MxMIndia

Tag: Bavesh Janavlekar

  • ZEEL revealed the first look of Zee Yuva on Wednesday evening in Mumbai. The channel is scheduled for launch on August 22

    Mindset does not have an age, says Sharada Sunder on Zee Yuva

    By A Correspondent

     

    Sharada Sunder

    Last evening (Aug 3), Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) hosted a pre-launch party for its new Marathi GEC ‘Zee Yuva’. This is the network’s third Marathi channel after Zee Marathi and Zee Talkies. Unveiling the first look of the channel, Sharada Sunder, Executive Vice President and Cluster Head, Regional Channels underscored the need for the network launching yet another channel in the same language. “While we see that a certain need of audiences are not served and it cannot be served by an existing genre. That is when we need to bring in a fresh proposition,” she said, adding: “So that we are able to focus and serve entertainment as is required by that particular target audience which is seeking entertainment of a different kind. That is what makes you want to serve a new channel to them.”

     

    Even though regional content and channels have been of great importance in the past as well but in recent times, networks are on an overdrive. In fact most of the large networks have launched a secondary channel in the same language and some more are on the anvil. So, are networks more focused on regional content currently, we asked Sunder. “I think there has always been an equal importance given to national and regional channels. We have seen a plethora of national channels launched in the past couple of years also. We have seen launches happening in both national and regional space. So, I think it is just about trying to give a brand which meets the demand. You will continue to see this so on and so forth. Whenever there is an opportunity and need, that is when there will be a launch,” she said.

     

    After Zee Yuwa’s first look was unveiled by Sunder and Bavesh Janavlekar, Business Head, Zee Talkies and Zee Yuva, an AV introducing the shows that will be aired from August 22 (the launch date) was screened. “The proposition of Yuva is it is not for kids. And, it is certainly not positioned as an age cut. It is positioned as a mindset. Mindset does not have an age. It is not meant to be restricted to an age bracket, it is meant to be appealing to a larger base of youthfulness,” said Sunder on the channel’s TG.

     

    According to her, Yuva is going to be in a zone that understands and reflects the energy of young India. The ‘relatability’ factor is being seen as one of the USPs of the channel. On the marketing strategy, Sunder said that the network will spend enough to make it visible and penetrate in the relevant market. And she is positive about revenues as well, because for her, good proposition always attracts monies. Of course.

     

  • This is the third Marathi entertainment channel launched by Zee but the content will be contemporary rather just mainstream drama

    Youthfulness, not just youth for Zee Yuva

     

    We reported earlier this month that Zee is coming up with a new channel which will be launched in August and will be called Zee Yuva. With more than half of the population being youth in our country Zee Yuva will portray various emotions from the point of view of the youth. The channel will be positioned as Zee Yuva -Nave Parva..YuvaSarva!

     

    Speaking to MxM India about the USP of the channel, Bavesh Janavlekar, Business Head, Zee Yuva and Zee Talkies, said, “First of all I am calling it a youthful GEC and not a youth GEC. We are talking about youthfulness and not youth as an age. To borrow Bob Dylan’s line ‘Forever Young’.” In the recent past, we have seen regional content making it big at the national, the success of the Marathi movie Sairatproves it. So, what can the audience expect in terms of content? “A lot of experimentation happens and the kind of content that Marathi films are generating, that kind of variety and scale is not seen on Marathi television.  There are only three Marathi GECs and they are more women centric. Even though there have been experiments that have worked well on Zee Marathi and other channels also. Through this we are trying to provide contemporary content which are not necessarily women centric. That is going to be a huge difference. One of the primary principles is that the content is going to be light hearted, fun, humourous and refreshing,” says Janavlekar.

     

    Even though Janavlekar does not want to quantify anything right now in terms of viewership targets and wants to do a good job in terms of content, he expects Zee Yuva to be among the top channels in the Marathi genre.

     

    “We are going full throttle on marketing; it is going to be one of loudest launches in the Marathi genre. So, we are going to cover everything. The digital campaign has already been rolled out and we are getting amazing traction. We trended number one in Mumbai and number three nationally couple of days back on Twitter,” said the Business Head. And, they are working on formulating the availability of the content on Ozee, the VOD (Video On Demand) platform and Ditto TV, the over-the-top (OTT) TV distribution platform offering live television and on demand content by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. But eventually the content will be available digitally.

     

    “We are targeting the mass of Maharashtra. I would not want it to be classified as an urban or rural channel. The heart of Maharashtra should get captured in this. Hence, in terms of charactarisation and background we have characters from all over the place,” adds Janavlekar.

     

    In conclusion, Janavlekar says that by design they are not getting in to the saas-bahu drama at all.

     

  • Zee Yuva will be the third Marathi channel from the Zee Entertainment stable

    Zee to launch new Marathi channel for youth next month

    By A Correspondent

     

    Zee Network has announced the launch of Zee Yuva from next month. To be an exclusively youth-oriented channel in Marathi, the content of the channel, notes a communiqué will be “something that the audience of Maharashtra has never experienced before on any other channels as yet”.

     

    Said Bavesh Janavlekar (Business Head, Zee Yuva and Zee Talkies): “Zee Yuva has a very unique and differentiated proposition from the other offerings in the market. The content is distinctive and based on audience insights. The primary motive of Zee Yuva is to deliver the programmes that are light-hearted, refreshing, youthful and contemporary.”