Tag: Cartoon Network

Kids channels fight to protect turf, Cartoon Network rules South

Kids TV is poised for expansion in India with Reliance ADAG‘s Big Broadcasting set to debut this fiscal.

Anticipating an increase in competition, the existing broadcasters in the kids‘ segment – Disney, Turner and Viacom 18 – have left no stone unturned to woo their loyal audiences.

Indiantelevision.com takes a look at what kept the kids channels busy in the first half of 2008.

With six players fighting it out, there has been no major change in the ratings ladder. Hungama continues to lead in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM) while Cartoon Network stays second, according to Tam data (C&S 4-14 years).

The southern region, however, has seen a change with Cartoon Network ousting Chutti TV to take the leadership slot.

HUNGAMA CONTINUES TO RULE

Hungama TV leads the pack with an average channel share of 28 per cent. This is followed by Cartoon Network, capturing a 23.3 share.

Channel	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Hungama TV	25	29	29	30	27	28
Cartoon Network	25	27	23	20	24	21
Nickelodeon	19	17	17	17	19	21
Pogo	17	14	18	19	18	19
Disney Channel	9	8	8	9	7	7
Jetix	6	6	5	4	5	4
Source: TAM Peoplemeter System Mkt: HSM TG: CS 4-14 YRS Period: 1st Jan to 30th June ‘08

Hungama TV has held on to its leadership status with the help of its ‘mad positioning‘ and ‘fun programming‘. The channel did not change its popular content much and mixed it with innovative ideas such as a search for ‘Sabse Bada Pyjama‘, to engage children.

Doraemon and Shin Chan remained popular programmes on Hungama TV. During the on ground activation to promote the search of ‘Sabse Bada Pyjama‘, the two favourite characters toured the key cities across India to urge participation from kids.

Cartoon Network, the oldest channel in the genre, maintained its second position. It displayed an impressive lineup of movies as a part its summer programming, but its channel share dipped in April and June (See table).

Pogo, the sister channel from Turner, has seen a dip in February. However, it recovered quickly and ended the first six months of the year with an average channel share of 17.5 per cent.

“In the summer period (mid-April to mid-June), Cartoon Network and Pogo‘s combined shares grew by 14 per cent (from 6 to 6.9 in absolute terms),” says Turner International India vice president and entertainment networks South Asia deputy general manager Monica Tata.

Turner has long gone the localisation route and tied up with local production houses to churn out Indian shows like CIA, MAD, Sunaina and movies on weekend. It has also acquired a bunch of local Indian animated movies to air on both its channels. The titles include Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gulliver‘s Travels and action-packed Trouble in Tokyo, as well as Ninja Turtles III and Bal Ganesh.

“As far as ratings are concerned, we have always played fair and looked at long-term ratings rather than just a few weeks. Therefore, if you look at our overall performance through the year, it has been positive and we have been number one and number two channels right from January-June 2008, all India, all SECs, 4-14. Cartoon Network and Pogo‘s combined shares in 1 Jan 1 – 30 Jun 2008 stood at 43 per cent in All India;41 per cent in HSM and 48 per cent in South India,” explains Tata.

Nick, which has grown consistently since the last one year, has settled with the third spot. The channel‘s average share in the HSM is 18.3 per cent, benefitting from its “Indianised” marketing initiatives.

“Our shows are extremely filtered and suitable for kids and family watching. Children can connect to the characters readily. Importantly, we carry out monthly initiatives. Even during exams we had ‘Exam Popat‘ which has kept the TG engaged to our channel,” says Nick India VP and GM Nina Elavia Jaipuria.

‘Kaun Banega Valentoon‘, ‘April Fool is School‘, ‘Mother‘s day‘, ‘Masti Ki Pathshala‘ and ‘Nick Fundoo Superstar with Mandira Bedi and Saroj Khan‘ are some of the initiatives that Nick undertook in these six months.

Movies like Stuart Little and Dinotopia augmented the growth.

Kids viewing seems to have been marginally affected during the period when the IPL (Indian Premier League) matches were being telecast live. “IPL must have affected us marginally but not as much as the examinations have done,” says Jaipuria.

Voicing similar sentiments, Tata says, “Cartoon Network and Pogo witnessed a 10 per cent growth during the IPL.”

The next two players in the performance chart are Disney and Jetix. While the former stands at an average channel share of 8 per cent, the later has managed a share of 5 per cent.

CATOON NETWORK BECOMES NUMBER ONE IN SOUTH

The story in the Southern market, however, looks drastically different from what it was in 2007.

Channel	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Cartoon Network	23	27	26	23	30	32
Jetix	26	26	24	26	24	25
Pogo	20	20	22	24	22	22
Chutti TV	25	20	21	18	17	13
Nickelodeon	3	3	2	3	2	3
Hungama TV	2	3	3	3	3	3
Disney Channel	2	2	2	3	2	2
Source: TAM Peoplemeter System Mkt: South Mkt TG: CS 4-14 YRS Period: 1st Jan to 30th June ‘08

Chutti TV has dropped its share every month, ending with an average of 19 per cent in the first half of this year, down from 25.83 per cent in the year-ago period.

Surpassing everyone, Cartoon Network has gone ahead to claim the numero uno position with an average channel share of 26.84 per cent.

In the critical southern market, language plays an important role. Local feed of the channel in Tamil and Telugu has helped Cartoon Network to grow phenomenally.

“We are specifically catering to the southern markets with Tamil and Telugu language feeds and the active viewing day-part of Cartoon Network is already available in these two languages, apart from English in the other two Southern states. This has helped us build strong bonds with kids in South India and provides us with an opportunity to showcase their favourite programming in their preferred language,” explains Tata.

Cartoon Network‘s sister channel Pogo has also remained consistent throughout these xmonths. Its average market share stands at 21.6 per cent.

“Of the top 100 transmissions for the first half of the year 2008, 73 have been from Cartoon Network and 4 from Pogo. Our top shows and characters include Tom & Jerry Cat and Mouse Full House, Ben 10 and from POGO the movie Krrish, Chhota Bheem and Mr Bean,” says Tata.

Chutti TV, which ruled the market ever since its launch in April 2007, has declined to the fourth spot.

Explains Chutti TV business head Kavitha Zubin, “We are still experimenting with shows. We will soon secure our position in the top slot.”

The channel is banking on shows like Gloria‘s House, Me and Mow. It has also acquired movie titles from Southern Star, Sony Pictures which will be aired soon.

“None of our shows are action-based. They are all educational and apt for family viewing. We have a variety of shows like puppets, 2D, 3D and clay cartoons and these are all educational and for family viewing,” says Zubin.

Meanwhile Jetix, the action channel from Disney, has stayed consistent throughout the six-month period with an average channel share of 25.1 per cent.

The channel, which also runs its feed in Telugu and Tamil, remained unmoved from the second spot.

Perhaps, language disconnect is the reason why Nick, Disney Channel and Hungama TV feature in the bottom three.

“We definitely have plans for the southern market but we first want to consolidate our position in HSM,” says Jaipuria.

August 16, 2008

Rahul Shaw is INX News SVP ad sales

MUMBAI: Rahul Shaw has joined INX News as senior vice president ad sales. Based in Delhi, he will be reporting directly to INX News COO Vynsley Fernandes.

In his new post, Shaw will be responsible for driving the revenue function of English news channel NewsX and the other upcoming channels from INX News.

Shaw was earlier with NDTV Imagine where he was working as senior VP ad sales.

Commenting on the appointment, Fernandes said: “Rahul has a wide experience of handling advertising sales across several genres in print and television. He has proven expertise of driving revenue growth in start ups as well as building and leading strong sales teams. We are delighted to have him on board.”

Prior to NDTV Imagine, Shaw was in Star India where he held various roles in the sales function. Shaw also had a stint in Set India, where he was managing revenue for their English language channels.

Shaw started his career with Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. and later moved to Turner International where he handled HBO, Cartoon Network and CNN before joining Set India.

July 15, 2008

Kids channels eye summer for growth

Summer brings excitement for kids as well as kids broadcasters as the genre sees high growth during this vacation period.

Sample this: last year after the launch of the summer line-up, the relative market share of the kids genre stood at 7.2 per cent (C&S, 4+, week ended 28 April, 2007), up from 6.9 per cent (C&S, 4+, week ended 21 April, 2007 after the summer programming was unveiled) as per Television audience measurement (Tam) data.

This year too, the genre has increased from a relative share of 5.3 per cent (C&S, 4+, week ended 12 April, 2008) to 5.6 per cent (C&S, 4+, week ended 19 April, 2008) soon after the summer special programming was introduced.

This clearly indicates an increased viewership and an ad sales growth over the three-month period (April- June). It is the sunshine period for the kids channels, when each one of them court their viewers with different customised offerings to have a bigger bite in the viewership pie.

With several means of interactive contests, consumer products and on ground promotions, the channels put out their best properties to create each day as Sunday.

Turner’s two channels – Cartoon Network and Pogo – aim to further improve their leadership position this summer by banking on movies.

Krrish, Chota Bheem, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Gulliver’s Travels, action-packed Trouble in Tokyo, Ninja Turtles III and Bal Ganesh are some of the titles that the channel is showing during the summer holidays. The network’s belief: movies will bring sticky viewers.

Disney is also betting high on movies and contests for the three channels – Hungama TV, Disney channel and Jetix.

Disney Channel will premiere two popular sequels of the original Movie – Cheetah Girls, High School Musical andMinutemen with a promise to keep the audience entertained during the vacation.

Going by the interactivity mantra, both Hungama TV and Disney channel have announced contests on their respective channels. Hungama is back with the famous ‘Pyjama contest’ whereas Disney wants kids to catch the ‘Prof Silensor’.

As the mercury rises, Disney Channel will kick off with an interactive dance segment titled ‘Nach To The Groove’. Kids can learn dance moves from Shiamak Davar. The channel will also throw open an on-air contest called ‘Disney Channel’s Summer Dance Off’ which invites kids and the tweens to step up and boogie with the latest dance and music.

Nick, the fastest growing channel in the category, is not behind either. It has decided to take the kids on the dance floor through ‘Nick Fundoo Superstar’.

But Nick has taken a different route by avoiding any kind of auditions. Kids, instead, have to answer simple questions and the lucky four get to dance in a music video with Mandira Bedi. The music video will be choreographed by Saroj Khan.

“We believe that all kids are equal to us and we don’t want to judge them on their performance. Hence we choose a simple way of just asking them to watch Nick,” says Nick India VP and GM Nina Jaipuria.

This is exactly what Nick did last year: the interactive contests and the Indian connect that it established with the kids fuelled its growth.

Hungama has introduced new seasons for their best properties like Doraemon andKiteretsu. So has Nick with Ninja Hottoriand Perman.

Stuart Little and Bingoo are some of the movies that Nick is banking on.

Down in the South Chutti TV seems to be enjoying a monopoly. The leader in the southern market, it has unveiled 15 new properties for kids. Some of them are Glorious House, Spiderman and Bumper King.

The Touch and Feel Factor

Extending the favourite animated series on TV beyond the television screen brings in extra bucks for the kids channels especially during the summer vacation.

To pull that extra amount, kids channels bring the animated characters live to the kids with customised merchandisng items. They tie up with various merchandising outlets for special items like noodles, toothpaste, deoderant, pencilbox, water-bottles and pencils.

During the summer this year, kids channels have flooded the market with unique items like Disney noodles, Tom and Jerry toothpaste and deoderants. Besides, branded toys like Spongebob and Ben 10 are in high demand among kids.

Attempting to win new eyeballs, Cartoon Network has associated itself with Zapak.com to launch an online gaming portal Zapakkids.com.The website will soon have over 40 Cartoon Network action-adventure packed online games.

Featuring iconic Cartoon Network toon stars from shows such as Johnny Bravo, Code Name Kids Next Door, Dexter’s Laboratory, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Ed, Edd N Eddy,these games have been specially created to enhance the gaming Cartoon Network experience.

Says Zapak.com COO Rohit Sharma, “Kids aged 14 years and below constitute over 25 per cent of Zapak users online. They are the stickiest and the most loyal users on our site, which is definitely an area of focus for Zapak.”

This ‘touch and feel’ factor is increasingly becoming important for channels to have a direct connect with their target audience. Its an awe factor that the channel capitalises on by bringing the kids face to face with their favourite characters.

Ground events no doubt help channels in building reach and interaction with their target audience. It’s a medium that helps build brands, unlike passive media like print and radio.

“Getting kids face to face with their favourite characters is the ultimate that we can offer,” adds Jaipuria.

On 17 May Chutti TV will organize craft workshop for 4000 kids in Chennai.

“Last month we had organised a mega workshop for various activities. It turned out to be great with a participation from 2000 kids,” says Chutti TV head Kavitha Jubin.

Advertisers cash in

With growth in the genre, advertisers have found out a new platform to exploit their brands.

The advertisers are also taking maximum advantage with pester power and passive viewership coming into the picture.

According to media planners, there has been a shift of viewership from Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs) to movie, news and kids channels. That has brought in a whole category of non conventional advertisers. FMCGs, insurance and real estate companies, for instance, have hopped on to the kids channels.

According to Ad Ex Analysis, ad volumes of kids channels have increased tremendously from 2006 to 2007.

Monthly Ad Volumes of Kid Channels
Month	2006	2007
April	1247	1409
May	1356	2006
June	1430	1862
Source: AdEx India – A Division of TAM Media Research Figures are based on ad volumes (secondages for TV)

Are summer months crucial for brand exploitation?

Absolutely, say media planners. Perceptually as well as in reality, there is a viewership surge on kids’ channels during summer and therefore advertisers flock in to exploit their brands.

Also, parents become liberal in purchasing what the kids ask for. Kids broadcasters gain from this, boosting their ad revenues during this period.

“Our inventory for summer is already full and we have no more spots left for other brands,” adds Jubin.

The field will become more active after the advent of new players, both in terms of audiences and advertisers.

May 10, 2008

A battle to connect and speak the language

Want to woo the kids? Infuse those lifeless characters with some animation, mix of fun, action, comedy, a lot of interactivity and of course speak the local lingo. it‘s been all about that the last six months for the players in the kids channel space who were busy shuffling lead positions among themselves.

The second half of 2007 was full of activities with every channel was busy promoting their properties though ground activities. While the broadcasters were on their toes throughout, kids were not behind either to grab what was on offer.

Based on relative market shares provided by TAM (C&S 4-14) we bring to you some exciting findings in the genre which until a few years back was starved for attention and evaluate their performance over six months (July to December 2007) in HSM (Hindi speaking markets) and Southern market separately.

HUNGAMA TV OVERTAKES CARTOON NETWORK; NICKELODEON SEES GROWTH

Turner and Disney went toe-to-toe in the HSM and Viacom‘s Nick saw a consistent growth by “practically re-launching the channel”.

As things stand today, Disney, with its three channels – Hungama, Disney and Jetix – having a combined relative share of 43.5 per cent, is ahead of the two Turner kids genre siblings Cartoon Network and Pogo, which together hold 39.5 per cent.

The undisputed numero uno in the kids genre is Hungama TV, whose average relative share of 26.17 per cent is ahead of long time leader Cartoon Network‘s 23.67 per cent share. Hungama TV took over the top slot from Cartoon Network in the month of June and has consistently held on to the first position ever since then.

Channel	July	August	September	October	November	December
Hungama TV	26	24	27	25	28	27
Cartoon Network	22	23	24	25	25	23
POGO	17	16	15	17	15	15
Disney Channel	16	13	10	9	9	10
Nick	13	18	17	17	15	18
Jetix	6	5	5	7	7	7
Source: TAM Peoplemeter System TG: CS 4-14 yrs Market: HSM Period: July ‘07 to Dec ‘07 All day

Walt Disney International (India) SVP and MD Antoine Villeneuve said, “Hungama TV is all about madness. It has done well due to three reasons. Our positioning ‘Mad Fun‘ is clear, second our programming is relevant to our positioning and third, with the help of that, we have established a strong connect with our TG.”

Connection seems to be the mantra for almost all the Kids‘ channels. Well, why not? They have to woo the young and that cannot be done without interacting with them. The adopted baby of Disney, Hungama TV seems to have done it best.

The prize for most improved performance, however goes to Viacom‘s Nick, which a year ago was way behind the rest with a lowly 8 per cent share. In the second half of 2007, it‘s been a completely different story though. Nick, with an average relative share of 16.33 per cent, holds the overall third position ahead of Pogo‘s 15.83 per cent.

“Cartoon Network and Pogo have never looked at short-term measures or results, even when it was the only kids‘ channel in India. As far as ratings are concerned, we have always played it fair and looked at long-term ratings rather than just a few weeks. Therefore, if you look at our 2007 overall performance through the year, even with seven kids‘ channels in the country,Cartoon Network and Pogo continue to be #1 and #2, garnering almost 50 per cent of channel shares,” asserts Monica Tata, Turner International India vice president, advertising sales and networks, India & South Asia.

Turner infused a range of locally produced content in both its channels. “Localisation has been a critical mandate for us and Cartoon Network was the first to acquire Indian animation and to date offers the largest bouquet of Indian animation. We have acquired 16 home grown animations and all have been a huge hit with Indian kids. These include Pandavas – The Five Warriors, Sinbad – Beyond the Veil of Mists, Ramayan the Legend of Prince Ram, Alibaba & Forty Thieves, The Adventures of Tenali Raman, The Adventures of Chhota Birbal, Jungle Tales, Vikram Betaal, The four part Krishna series, Akbar-Birbal, The Legend Of Buddha, and Bal Hanuman,” adds Tata.

However Nick remains the channel of the year with a consistent growth, without a substantial dip, across 12 months. Its relative shares rose from 8 per cent in January to 18 per cent in December.

Nick India VP and GM Nina Elavia Jaipuria says, “This year we have practically relaunched the channel. We have seen a phenomenal growth in the last year. We are the fastest growing channel in the genre.”

Personal connect was important for the channel, accepts Jaipuria. “Our initiative of Nick channel Hindustani helped us in building affinity with the kids. Interactivity is very important to get closer with kids and we did that through our innovative contests like Chaddhi Baddi contest, Masti Dosti, Nick Ninja. We celebrated festivals like Raksha Bandhan in our own Nick style. We did movie marketing for Dhamaal and Hanuman Returns. Through merchandising we are presence across nine product categories.”

On being queried on the top performing properties on the channel Jaipuria says, “Nick Home Cinema, Keystone, Sponge Bob have been the channel drivers. Apart from that, the 360 degree promotions across 38 major cities in HSM has helped us to get connected with these kids.”

If interactivity is what worked wonders for Nick, then it did the same for Hungama TV as well. Hungama TV‘s nationwide ‘Captains‘ search is an example of that. These ‘Captains‘ are the board of Kid directors for the channel and every program is planned taking their inputs into consideration. The channel‘s focus is to develop properties which deliver consistently.

That was not all, Disney‘s High School Musical 2 was exploited to its maximum. There were local songs composed and a nationwide dance contest conducted to establish this ‘Connect‘. However, on the performance charts, Disney came down from 16 per cent in July to 10 per cent in December.

Jetix, the third child of Disney is still clutched in single digits in the HSM.

SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE TO CONNECT; CHUTTI RULES WHILE CARTOON NETWORK PICKS UP

Moving down South, no channel could stand the heat of Sun‘s Chutti TV. It holds position with 25.83 per cent average relative shares with Disney‘s Jetix coming in at Number 2 with a 24.17 per cent average.

Channel	July	August	September	October	November	December
Jetix	26	23	21	24	25	26
Chutti TV	23	28	29	26	24	25
Cartoon Network	21	18	19	18	22	24
POGO	20	21	22	23	20	18
Nickelodeon	4	4	3	4	4	3
Disney Channel	4	3	3	3	2	2
Hungama TV	2	2	2	2	3	3
Source: TAM Peoplemeter System TG: CS 4-14 yrs Market: South:B‘lore/Chennai/Hyderabd/AP/TN/Kerala/Karnataka Period: July ‘07 to DEC ‘07 All day

The southern TG was earlier starved for local regional content but after Chutti‘s advent others have forayed into the local regional content.

The southern data saw a continuous zig zag fight among two channels Jetix, which is still going strong, and Chutti TV which directly jumped to the relative share of 26 in December from a single 2 per cent in the month of April.

“Being a part of a large network, we understand the pulse of the market and provide the kids with a variety of programmes that not just entertains them but also educates them. Along with the kids, even parents would want to watch,” says Chutti TV channel head Kavitha Jubin.

Villeneuve avers, “The southern market is very diverse. Therefore it is important to consider the local languages. We have Jetix running in Telugu and Tamil since launch and that is driving the channel.”

Language disconnect of course explains why HSM leader Hungama TV‘s measly 3 per cent in December was the highest it has managed over the last six months.

Cartoon Network, meanwhile, has picked up gradually from a relative share of 21 in July to 24 in December whereas Pogo saw a dip from 20 per cent to 18 per cent in December.

An Interesting point of note though is that in the southern market, it was Cartoon Network that had all the top 10 shows in its kitty.

“Even the highest raters on kids‘ channels – shows that rate 2+ TVRs – have exclusively been on Cartoon Network and Pogo in 2007. We announced an array of homegrown productions in 2007 spanning 7 different genres like action animation, quiz, a detective series, a family sitcom and a science show. We work with various Indian production houses, giving Indian talent a platform to showcase their creations. Cartoon Network and Pogo offered the largest bouquet with over 150 hours of original productions in 2007 and plan to take it up to 200 hours in 2008,” Tata says.

And while the channels battle it out for bragging rights the kids, ‘they are a loving it‘.

January 19, 2008

‘2007: The Year of New Beginnings’
When I was asked to do a round up for the year gone by, only one word resonated in my mind – 2007 was the year of strong emergence for the Industry. It was a year when the media and entertainment Industry galloped ahead and consolidated its growth on many fronts such as animation, the kids’ space, licensing & merchandising, DTH and the ever increasing number of channels aggressively competing for a piece of the Indian TV pie.

Kids’ television has been the catalyst for televised animation produced in India for some time now and will be one of the key drivers. Delightedly, the Indian Animation Industry seemed to have come of age in 2007 with the badshah of Indian entertainment, Bollywood discovering the potential of animation. In fact one of the greatest challenges that Cartoon Network faced when it pioneered kids’ television entertainment in India was to elevate animation to the level of general entertainment.

Local animation talent pool is fast growing and the Industry got a further fillip with homegrown animation hits like Hanuman, Krishna movie series etc. International studios have also recognised the potential available in India and are increasingly outsourcing work, beyond the sweat shops to creative hot spots to animation studios here. In the coming years, one will surely see a huge spurt of growth in animation studios followed by an inevitable consolidation.

Similar to Indian animation, the demand for original content in 2007 actively fueled customized content creation and production especially for kids. Reading the signs of the times to come, locally produced content in India would be created for a larger audience footprint, not restricted to India, offering a significant leverage of economies of scale to kids’ TV players here, both local and international.

Acquisitions, whilst is a very critical part of this genre, but to be able to have a sustainable business model, there is an imperative need to owning Intellectual Properties. For e.g. the very successful original production on POGO – M.A.D is a classic example of how quality content that is well researched and creatively executed, is critical, as audience tastes are becoming increasingly sophisticated

Television continues to be the dominant and the first medium of choice for kids. Kids spend on an average of two hours watching TV and have relatively very low preference for other media. (To be fair, they spend about the same time playing at home or outdoors as they spent watching TV). Source: New Generations TM

So no wonder that we saw an outburst of kids’ television channels launching in the country, not very unlike what happened in the news’ television space a few years back. From a couple of channels in 1995, we now have nine kids’ channels in the country today, of which two new players joined in 2007.

On a more professional note, 2007 really spelt “leadership” for Turner India, as our clear focus of the year was to constantly innovate and continue to rule the roost with each of our brands in India: CNN, Cartoon Network & POGO and we did succeed!
- Even with seven kids’ channels in the country, Cartoon Network and Pogo continue to be #1 and #2, garnering almost 50% of channel shares in 2007! Cartoon Network and POGO accounted for 98 of the top 100 transmissions across all kids’ channels in 2007, up from 91 in 2006! Even the highest raters on kids’ channels – shows that rate 2+ TVRs – have exclusively been on Cartoon Network and POGO in 2007!
- Ad sales for India and South Asia region achieved a new height with 32% growth, of which kids’ entertainment grew by 26%, HBO by 16%, CNN by 41% and Cartoon Network Pakistan by 73%!
Our 2008 mission is to continue to blaze the trail and the lead the Industry from the front.
January 10, 2008

‘Teenage audiences are hard fish to catch’ : Orion Ross- Turner Entertainment VP creative and original content

Turner is looking to take localisation efforts for its kids channels to the next level. It has announced a slew of five locally produced shows which will air on Pogo while two will be on Cartoon Network.

Turner also wants to expand associations with more local production houses as the talent pool in India is huge.

Indiantelevision.com’s Ashwin Pinto caught up with Turner Entertainment VP creative and original content Orion Ross to find out more about Turner’s plans in India.

Excerpts:

The aim this year is to take local efforts to the next level. How is this being done?
We are building on the successes that we have had over the past few years. We are trying to do more shows. We started in 2004 with 50 hours of original production on Pogo. We have built it steadily every year. Today we have reached critical mass where we are able to announce the launch of seven shows. This is an exciting milestone for us as what was a trickle earlier turned into a stream and then a flood.

What is the ratio between international and locally produced content that you are looking at?
It is important to have a strong variety. Krishna works as does Harry Potter. Tom and Jerry works as does M.A.D. I don’t want to talk about percentages but conceptually it is a mixture of both on the channels.

We are putting Ben 10 into the premiere 6 pm slot on Cartoon Network. This is the after school must see TV slot. M.A.D. and Skatoony are on Sunday mornings.

I don’t think that the number of hours is an important metric. What matters is what are the key destinations that people know your channel for? What are the flagships of your brand?

Pogo has to have Harry Potter and M.A.D. These are the two pillars of the brand. Cartoon Network has to have Krishna and Ben 10.

Could you shed light on the production values and budgets of these shows?
I can’t talk about budgets. However, we probably spend more on M.A.D. than what channels might spend on a throwaway soap opera. This is because we want M.A.D. to be repeatable.

It repeats really well. In the first season we found that the repeat episodes had more ratings than the premiere. So M.A.D. has built up its audience. We invested a lot into this production to ensure that each episode has a lot of content. It takes more time to shoot. It has to be well researched.

Before every series we do a full workshop where we go and try out 20 theme ideas. We build all the stuff to see what it looks like. So before we go into production we make sure that it will actually work. Our per half hour cost is pretty high. Ben 10, for instance, is a combination of an international style with anime touches.

Is Turner looking at taking a stake in an Indian production company?
We are happy with how things are working out for us. We get to pick the right production company for a project. We want to start with the idea and then follow it wherever it takes us.

There are some companies that are better suited to some ideas than to others. We like the flexibility of being able to pick a la carte.

With which Indian production houses does Turner have tie ups with?
Miditech has done a couple of shows with us including Galli Galli Sim Sim. We are working with Endemol India on the finale of the Pogo Amazing Kids Awards. Contiloe is doing Cumballa Investigation Agency. DJ Creations is doing Sunaaina for us.

We are also really happy to be working with Siddhartha Basu and Synergy Adlabs on FAQ. For the science show they bring a lot of expertise to actually making educational science shows.

Before you give the go ahead to a local concept, what are the key things you look for?
We look for a show that has never been done before in a certain manner – something that is innovative and will connect with our audiences. We have a close relationship with our audience in terms of research and focus groups. We do a lot of studies like New Generations to try and really understand what kids do all day, and what is really important to them.

We talk to mothers. We get a lot of mail. So we are informed by all of this. What we would do from a local concept point of view is that when someone comes to us with an idea, we ask is it right for the channels? Does it fit our brand? Is it positive, optimistic, of global standard, and off-centre?

We want everything we make in India to be world class. M.A.D. is a show that can be comfortably compared to any kids show on any channel anywhere in the world. If we get a good idea, it turns into a creative development process. This is about finding the right writers, production company, right graphic designers if required, the right people to build game show mechanisms. Every show has a different kind of gestation process.

You mentioned the importance of innovation. Could you give examples of this from the new slate?
Cumballa Investigation Agency is a mystery whodunit show. There has not been a kids show like this one – five kids solving mysteries. People look at kids television and throw in a lot of magical stuff like magic lamps. They tend to have genies. While there is a place for that, the thing about our show is that it is more hard-hitting and naturalistic. An idea earlier one was that an alien would arrive.

But we decided against doing X-Files kind of show. We are not going to do magic lamps, genies. This show takes kids and mystery solving more seriously.

This doesn’t make it any less exciting. There are still these quirky stories that happen. While we like to have a lot of fun, Pogo takes its audience seriously. We never talk down to kids. We figure that it is better to treat kids a little bit older than they are – as opposed to the other way around.

The worst thing you can do is talk to a 14-year-old like an eight year old. It is always better to err on the side of being too smart.

As far as M.A.D. is concerned, people have been doing arts and crafts shows on children’s television for five decades. However, nobody has done it in the way that Rob has. He has brought a lot to the table in terms of his own take on things. Nobody has incorporated music, art and dance together. The idea that every show has a dance number is very Indian.

M.A.D. is an Indian take on the format. It hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world but it works well here. With Skatoony for the first time you have kids and cartoons in one show.

Skatoony is a unique concept in that it fuses live action and animation. How does this work?
We shoot the game show round first with the kids. It is pretty straightforward to work with from a production standpoint. It is real game play and the kids are competing. All the questions are written in advance. We have cartoons on the set. There is some post production work involved.

Galli Galli Sim Sim looks to strike a balance between entertainment and education. Is this going to be an important focus area for you going forward?
Yes! The second season has just kicked off. We are committed to the project for five years. It is an ambitious project about getting an educational message to pre-schoolers out onto as many platforms as possible. It is on Cartoon Network, Pogo, DD.

We also have an outreach programme so that it even travels to places where people do not have television. It is a different project form your regular TV show. It is about benefiting all kids and making pre-schoolers better prepared for school and life.

It is a challenge to reach all kids with one show. There are many diverse socio-economic backgrounds. But the thing about this show is that despite the gritty message, it is also a lot of fun. It has to be both educational and entertaining at the same time. Otherwise, neither mission works.

Will locally produced shows also travel to other markets like the US?
The format of M.A.D. can travel. Cumballa Investigation Agency is a format that can work really well. We will launch our local animation projects in the future. Those will also travel well overseas.

Does localisation play an important role across Asia?
Our focus is on animation in the other Asian markets. We are looking at doing Skatoony in other markets. It is a good way to get kids closer to the Cartoon Network brand. We have an animation development programme across Asia.

So we are doing animation series in Thailand, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. We focus on animation across the region as there is so much talent. We also feel that if there is a really funny guy in say Thailand who comes up with a cartoon, then it will travel really well. We have a lot of shows in the early development stages.

How much of your revenue goes back into original productions?
I cannot talk about numbers. However, original productions are not cheap to do. The money does not come out of some magic box. It is based on the expectation that it will drive our business.

Are you also looking at making original films?
We are looking at some long form projects on Pogo like having a movie-of-the-month kind of concept. We wouldn’t rule out making films.

‘Our focus is on animation in the other Asian markets. It is a good way to get kids closer to the Cartoon Network brand. We have an animation development programme across Asia‘

How do you see the kids genre evolving over the next couple of years in India?
In India, the situation is acute in that kids are watching what grown ups watch. 85 per cent of kids viewing in the age group of 4-14 goes on to non kids channels. Obviously, the 15 per cent that we get can grow.

As the market matures and with the different players in the kids market working together, we can grow the genre. That is why we welcome competition. Having investment and attention focussed on this sector not just by us but also by other players will benefit everybody in the long run.

One challenge is that with youth channels now launching, the upper age of your audiences may migrate. How do you see things panning out?
I know that one of these channels is planning to send their fans into space. 35 per cent of our audience is over 14 years of age. But our core audience is still 4-14 years. We think that teenage audiences are very hard to capture. They are constantly on the move. Music channels are finding out just how tough it is to capture this audience.

Teens watch less television. They are more engaged with doing other activities. They socialise more. Their studies become more intense. They have less time for entertainment. So good luck to channels chasing this audience segment. They are very hard fish to catch. They will not necessarily sit and watch a linear network.

What plans do you have to exploit new media platforms?
As broadband penetration grows in the country, more content will become available online through streaming. Our on demand services will grow.

We already have a number of mobile content deals. Short cartoons are a perfect packet for the mobile. Sending a fan a sentimental cartoon on his/her mobile is a great way to forge closer connect. It is important for us to get people to experience our brands in as many ways as possible.

But it is not just high tech stuff. Our theme parks are coming up outside Delhi. This is another platform. With M.A.D. we have a publishing deal. Fans can get books and learn how Rob does all his stuff.

When is the theme park coming up and are attractions modelled after characters and shows like what Disney is doing?
The Pogo park is launching early next year. There will be attractions based on shows. Disney is the grand daddy of all theme parks. Our parks will be a little bit different, but fans will experience our brands up close and personal in this environment.

November 22, 2007

Kid’s TV up for big battle

As the path ahead for television in India is to adopt the ‘niche’ approach, here’s a look at one such genre: kids channels.

An audience (4 – 14 year olds) that was previously underserved, now has its platter full with Turner dishing out two channels (Cartoon Network and Pogo), Disney three (Disney Channel, Jetix and locally acquired Hungama TV) and Viacom beefing up Nick.

Joining the bandwagon is Sun TV’s Tamil kids channel Chutti TV. What’s more, it will soon have three little siblings in Telegu, Kannada and Malayalam.

To add to this, BBC has also brought forth its preschool channel CBeebies to India. It, however, remains on the direct-to-home platform and has not yet penetrated into the mass market through cable.

As the activity in the kid’s TV space heats up, Indiantelevision.com takes an in-depth look at the disposition of this segment over the last six months from January to June 2007, with support from the ratings scorecard that clearly dissects the country into iits two core markets (HSM and Southern region).

The analysis takes into account the implications of Tam’s extended TV universe with the addition of peoplemeters coupled with DTH expansion and Cas penetration. Now that the scenario seems to have settled down, the ratings of the last six months will weave a new story for the players in this space. What is also interesting is that this duration (summer vacations April-May) is among the busiest seasons for this genre with every broadcaster punting on his best properties.

Turner stays ahead; Nick sees max growth in Hindi belt

While the battle in the Hindi speaking markets has been intense between the two networks Turner and Disney oscillating between top ratings, its Viacom that is leapfrogging its way up the ladder. Nick has, in fact, been the fastest growing channel in the kid’s category as it opened the year with a relative channel share of eight per cent to close at 11 per cent in June (Tam C&S 4+ HSM 4-14 years).

Tam relative HSM channel shares from January – June 2007 for HSM
Channels	Jan	Feb	Mar	April	May	June
Cartoon Network	27	26	28	28	26	23
Disney Channel	15	16	15	16	15	17
Hungama TV	21	24	21	22	21	25
Nick	8	9	10	10	11	11
Pogo	22	19	19	18	21	18
Jetix (Toon Disney)	7	7	7	6	5	5
(C&S 4+, HSM, 4-14 year olds)

Much of Nick’s growth story can be attributed to its focused efforts to win over its TG through contests and relationship building activities conducted month on month since January.

Explaining toIndiantelevision.com Nick India VP and GM Nina Jaipuria says, “We have made a conscious effort to do what we promised at the beginning of the year, that is to connect to our loyal audiences and to acquire new audiences via our on-air and on-ground activities. This has helped increase the affinity of kids to the channel. On the ratings front, we have witnessed 67 per cent growth in TVRs which makes us the fastest growing the category across Hindi speaking markets. We have also grown by 54 per cent in reach, while the reach of the category as a whole has stagnated at 64 per cent from January to June 2007.”

Coming back to the two top networks, Disney did overthrow the long standing player at the helm Turner in February and June, but what’s intriguing is that the fortunes of Disney appear to be mostly tied into the fate of its adopted baby Hungama TV which peaked during these two months clocking a share of 24 and 25 respectively. In North India Jetix has been slipping from a share of 7 to 5, while Disney Channel has been fairly consistent with an average share of 15.5. Hungama TV has emerged as the chart topper in the Hindi markets in the month of June.

Walt Disney Television International (India) director production and programming Aparna Bhosle said that Hungama TV did drop to the third spot in January as a result of Tam expansion. “Through a huge exercise that spanned marketing, distribution and programming changes, we have found our ground and hereon I can only see us growing upward.”

Hungama TV is now betting on comedy to take it up on the ratings front, as earlier attempts at pre-school programming, action anime and even Bollywood blockbusters failed to work for the channel. “I would admit to the fact that 90 per cent of all experiments were a failure! Now that we have overcome that phase I don’t see any room for more. We are resting our foundation on comedy and are looking to heavily concentrate on this genre that will cut across sexes. While we cater to the 4 -14 age demographic, our core audiences are 8 – 12 year olds.”

When queried on the pitfalls that the channel encountered, Bhosle elaborated that her attempts at a pre-school block in August 2006 did not take off well, even though she re-tried this strategy in June this year as well. Additionally, action anime and Bollywood flicks were not received well by her audiences. “Besides kid’s centric Bollywood films are too few and only provide one-off spikes. I would rather focus on building properties that will consistently deliver,” she adds.

From an All India perspective, Cartoon Network and its sibling Pogo on continued to dominate the kid’s market across the six months.

Turner International India VP advertising sales and networks, India and South Asia Monica Tata says, “Cartoon Network and Pogo have never looked at short-term measures or short-term results, even when it was the only kids’ channel in India. As far as ratings are concerned, we have always played fair and looked at long-term ratings rather than just a few weeks.

“Therefore, if you look at our overall performance through the year, it has been positive and we have been number one and number two channels with Cartoon Network at 26 per cent channel share and Pogo at 22 per cent, (January-June 2007 All days, All India, 24 hours, All SEC). Moreover, during the crucial summer months, when kids’ viewing is at its peak Cartoon Network and POGO, delivered a hatrick by topping the TAM charts, three years in a row.”

Chutti makes its mark in the South

Steering our analysis towards South India, we find that the new Tamil kid from the Sun stable has rattled up the market, especially eating into a substantial chunk of both Cartoon Network and Pogo’s audiences.

Chutti TV was launched on 29 April but over the next two months a clear migration of audiences can be observed. The worst hit appears to be Cartoon Network which slipped from a share of 31 per cent in April to 18 and 20 per cent in the months of May and June respectively. Meanwhile, Pogo slipped from 33 per cent in April to 25 and 21 per cent in the subsequent months.

One reason for Chutti TV’s success is that it is a free-to-air channel. Says Tata, “As far as Chutti TV’s leadership position in the Southern region is concerned, I don’t think it is fair to compare a free to air channel, which Chutti TV is in the South, with a paid one such as Cartoon Network. The ratings would be skewed in favour of the FTA channel simply because of more reach and distribution.”

Tam relative channel shares from January – June 2007 for Southern markets
Channel	Jan	Feb	Mar	April	May	June
Cartoon Network	29	32	29	31	18	20
Disney Channel	5	5	4	4	5	4
Hungama TV	2	2	3	2	2	3
Nick	5	4	4	4	3	3
POGO	29	32	33	33	25	21
Jetix (Toon Disney)	31	25	28	23	26	27
Chutti TV	–	–	–	2	21	21
(C&S 4+, South, 4-14 year olds)

Sun network also controls distribution in Tamil Nadu with its cable company SCV holding a strong grip in the market. It is also a strong brand among the southern audiences.

Making up for its dipping numbers in the North is Walt Disney’s Jetix which held on to its position in the South. Jetix garnered a share of 26 and 27 for May and June, despite the onslaught of FTA newcomer Chutti TV that gobbled up a share of 21 for the two months after launch.

Observers say when Sun rolls out the other three versions of its kid’s channel template to cover the regional markets of the South, the fortunes of both Turner and Disney may be toppled.

“They are a formidable opposition in the South, but this will only mean that we will be have to work much harder to maintain our position in the region,” opines Bhosle.

Potential threat from upcoming youth centric channels?

While kid’s channels are still trying to attract viewers from adult general entertainment channels, separate youth centric television channels are coming to the fray.

The kid’s space may have to brace up to a bigger challenge from the slew of upcoming youth entertainment brands that are likely to snatch a large share of the older age demographic of their TG or what’s popularly referred to as the ‘tweens.’

Responding to this Bhosle states, “We will probably see a drift in audiences and a loss of older kids but that will also be the challenge going forward.”

Tata says, “With increased competition, there is always fragmentation. We were expecting this at some point. Any new brand has an added advantage of novelty, newness of content and high-decibel brand visibility. It does have an impact on viewers, especially when they are of such an impressionable age.”

Amidst the growing competition within the kids arena and the threat from upcoming youth targeted GECs, is the kid’s TV space already experiencing saturation?

While some industry experts are of the opinion that the kid’s space has saturated and the time has come to tap into another underserved section of the populace in India’s ‘youth,’ the proponents in the kid’s TV market differ on the same.

Bhosle believes that it’s still too early for saturation of the kid’s television market in India. “We can not stop cannibalization of the market. That’s why we as a network have charted out a clear cut positioning for each of our three channels.”

Bracing up for the months ahead Tata concludes, “We have always led from the top and not shifted or changed our strategies in reaction to competition. Our vision is to be a major kids’ lifestyle brand in the next few years. And we have been working very hard this past year to move aggressively and rapidly towards that vision. We are no longer taking baby steps but extending the brands across various platforms to ensure that we reach out to kids at every possible access point.”

August 4, 2007

Cartoon Network to launch ‘The Justirisers’; gets Shankar Mahadevan to sing title track

MUMBAI: Cartoon Network is geared to launch an action series titled The Justirisers on the action block Toonami on 7 March and what’s more, the network has roped in singer and composer, Shankar Mahadevan to sing the title track.

The show will air from Monday to Saturday from 6 pm – 6.30 pm on the Toonami block in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Shankar has been accompanied by a mix of talent including -Sa Re Ga Ma Pa winner and finalist Amitabh Bhattacharya and Abbhijit Ghoshaal, noted composer Vidyut Goswami, Telugu lyricist B Easwar Rao and Tamil lyricist T.A.Kumar has composed and sung the title track of The Justirisers in three languages – Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, informs an official release.

Turner International India vice president, advertising sales and networks, India and South Asia Monica Tata said, “Cartoon Network constantly looks at trends across age and peer groups in various regions, with an aim to provide the ‘best in class’ programming for kids across India. We are very pleased that a renowned artist such as Shankar Mahadevan has sung the title tracks of our new show, The Justirisers.

“This is the first time that he has sung for a kids’ network and we are proud that he partnered with the number one channel for kids in India, Cartoon Network. We are confident that kids will love this exciting action show along with its title tracks created especially for India.”

Mahadevan said,” Since this is my first foray in the kids’ territory, what could be a better choice than to be associated with the segment leader, Cartoon Network to reach young hearts and the young at heart. I am thrilled about the tracks for The Justirisers and am really looking forward to kids’ responses from across the country.”

The Justirisers is the story of three youngsters with very different goals in life, uniting for a common cause – to fight evil. Ancient years ago, a dark atmosphere attracts the extraterrestrial civilization in the extragalactic, Hadesu. The sole defender of Hadesu, Norun Riser, wins the war but loses his life and all that remains of him is a mysterious crystal. In the Modern world, the light from the crystal shines on three young adults – Joe (Riser Glen), Ryan (Riser Gant) and Kageri (Riser Kageri). The numinous light empowers them to call the ultimate defender, Justirisers!

February 22, 2007
Cartoon Network announces game plan for 2007

MUMBAI: At the Cartoon Network Upfront event held in New York, Cartoon Network announced its programming line-up for 2007. Following the launches of Class of 3000; Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends original movie, “Good Wilt Hunting;” and the network’s first-ever live-action movie, Re-Animated, Cartoon Network has announced five new original series in 2007.

The network also showed a sneak peek of its previously announced Massively Multi-Player Game, scheduled for 2008, and also introduced a new after school franchise called Master Control, allowing kids to choose what they want to watch starting in the late summer.

According to an official statement issued by the network, the new original series include Santo which is working title for animated action series which is about an iconic wrestler, an animated comedy Chowder, a comedy-action series The Secret Saturdays, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and live-action and animation combo Re-Animated.

Turner Entertainment Group president Mark Lazarus said, “We’ve been on a strong run over the last few months on every platform with our content and our commitment to our core audience continues on all levels.”

“Last year we saw tremendous growth by extending our brand into new areas of programming,” said Cartoon Network senior vice president of development and creative direction Michael Ouweleen. “We had great success by always being ‘on it’ for kids in whatever environment they wanted to enjoy the Cartoon Network experience and we are looking forward to growing even more with this new slate of programs and special events.”

In addition, it was announced that the hit series from André “3000” Benjamin and Tom Lynch, Class of 3000, has been greenlit for its second season and will kick things off with a high energy musical event, adds the release.

The network also announced special events outlined for the year like Cartoon Network Invaded, Props which recognizes kid talent in different spheres and Ben 10 which brings the animated series into a live-action movie.

Previously, the network announced CallToons, a mobile application technology that allowed characters to take over kids mobile phones.

February 16, 2007
Pogo follows ‘Sabrina Down Under!’ on 18 February

MUMBAI: Turner’s second offspring in India, Pogo is looking to rake in kids onto the channel this coming weekend with yet another feature film Sabrina Down Under! on 18 February at 2 pm.

A tactic that the network often implements, last month Cartoon Network aired the second part of the animated Krishna series with Krishna Machan Chor on 26 January, which the network claims drew in hefty ratings.

The up coming feature narrates the story of Sabrina and a fellow witch – Gwen, who travel to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef for a week long vacation.

Instead, they find themselves in a situation to help protect a hidden mermaid colony whose habitat is threatened by ocean pollution, and by a local marine biologist, Dr. Julian Martin, determined to find the colony as his claim to fame. While in the process, Sabrina finds romance with Barnaby, a “merman” from mermaid colony, informs an official release.

February 15, 2007