Maxima Media Group on Saturday, inaugurated its new TV, the Views Channel, to capture the interest of youths on digital platforms and television in one space.

Mr Femi Ogundoro, Managing Director of the group, said at the inauguration of the project in Ikeja, Lagos that youths were a large productive but misunderstood segment of the society.

According to him, their passion needs expression space.

Ogundoro said that his vision for the project began in 2009 with view to filling a vacuum in the music industry.

He said a recent YouTube survey revealed youth’s interest in politics, fashion and other areas.

“We thank God that today, we are birthing this channel. We want to give young people a channel to express their passion, irrespective of their discipline,’’ he said.

He told newsmen that traditional TV did not give enough space for youth’s expression, adding that this facilitated the creation of Views Channel to give youths opportunity to freely express their views, incurring no cost.

“The only platform we are trying to do now is to bridge the gap between TV and digital such that young people can express themselves. Passion can be anything; it can be music, business, fashion or whatever.

“Our target audience is strictly 16 to 35 youths who dominate the population. About 60 per cent of them actually constitute our population, they should be given a voice.’’

Ogundoro further said that the Maxima Media Group was challenged by the status quo of providing content and still paying TV stations to air its programmes by starting the Views Channel on Start Times.

Meanwhile, some of the participants at the launch eulogised the power of the youths who they said accounted for the highest influencing population in Nigeria.

Mr Yinka Adebato, Executive Director, Media Reach said that the setting up of the Views Channel was timely and stressed the need for repackaging and retooling of its brands to enable it remain relevant.

“We cannot afford to let our age be our cage. I don’t think any brand wants to age,’’ he said.

Another participant, Mr Tunde Adelusi, who said that youths were usually suppressed and labelled as rebellious, stressed the need for society to listen to them.

“The loud silence we see in our youths has been given a voice. There is a need for this generation to learn new things, to become experts not artisans,’’ he said.

(NAN)