ITV

Tag: Chutti TV

  • Kids prefer home-grown content, feature films on TV

    Kids prefer home-grown content, feature films on TV

    MUMBAI: The TV industry is growing and so is kids’ viewership. Since 98 per cent of India is still single TV homes, co-viewing is extensive and leads to better targeting options while demand for localised content and regional content are a boon to creators. Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India unravelled its findings on ‘Catching the youngest viewers’ at FICCI Frames 2019 held on the third day of the event. BARC India senior VP business development partnerships Elbert D’silva shared that 21 per cent of total viewership on linear TV sets comes from kids. With one in every four viewers being a kid, there is a high engagement level and time spent is also increasing.

    Just 12 per cent watch kids’ content, a whopping 49 per cent of kids watch general entertainment channels (GECs), followed by 24 per cent of them watching movies. Likewise, a large chunk of viewership doesn’t only come from kids’ category; in fact, it comes from age-groups as well. 38 per cent of the viewership comes from 2-14 years of age group, followed by 10 per cent from 15-21 years of age group, 14 per cent and 18 per cent fall under the 22-30 years and 31-40 years of age group respectively. This is due to co-viewing. But kids from NCCS households watch more of kids’ genre because premium homes are multiple TV households. Here kids’ genre gets about 16 per cent of viewership.

    He highlighted that females aged 31-40 years spend 30 per cent of their co-viewing time with kids and this offers significant targeting options to the advertisers. Bifurcating the female audiences across different age groups that spend the highest time in co-viewing, the report revealed that 15-21-year-olds spend 12 per cent, 22-30-year-olds spend 22 per cent, age group from 31-40 spends 30 per cent while 9 per cent and 7 per cent time are spent by the females that fall under 41-50 years and 51-60 years respectively.

    D’silva further shared that feature films give better ROI with higher per minute impressions. It stated that 76 per cent of the avg imp/min comes from the game, talk or quiz shows, followed by 155 avg imp/min from cartoons and animations and 508 avg imp/min from feature films.

    Talking about home-grown content, he said that there has been a rapid increase of localised content on the kids’ genre and duration of it on national kids channels has gone up by 18 per cent. Comparing the growth in 2018 to 2016, the jump has been from 33 per cent to 39 per cent of overall content. Preference of content amongst kids changes as they grow older and so the preference for Indian content is higher among younger age groups.

    Apart from this, kids channels that broadcast in multiple languages enjoy a clear lead in the viewership. The report disclosed that 84 per cent of kids viewership accrues to the 11 channels that have multi-language feeds, 7 per cent from Hindi, 3 per cent from Tamil, whereas Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada gain 2 per cent viewership for each language respectively.

    Regional kids channels also have a high growth potential. The Sun Network’s Chutti TV in Tamil Nadu commands 17 per cent share with the rest going to national kids’ channels, Chintu TV in Karnataka gets 23 per cent, Kushi TV in Andhra Pradesh/Telangana gets 16 per cent while Kochu TV in Kerala gets the highest share of 40 per cent viewership.

    Top advertised products are those which are consumed by the children, but mothers are also the target audience since they are the decision makers. Boost and Fisher Price are brands targeting kids while Colgate, Harpic and Vicks are focused on the mothers watching TV. 

  • The kids’ genre gears up for an engaging Independence day!

    The kids’ genre gears up for an engaging Independence day!

    MUMBAI: Indian Independence day kindles emotions and evokes a deep sense of respect for the mighty warriors who unchained the nation from the clutches of the British 67 years ago.  Parades, hoisting of the tricolour, singing patriotic songs and the national anthem, watching patriot tableaus constitutes most of the Independence Day celebrations. Drawing inspiration from these colourful celebrations, the kids’ genre in the broadcast space has created an array of special programs to join hands with its little audience and salute the nation together. Let’s take a look at what different channels are doing this Independence Day.

     

    The kids’ cluster of channels of Sun TV Network:-

     

    Chutti TV (Tamil wing) had conducted a human chain rally for children on 10 August along its famous beach line-Besant Nagar, to celebrate the theme of freedom and friendship. Hundreds of enthusiastic school children had participated in this rally and many of them had brought with them, paintings of the Indian flag, which they were proudly waving during the event. Groups of children breaking into impromptu session of singing famous patriotic songs added colour to this event. Famous lyricist Madan Karky and director Atlee graced the occasion and shared inspiring words with the children. This event will be aired on Chutti TV on 15 August at 9:30 am and a repeat telecast at 4:30 pm. This apart special snippets of children dressed as freedom fighters voicing Independence Day messages and movie marathon session will form a part of the Independence Day special celebration on the channel.

     

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  • Sun shines on kids

    Sun shines on kids

    The Sun TV Network – with its repertoire of 33 channels across genres including entertainment, music, movies, comedy, news and kids – is arguably a very big name in television (media), both in India and Asia.

    While the group debuted with its entertainment channel, Sun TV, back in 1993, children got their very own space on the network not before 2007. The Kids Cluster, as it came to be called, kick-started with Chutti TV (Tamil), followed soon by Kochu TV (Malayalam), Chintu TV (Kannada) and Kushi TV (Telugu).

    Of the four kids channels, Chutti and Kochu are extremely popular with a nearly 80 per cent reach in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, respectively.

    Kavitha Jaubin knows that maintaining a kids channel is difficult but for Sun Network it has proved to be a good market

    The mainstay of the cluster, whose core target is kids in the age group of four to fourteen years, is cartoon acquisitions from numerous distributors and production houses like Sony Pictures, Warner Bros, Viacom18 and Scholastic. 80 per cent of the content is similar on all four channels while the remaining 20 per cent varies based on cultural preferences of the state in question.

    Says Sun TV Network Kids Cluster of Channels Head Kavitha Jaubin: “Till now, we’ve only been airing acquired content but we hope to own a few titles soon, considering how well we’ve understood our little audience’s interest patterns and what content they view the most.”

    The acquired content has to be dubbed by a skilled team in each state, which develops a script in the respective language. “The USP of our channel content is the nature of dubbing. It is extremely witty and is thoroughly enjoyed by our audience,” says Jaubin, adding that nearly a week goes into scripting and dubbing an episode.

    Yes, there is some amount of in-house content produced by the network’s 20-strong programming team, which includes game shows, chat shows, news segments, cookery shows and arts and crafts shows. For the purpose, they have studios in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

    While a major portion of the content is international, the network is looking to change this trend by including more local content. Some of the popular shows include Geronimo Stilton from Moonscoop, Penguins of Madagascar, Avatar from Viacom18, Jackie Chan Adventures from Sony Pictures and Little Prince from DQ Entertainment. Recently, the network acquired Little Krishna from Viacom 18 for Janmashtami, and is looking to acquire more such as Barney and Friends.

    Since the cluster caters to kids, the channels take care to handpick the content and also censor it to suit the tiny tots.

    “There are a few things that we particularly avoid – violence, content that hurts the sentiments of any section of the population or forces parents to scrutinise it,” says Jaubin.

     

    The other thing the network does in terms of cartoons is placing them as per the time band and the age of the audience viewing them.

    The morning audience mainly comprises kids between eight and 10 years of age, which changes to pre-schoolers by afternoon. Whereas, evenings are when kids in the age group of 9-14 years watch these channels, often accompanied by parents. At this hour, the channel claims to focus on edutainment type of cartoons more than action.

    Speaking of cartoons, those among the Kids Cluster of Channels airing them seem to be doing well.

    Mudra Max Media south head Anil Sathiraju says that a channel which talks regional does better than the one which does not. “Chutti TV is doing very well and for a kids’ TG, it delivers fantastically,” he says.

    According to Sathiraju, the cartoon genre doesn’t face competition from regional channels, with only Chithiram TV from the Kalaignar Group doing fairly well in Tamil Nadu and none in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

    It’s mainly national channels like Pogo, Cartoon Network and Disney that are capable of giving the cluster channels a run for their money. “The effect Pogo gives is pan-India while a Chutti TV or a Chintu TV is only restricted to the state,” says Sathiraju.

    Advertising-wise, the ads aired on these channels are directed straight at the kids who’re watching. The prime time of 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm on weekdays and also weekends is when advertisers make the most out of their products. ITC, Surf Excel and Horlicks are some of the brands that advertise with these channels.

    Sun TV sources revealed all four channels in the cluster would be generating advertising revenue in the region of Rs 80 crore with Chutti and Kochu contributing a lion’s share.

    The channels are hardly visible on the digital front. The website has a game section which includes colouring and puzzles. A small section allows users to upload their childrens’ photos on their birthdays that will be displayed on the site. Show timings for the day can also be found out.

    Children dressed up for an event organised by Chintu TV

    Most of the marketing they do is for their shows through outdoor events. There are regular events and contests, the most recent one being on Janmashtami when kids were made to dress up as Lord Krishna and his consort Radha and click photographs.

    Other events include Chutti Premiere League on the lines of IPL, where a cartoon character heads a team and children vote for their favourite team; theme-based carnivals and so on. “This has definitely helped us gain visibility and intensify the already existing popularity,” says Jaubin.

    Is there room for more channels in the kids’ space? “It is a challenge to tailor programs that suit kids’ interests, and at the same time, sustain it,” says Jaubin.

    As things stand, the Kids Cluster seems to have made a place for itself in kids’ hearts although it continues to face stiff competition not from regional but national children’s channels.

  • Kids channels swing into high action

    Kids channels swing into high action

    After a flood of four channel launches in 2004, the kids genre has swung into big action with three new appearances last year and the announcement of Discovery to enter the segment this quarter.

    The battle isn‘t going to be easy as the advertising pie is pegged at Rs 2.4 billion in 2011, up from Rs 2 billion a year ago, and the licensing and merchandising market is still at its infancy in India.

    Broadcasters, however, are finding strategic value to occupy the space at a time when India is waking up to the government’s call of mandated digitisation.

    “Discovery Kids will offer Indian children the ideal combination of learning and entertainment. In light of the massive digitisation drive in India, we believe viewers will express their demand for such distinct television networks,” says Discovery Networks International president, CEO Mark Hollinger.

    Expanding its bouquet in the southern region, Sun TV Network launched Malayalam kids channel Kochu in 2011 TV to complete its entire cycle of covering the four languages. Sun had launched Chutti TV in Tamil (2007), Kushi TV in Telugu and Chintu TV in Kannada (2009).

    Maa TV Network launched Maa Junior in Telugu, its first channel in the kids space, while Viacom18 introduced Sonic to complement its other kids channel Nick. Maa Junior has since the beginning of the year transitioned into a GEC and has been rebranded as Maa Gold.

    “In 2011, two regional broadcasters launched language channels to expand their networks in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The Viacom18 channel was more a segment strategy to complement Nick,” says a media analyst.

    Sonic targets children in the age group of 10-17 years with action, sitcoms and adventures. The movies cater mainly to teens.

    What is encouraging kids broadcasters is the rise in viewership. The overall genre is on a growth path due to channel launches, according to research agency TAM. The total share of the genre grew to 18 per cent among the 4-14-year-olds (C&S, All India), largely due to the growth in the universe of kids to 48 million in 2011, from 43 million a year ago.

    According to Sonic and Nick India EVP and GM Nina Elavia Jaipuria, the genre enjoys the loyalty of kids among the age group of 4-14
     despite competition from other genres and has been growing 7-10 per cent year-on-year.

    “Despite the fragmentation that has happened in the entertainment world, this is one genre which continues to garner GRPs and viewerships from kids. In 2011, we once again proved to ourselves that it is a genre that is being viewed by boys and girls in that age bracket,” she says.

    In her yearender column for Indiantelevision.com, Turner International India GM, Entertainment Networks South Asia Monica Tata wrote that the genre not only recorded growth but also saw the entrance of new channels like Sonic. “The kids’ genre grew in regional languages as well. In Tamil, for example, the share of Kids is higher than News. The continued investments in launching new channels and content prove that the kids’ entertainment space is a very viable market.”

    Even though the kids genre commands 6-7 per cent viewership share, the problem is on the revenue said. However, while traditional advertisers like food & beverages, personal care, and household products continue to be heavy spenders on the genre, non-traditional advertisers like automobiles, electronic devices, and insurance companies have started to take notice of the genre.

    “We did see a lot of non-traditional advertisers. We now have insurance companies who are talking to the 4-14 TG,” says Jaipuria.

    Hindustan Unilever and Cadbury India were top advertisers on the genre for both 2010 and 2011 in a list dominated by FMCGs and personal brands, TAM AdEx data shows. Interestingly, Maa Network and Sun TV, who operate channels in the genre, were among the top 10 advertisers in 2011.

    “There has been increasing awareness that kids now have a say in purchase decision-making that extends far beyond traditional categories. Today, around 63 per cent of parents involve their children in the decision making process. This is one of the main reasons that has attracted advertisers to kids’ channels in order to effectively target families,” says Turner South Asia network head ad sales Juhi Ravindranath.

    Agrees Walt Disney Television International India business head Vijay Subramaniam, “Brands understand the importance of engaging this TG because this is a very loyal base. It is important to realise that the kids of today will become the consumers of tomorrow. A lot of advertisers are now including kids channels in their advertising mix.

    L&M is another revenue stream the channels are betting big on. Disney, for instance, has inked a licensing deal with Mukesh Ambani-owned IPL franchise Mumbai Indians to launch co-branded merchandise products targeted at under-14 kids segment. The merchandise will be sold in around 5,000 Reliance retail outlets and will be also be promoted through the digital medium.

    But considering the number of channels in the genre and the ad revenues it attracts, is running a kids channel a viable proposition?

    Jaipuria feels it depends on the business models of the individual channels and whether or not they fill the need gap. “How the channels source content – whether it is a localised or is it sourced internationally – also plays a role in channels‘ viability. Although the gestation period for a kids channel maybe longer than other genres, it‘s about having an intelligent business model and having a right mix of content,” she avers.

    Jaipuria is also betting big on digitisation as it will make possible an increase in subscription revenues and bring down high carriage fees.

    Sun Group CEO Tony D‘Silva believes kids channels need to become more and more segmented as their needs keep changing as they grow up. “Right now most of the channels are targeted at 4-14 age groups,” he avers.