Disney India Extends Brand Bindass with a Pure Play Music Channel

The new channel has been christened Bindass Play. Launching on October 1, it will replace UTV Stars, the Bollywood entertainment channel from the group.

Encouraged and inspired by the success of its youth entertainment channel, Bindass, Disney India has announced the launch of its pure play Hindi music channel titled Bindass Play.

The new channel is an extension of the brand 'Bindass' and will be launched on October 1, replacing Disney India's three year-old Bollywood entertainment channel, UTV Stars. Therefore, the new channel will gain from the distribution network of UTV Stars, which is available in around 60 million homes in the country.

According to Siddharth Roy Kapur, managing director, The Walt Disney Co India, Bindass has spoken the voice of the youth over the last few years. "It is a channel with which the youth can relate to and represents what their concerns are. UTV Stars was an interesting channel in our mix but we wanted to build a channel that can complement Bindass."

The content of Bindass will be based on 'mood-mapping', a very similar concept on which Multi Screen Media's Sony Mix works. In this, the songs will be played according to the mood of the people during the day. The channel will start the day with high-energy music in the morning, go for relaxed melodies and then end with a subdued tempo at night.

What makes Bindass Play different is that while other music channels are passive viewing, it will be an 'active', viewing channel. The audiences will be engaging with the channel throughout. A major part of the music that plays will be based on viewer requests.

There will also be shows like Tia's Facebook Request show, Tweet Meri Beat and SMS. There is also a band called 'Ishq Messenger' through which a viewer can dedicate a song to his/her loved one along with a message.

Vijay Subramaniam VP and Head - Content and Communication, Media Networks, Disney India said that if one looks at the landscape of brands that young adults prefer, most of them are international, while Bindass is the one completely home-grown channel and that has made an impact in their lives time and again.

Bindass is led by three principles. It is reflective of their (youth) own dreams and aspiration, it is honest and is able to urge them to action. The channel will air around 5-10 per cent non movie-based music, but it will be within the ambit of popular music. To start with, music from the '90s will play on the channel.

Nikhil Gandhi, VP and head of revenue, Disney India, says that the group didn't want to stay away from something that the 15-34-year olds were anyway consuming. "Music is an important consumption for this segment."

Gandhi adds that the channel will be sold separately and not as a package with Bindass. To start with, the channel has got on board four brand partners though he refused to disclose their names. "On digital, with Bindass and Bindass Play, we will have around 10 million fans. We have also planned advertiser-funded programmes, on digital and on-ground. The idea is to give a 360 brand solution to an advertiser."