Irregular viewership and a growing preference for listening to full-length Hindi film songs have helped 9XM, the music channel of INX Network, move ahead of competitors like MTV and Channel [V]. Launched with a few innovations thrown in – for instance, the channel does not have a video jockey (VJ), only a few cartoon characters, who provide comic relief in between songs – many doubted 9XM would survive in its genre. Today, when the channel completes one year of operations, Television Audience Measurement (TAM) reveals that it is 300% ahead of its closest contender – MTV.
Lynn D?Souza, chairman and CEO, Lintas Media Group, said, ?The fact that the channel has no VJ is their USP.? D?Souza added that channels like MTV and Channel [V] need some sort of an appointment viewing, which has been completely swept away by news and general entertainment channels (GECs). Since 9XM plays only full length songs for 24-hours, it has given the channel a lot of snacking and irregular viewership throughout different day parts, which has helped the channel gain an edge over others. It also plays only top-rated songs and not private album songs. Any song older than 2002-03 is tagged as Retro Gaana by the channel.
Since its inception, the channel has not launched a single marketing campaign. Vikas Varma, head-music entertainment channels, INX Media, said, ?That was part of our strategy. The channel is for the youth, who don?t like to be told what to do.?
In the C&S 4 yrs+ age group, MTV gets around 11-13 gross rating point (GRP), while 9XM gets 45-50 GRPs. In the C&S 15-25 years age group, MTV garners around 18-20 GPRs whereas 9XM is usually at 70 GRPs. 9XM has also increased the share of the music genre in terms of GRPs. In 2007 among C&S 15-24 age group, the music genre was at 72 GRPs, while in 2008 it grew to 113 GRPs. In C&S 4yrs+, the music genre was at 47 GRPs in 2007, while in 2008 it is at 71 GRPs.