TV9: 9 years of progressive, insightful vibrant TV channel

TV9 rewards viewers by bringing endless exciting content to its young viewers in conjunction with its 9^th anniversary.  Sherina Nordin, group general manager of TV3 and TV9, shares more on the evolving demands of TV audiences and what the channel has done to meet them.

A+M: What has the journey been like and what were some of the key milestones during the past nine years?

We are consistently the number one station among the youth and kids segment, being top-of-mind among our target market. We have successfully positioned the station as champions of all things youth such associations with the music industry (collaboration with Hujan and Aizat), partnerships with local indiepreneurs (crossover promotions with famous youth brands such as Tarik Jeans and Attack Apparel) and the launch of a slot which identifies and promotes budding talents on screen and off screen. Some of these initiatives are 9X Shorties for budding filmmakers; 9X Mixtape – music video grants for budding producers and other. We also launched some new faces such as Hanis Zalikha (blogger), Wak Doyok (social media icon), Aisya Hasnaa (now actress), Myo (rock star), Mawar Rashid (Keeker and social media icon) and Hanie Hidayah (blogger).

At TV9 we bridging the legendary local rock acts with the new rock breed through a special collaboration with DiGi called GIG, where five bands battled and performed their best tunes to more than 10,000 fans on two mega stages. The Gig Triple Play featured Hujan, Bunkface and Nidji, and incorporated a unique digital campaign that drove fans to determine the concert’s playlist via online voting on websites and social media platforms. (The tickets were so exclusive fans sold them at RM200).

Our coffering also received a facelift throughout the years where TV9 constantly developed ideas which created new standards and benchmarks. Some of them included an ultimate band competition, VERSUS, which garnered more than one billion impressions in the social media space and brought together 1,500 fans weekly. VERSUS revived the local band scene and boosted the bands’ career post-season.

We also created two new project bands – Go Gerila! and Manifesto – which continue to make their mark within the local indie scene and internationally. Chatter on #VersusMY continues on the social media space to date.

Amongst our other highlights are that Idola Kecil produces the best kids vocals year-on-year and kicked off many young careers such as Harris Alif, Afieq, Azzam Sham, Danial Chuer (they are also used as talents on our competitors’ platforms). Raudhah redefines content presentation for young modern Muslims through its platform offerings, for example, Hijab Stailista, Safiyya and SIS. Ke Korea Ke Kita?, a travelogue game show, trended on social media before its official launch. The brand was leveraged upon by fans to create business opportunities through sales of merchandise. We also actively offer content for kids through The home of kids with the launch of Nickelodeon belt in 2006 and the Bananana! Kids brand in 2011 with big activations such as School Attack and Hari Kantin.

A+M: How is TV9 planning to mark its ninth anniversary?

In honour of the celebration, we collaborated with United International Pictures (UIP), a joint venture of Paramount Pictures, to air the final chapter of the Fast & Furious film series, Fast & Furious 7. This is part of Media Prima’s larger strategy to incorporate both international and local channel offerings and bring the best of Hollywood to Malaysia with exclusive licensing deals with major Hollywood studios.

As part of it, TV9 also sent two lucky winners to attend the worldwide premiere in Los Angeles on 2 April. Other than that, the channel has also unveiled a new on-air packaging and look and feel and introduced its new 8.30pm line-up with the best of drama, comedy, sports and entertainment which will cater to everyone across all age groups.

A+M: What is the USP of TV9? How does it differentiate itself from competitors?

TV9 aims to provide platforms for rising stars/trendsetters, for example, VERSUS, Idola Kecil, Ke Korea Ke Kita?, Mad Markets and Jetlag. It aims to do so by transforming reality show talents into household names such as Idola Kecil (Azzam, Harris, Afieq and Danial) which is now popular through their first ever drama series Destinasi G4. Other than that, Shorties, a half-hour slot on TV9, provides a platform to budding and unknown filmmakers to showcase their talent via short dramas.

In its comedy offerings, in 2014 Homestay Berhantu garnered an average of 1.5 million viewers and peaked at two million, a record high for Skrin di 9. The success of TV9’s comedy offerings was further proven when Joyah dah Goyah won five awards at the recent Anugerah Lawak Warna. The launch of #KELAKARAMA this year further strengthened our comedy block with DIVA and Projek MEJA.

In sport, we were able to address the gap in male-skewed content on TV9 with the AFF Suzuki Cup – being one of the most successful brands on the station. The series broke the record with 2.6 million viewers for the final and with average ratings of two million viewers throughout the tournament. Among other successful brands which have satisfied our consumers taste for sport include the Asian Games and the AFC Cup.

A+M: How is TV9 innovating to meet the requirements of advertising in the digital age?

Advertisers are now looking at an integrated marketing approach to expand the exposure beyond traditional mediums. Towards that end, we are integrating social media activations to promote our programmes in order to reach out to the right target group.

Lari: Misi Mr. X, which is a game show premiering in April 2015, is a good example where we will be working closely with the client (Revive isotonic drink) to find fans among the viewers via a social media campaign to be part of the game show.

A+M: In your view, what will media owners need to do to make their businesses future-proof? How is TV9 doing that?

Media owners will have to always deliver a great customer experience, be it on-air, on-ground or online, and which is current and in-line with what the viewers want and what is trending in the market.

A+M: Going forward, what are the next steps for TV9’s growth in the market?

TV9 will be expanding its strategy to offer a wider range of comedy as well as sports content in 2015 since that content has shown potential growth and traction with the current audience and new viewers in the previous year.