July 29, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): UTV group has now ventured into digital media also as the UTV New Media arm has taken up the responsibility of increasing the digital presence of Indian celebrities. It will create as well as manage the digital presence of these celebrities.

The company will team up with celebrities from sports and film industry of all over India to develop dedicated websites, mobile applications and video as well as audio blogs for them. It has already launched a website for Bollywood star John Abraham (JohnAbraham.com).

Manish Agarwal, chief executive officer of UTV New Media, said, “In association with the team of UTV, the celebrities will be able to create their content. We may have websites for each of them individually or we may create a single website, which will have group of celebrities with mass appeal”.

He added, “In the beginning, UTV New Media has teamed up with 18 celebrities, which include names like Sania Mirza, Lara Dutta, Mahesh Bhupati, Rima Sen, Riya Sen, and Celina Jaitley. We will develop audio blogs for all of them. But, we are not sure of launching individual websites for everyone”.

The UTV created digital identities of these celebrities will be different from their Twitter and Facebook presence. But, they are also planning to join Twitter and Facebook accounts of the celebrities with their websites.

“The real life of the celebrities will be more focused by UTV rather than their reel life”, Agarwal said.

The celebrities can use this digital platform to promote their movies and events. The company will also try to fetch some money by asking for advertisements and sponsorships. The media will also be used to sell celebrity merchandise.

–Sampurn Wire