Vice Media has launched in India with the aim of reaching the Indian youth population through a partnership with Times of India Group.
Vice India will bring content to everyone in India, primarily in Hindi and English. Vice will be producing and distributing local programming for digital, mobile and linear platforms. Vice India has further introduced all of its digital brands under the Vice.com banner and will leverage the Times of India portfolio.
Vice India’s local content will span across topics like food, music, politics, sports, sex, identity, nightlife, arts, and comedy.
As part of it operations, It has opened new offices in Mumbai and Delhi including a local offering of Virtue Worldwide, Vice’s in-house creative agency, and a full-service content production studio, Vice Studio, producing local news, culture, documentary, film and scripted content for television, SVOD, OTT and digital platforms.
Vice has also partnered with PepsiCo brand Mountain Dew to explore the journey of Arjun Vajpai as he attempts to climb Mt. Kangchenjunga. It also announce a partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev and Facebook, to bring Vice’s content to viewers in the region through original local production and reporting, and licensing.
It has also assembled a team of 40 journalists, editors, producers and creatives in India to focus on content production, editorial, creative services and content distribution.
Saurabh Doshi, head of 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.”
Hosi Simon, chief executive officer (CEO) of Vice APAC 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 are looking beyond urban India, into the regional emerging, aspirational, and highly curious youth population, which we believe will own the future of the country very soon. 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.”
Rishi Jaitly, CEO of Times Bridge, the investing arm of The Times Group said: "In Vice, we're proud to work with an inspired, ambitious partner that aspires to engage and immerse across India. We're looking forward to Vice India becoming the country's leading youth media company, engaging and delighting millennial and Gen Z audiences across the subcontinent."
Vice India last month announced the appointment of Chanpreet Arora as chief executive officer and Samira Kanwar as head of content.