to market is getting more sorted with the e-commerce platforms as well.”

Meanwhile, talking about the ability to grow the youth ecosystem through the MTV channel, Vats said, “We will do it in a segmented fashion. MTV will continue to air fiction and reality shows which are youth centric. MTV Indies will be available on digital platform, while MTV Beats will be an awards and Bollywood music channel for the masses.”

The ‘Job Switch’

Viacom18 was also in the news recently for its unique initiative for Teacher’s Day this year in partnership with The Akanksha Foundation. This initiative – ‘Job Switch’ – aimed to encourage young people to come and teach in classrooms. To commemorate Teacher’s Day, Sudhanshu Vats and Raj Nayak, CEO, Hindi Mass Entertainment, Viacom18, invested some time from their busy schedules to teach students at the Foundation’s schools for an hour. While they were away from work teaching kids, students from the Foundation’s schools stepped into their shoes back at their office.

Incidentally, this is not the first time that Vats has contributed towards education. Elated about the ‘Job Switch’ initiative, he said, “I really enjoyed being with the kids. It is about giving inspiration by meeting them, learning from them and also helping them see something which they can achieve. Education is something which is very close to my heart as it gives people from all walks of life an equal opportunity. And the Akanksha kids have a lot of hunger in them. So when you can channelise their energies, inspire them, allow them to dream and make them believe that their dreams are possible, I think it is a great initiative. So when I relate to them as a human being and when I give them the confidence that what you are dreaming can be achieved and what is important is the hunger in you, that’s inspirational.”

Fitness Fervour

Not just education, fitness and well-being is also close to Vats’ heart. The Viacom18 Group CEO is also an avid marathoner and has initiated the ‘Donate A Mile’ drive. The initiative involves Viacom18 employees participating in the morning weekday runs along with Vats, alternately they can also donate a sum for every mile that he covers. This money is then used to help educate girls from poor families.

Shedding more light on this initiative, Vats said, “It is an initiative to make people fit. In today’s age, we are not able to take care of ourselves. However, if there is no health, then there’s nothing. So it’s an initiative to make people more active.”

Merger with Prism

Meanwhile, giving an update on the merger with Prism channels, which was announced a few weeks ago, Vats said, “The court has approved the merger, so now it will be one entity. All the regional channels will go through Viacom18. Growing regional channels aggressively is a key thrust. And this is a right direction.”