MUMBAI: After consolidating its position among the youth entertainment channels, UTV Bindass, the UTV Global Broadcasting (UGBL) channel, is now gearing up to monetize its position.

“All our efforts are paying in the expansion of the brand and we are seeing a significant jump in the revenues this year,” says UTV Bindass business head Nikhil Gandhi.

Bindass fights in a market which is too cluttered with youth and music channels including MTV, Channel [V], Mastiii, and 9XM.

So far, MTV gets the lion’s share of the revenue in the genre. So will Bindass come closer to MTV?

Answers Gandhi, “We will end the fiscal very close to our nearest competitor.”

Bindass was launched in September 2007, touted as the first 360 degree entertainment brand for Indian youth. Bindass adopted the brand values of youth - fun, frank, and fearless – and built it as a platform to cath its target audience using TV, movies, web, mobile, ground and campus activities.

“We have grown to become the number one channel in the genre, because we understood the need of the youth. It is a result of extensive research and planning,” claims Gandhi.

Gandhi is also pinning hopes on the upcoming shows, which the channel will launch in the coming six months, to take its share further.

“The next four months are very important for us. You will see new format shows, one reality show in dating space, one more relationship based. We will also launch a action reality show and a youth-based fiction show in the fourth quarter of the fiscal,” Gandhi adds.

Further, the channel is also looking at advertiser funded programming (AFP) as a major revenue stream. “We have set up a special team, which will take care of the AFPs. We are taking this very seriously,” Gandhi said.

Interestingly, 15 per cent of MTV’s revenue comes from Viacom Brand Solutions (client lead stuff, events and advertiser funded programming). The channel has done some AFP shows like Pulsar MTV Stunt Mania, and MTV Force India The Fast and The Gorgeous.