Youth media brand Vice Media has officially commenced its operations in India in partnership with Times of India Group. Vice India will bring locally relevant content to hundreds of millions in primarily, Hindi and English.
Vice is producing and distributing local programming for digital, mobile and linear platforms. Vice India has introduced all of its digital brands under the Vice.com banner, premiering a significant late night prime time television block across the Times of India portfolio – bringing the best of Viceland’s award-winning content to a mass market.
According to an official statement, its local content programming will span conversations across topics like food, music, politics, sports, sex, identity, nightlife, arts, and comedy.
Vice India has struck a supplementary deal with Facebook. It says it expects to announce additional partnerships in the coming months, and that “these will bring Vice’s content to millions of new viewers in the region through original local production and reporting, and licensing.”
Speaking on the launch Saurabh Doshi, Head – Entertainment Partnerships, Asia-Pacific at Facebook said – “Large number of people on Facebook in India are young. We are happy to see Vice Media launch in India and excited about the opportunity that people will get to see content that will be relevant, high quality and something which will encourage meaningful conversations.”
Virtue Worldwide, the creative agency born out of Vice, has already entered into major brand partnerships that will provide creative services throughout India. These include Mountain Dew (PepsiCo) and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
On the heels of its global association, VICE India, in partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, will be working together to create, curate and distribute culture-centric content to augment the reach of the latter’s portfolio brands like Budweiser in the country.
Hosi Simon, CEO of VICE APAC who was in the country to launch the brand said – “Everything we do, our aim is to reach the aspirational mass audience which is about to make their voices heard loudly in India. We hope to create ground-breaking content and play a significant role in creating and giving a voice to the youth of India, and helping to bring their stories and creativity to all parts of India, and to the rest of the world.”
New offices in Mumbai and Delhi will host full-scale VICE operations.
