To answer your question on what makes 9XM special… I think there are some very simple things here. The first is that the channel plays only the biggest and best Bollywood songs, and it only plays complete songs. We do not believe in playing 30- or 60 second promo songs as content. Importantly, 9XM plays only play the biggest hits, and no private songs or songs from unsuccessful films. Equally important is the fact that 9XM plays only the latest film songs -- for example, songs from films older than 2002-03 come under the label "Retro gaana". The bigness and the freshness of the songs adds to the overall appeal.

Q.2 You don't have any VJs on 9XM. Why?

a.2 I believe VJs are boring and very conventional. They normally don't speak any sense but become speedbreakers in the pure enjoyment of musical entertainment. If you are presenting a music channel, then you must concentrate on the music , not on boring wanna-be people around the music. What can be bigger and better than Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Hrithik Roshan, Bipasha Basu, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and other big stars singing and dancing in the biggest Bollywood hits? Who needs VJs to come and speak some senseless things that take away the focus from the music on to their inane talk? So we decided there would be no VJs but beautifully packaged chart topping music videos.

Q.3 So you replaced the VJs with animated characters…

a. 3 Yes, the 9XM dudes! They are one of the highlights of 9XM. Since we were convinced we would not have any VJs, we decided to create some very 'cool' animated characters, and they have become very popular today.

These characters personify the attitudes and needs and desires of the youth for whom we created 9XM in the first place. The characters appear during film songs being played, and also in between songs. And they always carry the irreverence and the fun spirit in the trademark style of the youth of today.

The animated characters of Bakwaas Band Kar (Chote and Bade, who live in a dried up road-side fire hydrant) with their tongue-in-cheek humour and the kind of PJs that the youth of today chuckles to -- are very popular.

Then there is Bheegi Billi, the often melancholic guitar-playing youngster who fancies himself as a rocker but, like most youth in schools today, is faced with huge problems like lack of both, pocket money and girlfriends, and about not being the best sportsman or scholar of the school, or not being the most popular guy too. So he sings his woes, which are similar to the problems of most youth today. That gives us a huge connect with the core Target Audience.

We also have the Beetel Nuts – a group of four young musicians who hail from Lucknow and are immersed in sher-o-shaayari. There is also the hardworking banner-waving worm called Mac, with his jokes about everyone on screen (‘Iski to Aish hai, for Abhishek Bachchan', for example), and the shark that menaces every creature on screen… these and more are the animated characters that have created music channel history by propelling 9XM to the top spot by miles, making it the Number One Music Entertainment Channel in India.

Q. 4 But you have never advertised of marketed the channel. No hoardings, nothing. Why?

A. 4 That was part of our strategy. The channel was made for youth, but the youth don't like to be told what to do, what to watch, what to consume -- they make their own decisions. So we decided: there would be no marketing of 9XM; we would let the target audience discover and try the channel for themselves. They did, and they have remained and grown with 9XM… because the product spoke for itself. We clearly did not forget the ‘M' (which stands for music) in our, logo and have stuck to playing only music -- unlike a lot of other music channels who are airing reality shows, VJ hunts, chat shows, lifestyle -- in fact, everything but enough music. The viewers wanted only good music -- which they got on 9XM, which is India 's first and only 'music' channel in the real sense.

Q. 5 So what have the ratings been like? How popular is 9XM today?

A. 5 It is the world's biggest Bollywood Music Channel, and is the Number One amongst Music and Youth channels in India . In terms of GRP percentage, 9XM is almost 300% ahead of its closest contender – MTV. In the second week of its launch, 9XM overtook MTV and Channel [V]. What 9XM did to MTV in just its first two weeks in India , the other so-called music channels had been struggling in vain to do over the past six years. In the C&S 4 yrs+ group MTV gets around 11 to 13 GRPs, while 9XM gets 45 to 50 GRPs. In the C&S 15–25 yrs age group, MTV garners around 18 to 20 GPRs whereas 9XM is usually at 70 GRPs.

9XM is the most viewed channel across all dayparts.

9XM has also increased the share of the Music genre in terms of GRPs. In C&S 15-24 yrs group, the music genre was at 72 GRPs in 2007, while in 2008 it grew to 113 GRPs. In C&S 4yrs+, the music genre was at 47 GRPs in 2007, while in 2008 it at 71 GRPs.

Also, if you see the overall share of television channels, then 9XM holds the 12th rank amongst all channels on an average for the last eight weeks in CS 15-24 yrs.

In fact, 9XM has filled a void in the music television space. It has created a distinctive new space in music and entertainment that targets the needs and attitudes of youth, and not just the demographics. The channel is being watched not only at home, but in canteens, colleges, bars, shopping malls, gyms, coffee bars and eateries. We've even seen it being played in streets outside McDonald's restaurants in Mumbai.

Q. 6 Going forward, how do you plan to retain your lead and grow further?

A. 6 Well, I was asked this question in the week when 9XM overtook its competitors and then again after three months, then after six months and now after 9XM has completed one year and has been leading the competition consistently, unchallenged. I think 9XM has to be constantly evolving. The best and latest Bollywood songs aired on 9XM helps the viewers to unwind. We do not tell our viewers what time to tune-in -- whenever the viewers come on 9XM they are treated to the best and biggest Bollywood songs.

Going forward, we plan to launch four more music channels under the 9XM umbrella. Thanks to its entertaining and extremely innovative content, 9XM quickly raced on to become not just India 's but the World's Biggest Bollywood Music Channel. And the success continues.