MAM
MTV goes beyond television from 17 October
MUMBAI: It’s “Beyond music! Beyond television!” for MTV as it rebrands from 17 October. Shedding the “Music Television” tagline that has been labelling its logo since 1981, the channel completes the repositioning exercise it started two years back. Fitting into this format, the channel will launch four new shows – one each for the television, mobile, web and voice portal. The repositioning is in line with what has happened in the US where the broadcaster has been making conscious efforts to gradually move away from just music. “This does not mean that we are running away from music. We were born of music, inspired by music, driven by music. However, we are not limited by music. Dropping the words ‘Music Television’ from under our logo is a big symbolic statement and finally closes the loop on the repositioning exercise MTV kicked off two years back. The letter M stands for many things including movies, masti, music and magic,” avers Patil. On the mobile play MTV will introduce MTV Rant (Raving About Nothing Today), which offers opinions on raging issues. Mixing action and animation, the show will “look to go beyond music, television and also beyond issues to ramble about nothing and everything”.
MTV will don a new black and white logo, cut down its music content to 25 per cent, tailor content for online and mobile platforms and dress up the channel with more reality shows.
Says MTV India GM Ashish Patil, “MTV has always been at the cusp of change and we feel that this is the right time for the next step of our evolution.
Indiantelevision.com had first reported that MTV would shrink its core music content to 25 per cent by the year end as part of its repositioning strategy.
The new on-air graphics environment is made for the youth with elements and expressions unique to their world. This will include scrolls, buffering of videos like what is experienced on Youtube, RSS feeds, pop ups, scraps and comments.
For television, MTV will kick off Nuon MTV Making The Cut from 17 October at 6 pm. The eight-episode reality series on fashion will air on Saturdays. The judges include Lara Dutta, Neha Dhupia, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Madhur Bhandarkar.
For the online platform, the broadcaster will air MTV What the Hack, for which it has roped in Ankit Fadia, an ethical hacker.
On its voice portal 5056882, MTV VJs will start giving acting classes on different emotions. The show is titled MTV Acting Classes.
Says Patil, “Our aim is to be platform agnostic. We already have 600,000 fans on the digital space including 350,000 on Orkut.”
To build up the hype and awareness level of its re-branding, MTV has tied up with upcoming film All The Best which releases this Friday. The channel is also running a contest wherein ads featuring the stars will air on the channel.
MAM
Lego brings Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappé, Vinicius together
Campaign clocks 314 million views ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026 buzz.
MUMBAI: Four legends, one frame and not a single tackle in sight. Lego has pulled off a crossover few thought possible, uniting Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior in a single campaign ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 only this time, they’re building dreams brick by brick.
Titled “Everyone wants a piece”, the campaign features the quartet assembling a Lego version of the World Cup trophy, before placing miniature versions of themselves atop it, a playful nod to football’s ultimate prize. Shared widely across social media, the ad carries a pointed disclaimer: it is not AI-generated, a subtle but telling signal in an era where even reality is often questioned.
The numbers tell their own story. The campaign has already crossed 314 million views on Instagram across the players’ accounts, with fans hailing it as a rare, almost nostalgic moment particularly for the reunion of Messi and Ronaldo, whose last shared campaign ahead of the 2022 World Cup became one of the platform’s most-liked posts.
Beyond the film, Lego is extending the play with exclusive, player-themed sets tied to each of the four stars, part of a broader football-led programme designed to ride the global momentum building towards 2026. The idea, as echoed by the players themselves, leans into the parallels between football and play experimentation, creativity, failure, and triumph.
Messi described the sets as a way to bring on-pitch moments into an imaginative, hands-on world, while Ronaldo called the transformation into a Lego figure a rare honour, blending sport with storytelling. Vinícius, meanwhile, struck a more personal note, recalling childhood moments of building with Lego and framing creativity as a universal language that transcends borders.
The timing is no accident. With the 2026 World Cup set to run from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada and Mexico, and featuring an expanded 48-team format, global anticipation is already building. Argentina, led by Messi, will enter as defending champions, adding another layer of intrigue.
For Lego, the campaign does more than celebrate football, it taps into its mythology. Because when icons become figurines and rivalries turn into play, the beautiful game finds a new kind of pitch. one built, quite literally, by hand.
