an icmr-iipm think tank publication - Cycbth.org

COVER STORY
“YOU HAVE TO SEE BOTH SIDES”
MK ANAND, CEO OF UTV BROADCASTING SHARES THE RECENT REBRANDING STRATEGIES
ADOPTED BY UTV TO CATER TO MARKET DEMAND TO SRAY AGARWAL
M
K Anand is someone
who aptly exemplifies
transformation.
He started his career
as a medical representative and
then moved to Times Group and
managed their classified section.
But his ever expanding appetite for
continuous learning made him
join Zoom as head of Sales and today
he serves as CEO of UTV Global
Broadcasting. Under his leadership,
UTV re-launched Bindaas
and came out with myriad of new
offerings ranging from UTV Stars
to UTV Action.
You started your career as a
medical representative and
now you are the CEO of UTV.
Why such transformation
and transition?
WE BELIEVE THAT BRAND
SPECIALIZATION ALLOWED US
TO BE MORE CREATIVE AND
INNOVATIVE AND IN TURN
HELPED US TO EXPAND
THE NETWORK
PHOTO : SANJAY SOLANKI
cause as CEO you have to keep your
eyes in the both sides.
UTV s is in every genre and fields.
Most of the time you started with
some reality shows, which were
some more of a first movers in the
industry. So why did you move to
a very modern type of shows?
We are very strong in branded channels.
We believe that brand specialization
allowed us to be more creative
and innovative. In order to expand
the network, we always have concentrated
on two strategies. First, we
always looked to provide more relevant
initiatives within the existing
target group. For instance, through
UTV Stars, we have created something
out of nothing.
Secondly, we always targeted a
segment where competition does not
exist and we can enjoy the first movers
advantages. Besides, we are constantly
looking at an audience of 18
– 25 age group. So we have a reality
channel (UTV Bindass), music channel
(UTV Stars) and movie channel
(UTV Movies, UTV Action). We have
count your chickens before they hatch 30 april 2012
MK Anand,
CEO of UTV
Broadcasting
I wouldn’t say that I changed
my first job as it was a sales job.
When we look towards the value
chain, we come to know that only
production can not create value to
the economy until and unless whatever
has been produced or manufactured
in factory or in premises reach
to the end consumers who purchase
it. Initially, I looked at the second
part of the value creation in economy.
So, I was very much clear about
my future and whenever I used to
prepare my plan for the next 20
years, I naturally gravitated towards
sales and marketing job. And then
gradually I tried to understand the
in depth function of production bea
team of intelligent people
who can easily understand the
market and figure out the
widely accepted contents.
What is your learning from
Zoom and how have you implement
that in case of UTV
Stars?
Life is full of learnings. I would
say learnings from Zoom
helped me a lot in the execution
part of UTV Stars. Ultimately,
content and brand legitimacy
plays a critical role
towards the success of any
channel.
As far as UTV Action is concerned,
we have not done that
well in India. UTV Movies is
the most strongest brand of the
UTV Broadcasting with close
to 40% of the revenue coming
from it. It is followed by UTV
Bindass where we are focusing on
reality shows. UTV World Movies is
for a niche audience and are expected
to grow strong with time. We also
have UTV Action Telegu. At the end
of the day, we have to diversify into
languages other than hindi as 50% of
the market is covered by other languages
as well. We are quite excited
about the launch of our new channel
UTV stars with the tagline – 'the official
channel of bollywood' and
would cater to music and entertainment
section. And, I believe UTV's
strong presence in Bollywood would
provide us with a competitive advantage
over others. We have also
launched UTV Movies in Uk in association
with Sky TV recently.
How do you see resistance during
such new initiatives?
Internal transformation doesn’t necessarily
need to face resistance. A
clear communication about the
changes reduces the chance of confusion
and hence reduces resistance
to change.