Category: Kids

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company’s Princess collection received the Best License (Entertainment) award 2006, at the Hong Kong Trade Development Third Asian Licensing Awards.

Disney Princess is a comprehensive collection of girls’ entertainment and products including toys, apparels, personal care and electronic goods featuring Disney’s heroines – Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. The Princess range creates a fantasy world filled with magic, romance and dreams to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.

“The Walt Disney Company is extremely honored to receive this recognition. At Disney Consumer Products, it’s all about the product. Great products and great marketing are one and the same. Disney Princess is the fastest growing Disney Consumer Products brand in worldwide retail sales for the past two years. This award further strengthens the Disney brand and our franchise management approach,” said The Walt Disney Company (Asia Pacific) Limited vice president – Asia Pacific, emerging markets, retail sales and marketing Ken Chaplin.

Since the franchise was created in 1999, the Disney Princess range has gone on to achieve over $3 billion in retail sales globally and the Princesses enjoy popularity across the region.

“Our vision is to engage and connect to the consumers through creativity and product innovation. We look at each of our characters or sets of characters, or franchises and consider them businesses unto themselves. At their heart is creativity, creating connections and building awareness for Walt Disney as an entertainment brand for all ages,” said Chaplin.

MUMBAI: Cartoon Network and Pogo, continue to top the popularity charts among kids in the summer months. The channels claim, that according to the latest ratings of Tam (4-14 C&S, All India, 1-31 May, all days, 24 hours), Cartoon Network and Pogo, are the number one and two channels in the kids channel space with the channel share of 5.1 per cent and 4.6 per cent respectively.

Cartoon Network and Pogo form a formidable pair of kids’ channel with combined channel share of 9.7 per cent, which is 20 per cent higher than the combined channel share of all other kids’ channels.

As part of the summer programming line up, Pogo premiered the first three installments of the Harry Potter movies, – titles included Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone on 7 May, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets on 14 May and Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban on 21 May.

The movies received an average of 1.3 TVR (for all airings) for all India, in C&S 4-14, all SEC audience beating all competitive programming on other TV channels including all kids’ channels, national news channels and also channels in GEC and music genres at all India level.

On the other hand, Cartoon Network continued to entertain kids’ through the summer with shows such as Tom & Jerry tales, Tom & Jerry kids, Pokemon, Franklin, Dragon Tales, Koala Brothers, Beyblade, Richie Rich, The Popeye show and Baby Looney Tunes amongst others.

This summer the combined channel share of all kids’ channels was augmented by 27 per cent, from pre summer shares of 12.7 per cent (February to March) to summer shares of 16.1 per cent (April to May). Cartoon Network and Pogo made an individual contribution of 27 per cent and 26 per cent respectively to the development.

Turner International India vice president advertising sales and networks India and South Asia Monica Tata said. “We are pleased that we have delivered on our promise to Indian kids in bringing them the best in world-class programming across genres, including movies such as the blockbuster Harry Potter series. This repeated, over-whelming performance of both our number one and number two kids’ channel‘s – Cartoon Network and Pogo across summer, indeed, demonstrates that we truly understand the entertainment needs of Indian’s kids’ best. It is our endeavour to continually provide compelling content that is both engaging and entertaining to our loyal audience.”

MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom has announced that its channel Nick at Nite’s hidden-camera series, Hi-Jinks, returns for more laughs and pranks for kids of all ages on 11 July.

Each week features a celebrity prank segment in which famous faces use their talents to dupe unsuspecting targets, from ages 7 to 27, no one is safe. Actors Ted McGinley Hope & Faith, John Schneider Smallville, Alfonso Ribeiro Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Corbin Bernsen L.A. Law and Bo Bice American Idol are among the celebrities who have conspired with parents to prank kids.

Each half an hour episode features several pranks taking place everywhere from homes, malls and even schools across the country. Grammy Award-winner Patti Labelle, Academy Award-winner Susan Sarandon, boxing champ Evander Holyfield, NBA All-Star Chris Webber and The View‘s Meredith Vieira were among the celebrities who conspired with parents to prank kids in past episodes.

In the first episode, viewers will find out what breaks loose when John Schneider tries a hazardous stunt, Dukes-style. Also featured are pranks involving an overzealous crossing guard, an ice cream machine that goes haywire, a Panda bear that steals candy and a messy experience at a salad bar.

MUMBAI: This year, infotainment channel National Geographic (NGC), is setting its sights on connecting better with kids through an on ground initiative.

Nat Geo Junior Hunt is a quest to find India’s superkid who is curious, adventurous, articulate, energetic and smart, in short, an all rounder.

NGC has partnered with ICICI Pru Smart Kid and Lenovo for this innovative initiative, with more in the pipeline. The channel says that the endeavour aims to extend its children’s block Nat Geo Junior on-ground to provide an intelligent platform for kids to showcase their talent through a fun-filled, learning experience.

Elaborating on the initiative NGC senior VP programming Joy Bhattacharjya said, “With Nat Geo Junior Hunt we are looking for the brightest, smartest and the coolest Indian kid who likes his books as much as sports, likes to learn and discover new things, is adventurous, out-going and ready to take on challenges.

“Nat Geo’s endeavour is to stimulate the intellect of our young audiences to ‘Think again’ and encourage them to learn more about the world they live in, while enjoying the experience.”

NGC says that its kids block Nat Geo Junior which launched last year is proving to be popular amongst kids and is appreciated by both teachers as well as parents for its fun and educational format. The hunt will span across 10 cities, 380 reputed schools and will target approximately 364800 kids between 10 to 14 years of age.

NGC VP marketing Rajesh Sheshadri says, “National Geographic Channel is committed towards providing entertainment that makes our viewers think and learn more about the world they live in. In keeping with these values, Nat Geo Junior Hunt is an first of its kind, a school challenge programme that has been developed for a younger set of Nat Geo audiences.

“With Nat Geo Junior Hunt, the channel is opting for a 360 degree marketing approach which will be promoted on-air and off-air, and through an extensive media campaign.”

How the Hunt works: The selection process for the contest will begin at the school level, where kids will be shortlisted through an innovative ‘Think again‘ test. This test will incorporate questions that will examine kids’ general aptitude and logical reasoning. Post the school selection, ten city finalists will be selected based on a broader spectrum of rounds like games, puzzles, debates and think out of the box ideas.

These city finalists will be run through a grueling set of tests in the setting of an adventure camp and only four out of these ten city finalists will make it to the national finals. The lucky four will be groomed before they host their own show on Nat Geo Junior. The winner will be decided by a panel of judges.

The channel will open a fund for the winner for his/her future studies. In addition, the Nat Geo Junior will get a chance to host Nat Geo Junior shows on the channel for three months and will also win a bouquet of prizes from the partners of the hunt.

This renewed synergy between the channel, viewer and advertiser through Nat Geo Junior Hunt will give the channel the opportunity to engage viewers more strongly and drive longer-term relationships and extended associations with key advertisers.

NEW DELHI: Not content with ruling the kids‘ space in India via satellite, Cartoon Network now wants a slice of terrestrial viewership too.

On Monday, it announced a new one-hour programming block, Cartoon Network Duniya, on Doordarshan National.

Starting 8 July, the new block will air every Saturday from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. and will feature two of Turner‘s most popular and successful original productions, M.A.D. (Music, Art and Dance) and Codename: Kids Next Door.

Cartoon Network Duniya will also showcase other popular series, including Turner‘s most awaited original production, Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian version of globally renowned pre-school series, Sesame Street.

“Doordarshan‘s extensive reach across India will enable kids in non-C&S homes to enjoy Turner‘s engaging original production that has so far been limited to C&S homes. In the preliminary stage, the highly rated M.A.D. and popular animation series, Codename: Kids Next Door will serve as the perfect introduction to new viewers,” an official statement quoted Turner International India MD Anshuman Misra as saying yesterday.

Misra added that later in the year Galli Galli Sim Sim will further enhance the appeal by showcasing content that is both educational and entertaining in nature.

M.A.D. is an off-the-wall, interactive journey for 8-12 years olds and their families and is filled with fun tabletop ‘makes‘, dynamic performances, a bit of humour and some art stunts.

Galli Galli Sim Sim is an initiative undertaken by globally recognised, Sesame Workshop and Indian kids‘ entertainment leader, Turner India.

The show is aimed at serving the 157 million children under the age of six in India and is committed to supporting India‘s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or universal access to education.