MUMBAI: MTV plans exponentially to expand its audience base with Unplugged Season 2 .

"Our core audience is urban- living in the one million plus cities and towns. But with the internet, it has expanded to smaller centres through trickle-down effect. Our viewership level is between 35-45 million, we want it to touch 50 million with Unplugged Season 2,” MTV India EVP and business head Aditya Swamy said.

The 10- episode show will have artistes like AR Rahman, Lucky Ali, Sunidhi Chauhan, rock band Agnee, Ash King,  Shafqat Ali, Indus Creed and new artists going acoustic to grab eyeballs.

Rahman who makes his television debut with the show  will perform on a number of his film hits as well as deep cuts and lesser-known works .

“As a composer, MTV Unplugged is my first tentative step into singing. When I produce music for a movie, I work under certain constrains but after (show producer) Ranjit Barot put up a band for the show it gave me confidence. I don’t know how we could pull this one off as I’m doing multiple jobs. The band was great and I was also introduced to a couple of new young artists including a school choir. This is probably a new beginning,” he said.

He said that although he had a huge catalogue of film songs, his solo work was not extensive. His live acoustic performance episode will not only have his well-known hits but also lesser known tracks that he is fond of. He will also render a classical song not composed by him.

“I will focus on my solo work and the songs I want to do. The music will be light and not heavy. I am proud to be a composer and music has given me everything but it’s time to expand horizons and bring something new,” he said.

To ensure a significant audience for the show, MTV has undertaken a multi- pronged marketing and promotional campaign. In addition to whisky brand ‘Royal Stag’ as main sponsor, it has also roped in other brands like HTC, Tissot and Vodafone as co-sponsors.

“Our sponsorship is different in the sense that our spot sales are different from sponsorship. Our spot sales account for one third of revenues compared to two-thirds which come from sponsors. We have also tied up with all the major music labels-Sony and Universal- for physical sales of MTV Unplugged Season 2,”  he said.

The channel has also roped in Fever FM to simulcast the Unplugged shows. The radio station will also select winners who can attend the performances. MTV's sister channel Colors will also telecast the show.

On the digital front, the channel has tied up with major players including Nokia, iTunes and Napster for online sales of the music. The music channel currently has five million viewers on YouTube and more than 3, 00,000 fans on social networking site on Facebook.

The show will kick off with Rahman's episode on 3 November at 8 pm.