Sony earmarks Rs 8 crore to promote Indian Idol 6

About 30-40 per cent of the budget will be spent on television, while about 20 per cent will be spent on print media campaigns. OOH, digital and radio make the rest of the media mix.

MSM's Sony Entertainment Television will launch the sixth season of its flagship property, Indian Idol, on June 1. The channel has earmarked Rs 8 crore to market the latest season of the show through various media, as per industry estimates.

Indian Idol targets youth and family audiences and is set to run for 26 episodes.

Danish Khan, senior vice president and marketing head, SET, says, "Consumer insights play an important role in this season's positioning. Hence, we have focused on 'the journey of a person from a common man to an Indian Idol'. We are targeting the families, along with the youth. The budget for the promotions is a little more than that of last year's spends."

As per industry sources, about 30-40 per cent of the total budget (Rs 2.4-3.2 crore) will be spent on television, while about Rs 1.6 crore will be spent on print. Out of home, digital, radio and BTL (below-the-line) activities will also form a part of the communication effort.

The campaign involves about 10,000 advertising slots across 29 channels, apart from the MSM bouquet of channels. Radio Mirchi has been roped in as radio partner for the show.

Khan shares that the OOH campaign comprises about a thousand units of OOH spread across 21 cities. The media duties of the show are handled by OMD and Media Circle. Leo Burnett is the creative agency for the channel as well as the show.

Industry sources add that the channel has invested heavily in this season of the property and taken on board a fourth judge, noted singer Asha Bhonsle, apart from the three judges of the last season, Annu Malik, Sunidhi Chauhan and Salim Merchant.

Close Up is the presenting sponsor for this season of Indian Idol, while MTS is powering the show. The list of associate sponsors includes Flipkart.com, TVS Tyres, Vivel, Max New York Life Insurance, Amul Macho, Sunsilk and Suzuki Motorcycle.

Last year, the channel had shifted the show to the weekdays in an attempt to compete with the fiction properties on other channels. "The show will be back on its weekend slots, as our fiction properties are doing very well on the weekday prime time slots," Khan adds.

It is also learnt that the channel has reserved a higher budget for the promotion of the sixth season of Kaun Banega Crorepati. The registrations for KBC are open and the show is set to be launched in about three months.