To understand the kind of surgery the channel needed, scores of employees were handed handycams and flight tickets to fan out into the metros and conduct interviews at youth hangouts: Campuses, multiplexes and malls. The findings were an eye-opener.
The channel was perceived as a narrow offering of 'music' and 'masti,' while the consumers expected far more. They wanted entertainment as well as information. "The channel was getting typed as Bakra (its long-running humour show), that is, flippant fun. But it had a larger role to play," says Nadkarni.
To begin with, the sex appeal was enhanced by immediately hiring four hot VJs, including Mia, a foreigner and a Kingfisher calendar model, and Deepti Gujaral, another Kingfisher model.
A new-look channel, complete with slick and edgy graphics (Indian icons like rangoli, samosa and chandeliers were done away with), was planned with hot new shows which were no longer titled in Hinglish (Fully Faltoo, Bolti Band and so on).
Instead, smarter titles like Roadies 5.0, Wassup? and MTV It Sucks were introduced. Splitsvilla was launched last year and is currently in its second season.
Image: VJ Mia. | Photograph, courtesy: MTV
Also read: Net connection: The top 10 countries
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