ITV

Tag: Kids’ Genre!

  • This festive season Sony YAY! unveils multi multi-multi-genre, multi-platform extravaganza

    This festive season Sony YAY! unveils multi multi-multi-genre, multi-platform extravaganza

    Mumbai: Sony YAY! has consistently captivated millions of young fans across the country through its multi-genre content offerings with engagements across multiple platforms and multiple screens. Its multi-genre offerings make it the preferred destination for kids, solidifying its position as a leader in the industry with a weekly reach of over 12.3 million viewers in HSM urban markets.

    The channel continues its commitment to delivering a diverse lineup of multi-genre content this festive season. Young audiences can look forward to an exciting blend of brand-new shows and fan favourites YAY! classics that span across chase comedy, family drama, anime and many more.

    “Oh my Lallan” – A heartwarming chase comedy series features Lallan, a lovable stray dog on a quest for food, as he encounters cunning house pets.

    Ninja Boy Rantaro – A brand-new anime series that follows the adventures of Rantaro and his friends as they embark on ninja training.

    “Honey Bunny Ka Jholmal” – The channel’s longest-running pet comedy primetime show, featuring non-stop banter and witty jokes presented by the OG Jholers.

    “Oggy and the Cockroaches” – The show will star the nation’s foremost animated character and the ultimate YAY! showstopper, Oggy, the blue cat. This series promises to offer a fresh and exhilarating take on the classic chase, all thanks to his relentless arch-nemeses, the clever cockroaches.

    Sony YAY! remains at the forefront of innovation with its commitment towards a multi-screen approach. In a groundbreaking move in the category, the channel introduces an AR game – “Oggy and the Cockroaches.” this game promises Oggy fans an experience like never before. The game developed in collaboration with Superfan Studio allows young audiences to immerse themselves in Oggy’s world, setting a new entertainment standard that has the potential to revolutionize how audiences interact with their favourite shows.

    Sony Pictures Networks India, Kids’ Genre! business head  Leena Lele Dutta commented “At Sony YAY!, our mission is to continuously redefine kids’ entertainment by delivering fresh storylines, toons, and immersive experiences, across multiple platforms. The ‘Oggy and the Cockroaches’ AR game showcases our commitment to delivering unparalleled, inspiring adventures for the kids who have shown love to our beloved characters.”  

  • Sony Yay! launches Japanese anime series ‘Naruto’ on 15 August

    Sony Yay! launches Japanese anime series ‘Naruto’ on 15 August

    Mumbai: Sony’s kids channel Sony Yay! has announced the launch of the Japanese anime series Naruto on 15 August. It will air Monday through Friday at 8 p.m. With the first ever launch of Naruto in five languages, the channel aims to bring anime fans across all age groups closer to their favourite ‘Ninja’. This new addition leads to a significant expansion of the channel’s exhaustive and ever-growing toonverse.

    The show celebrates a style of Japanese anime and is based on a series of Masashi Kishimoto’s manga. The series will showcase a young boy’s resilience and undaunted quest to become the most powerful leader of his village.

    Sony Pictures Networks India, Kids’ Genre! business head Leena Lele Dutta said, “The popularity of anime is growing immensely in India. Our endeavour with Naruto is to take this popular series and add a multilingual offering that will help satiate the demand for anime lovers as well as increase its footprint through localization. With Naruto, Sony Yay! will cater to a larger audience of kids and young adults and further strengthen its leadership position.”

  • QYou Media India launches animation channel The Q Kahaniyan

    QYou Media India launches animation channel The Q Kahaniyan

    Mumbai: Following the launch of The Q and Q Marathi, global media company QYou Media India on Tuesday announced the setting up of its digital exclusive animation channel – The Q Kahaniyan. With the tagline ‘Hatke Kisse, Datke Masti,’ the animated content channel will target young viewers between age group of 13 to 35 years.

    “The Q Kahaniyan is a category creator that bridges the need gap for entertaining, relatable animated stories and content for young adults in India. Echoing the network’s core proposition, it will showcase differentiated and high-quality alternative animated content that will cut across genres,” said the media company in a statement. 

    The channel will curate and bring forward stories from leading Indian and global animation studios and creators such as PM Toons, Digimonks, Utkal Cartoon World and Core Infotech. Shows such as “Nattu,” “Bakaiti,” “Anokhi Kahaniya,” “Daravni Kahaniya,” “Dilchasp Kahaniya” are sure to strike a chord with viewers and create a niche for themselves as well for animated content in the growing general entertainment category, the statement added. 

    “Globally, the interest in animated content is astonishing; in India however, the category and format are indexed and typically viewed from a kid’s lens,” remarked QYou Media India’s chief operating officer Krishna Menon. “Having experienced success with animation on The Q, we believe that there exists a strong demand for such content and it is only apt for us as a disruptive and differentiated brand to take a step forward and give such content a place and platform of its own.”

    “With The Q Kahaniyan, we are curating stories that are relevant, relatable and different from what is already available. We are certain of the channel’s success and hope to give animated content the limelight it truly deserves,” he further added.

    The Q Kahaniyan is currently available on connected TV and video-on-demand platforms including Samsung TV Plus, Mi, TCL, Cloudwalker, Jio TV, Jio TV Plus, MX Player, and Snapchat, among others.

  • #Retrace2021: Digital evolution has changed the game for kids genre

    #Retrace2021: Digital evolution has changed the game for kids genre

    Mumbai: A seasoned professional in the broadcast industry with over two decades of experience under her belt, Leena Lele Dutta has worked with Ten Sports India, Channel 9 (Nine Broadcasting Media) and MTV India amongst other reputed companies, besides having worked in sales with SPN (then SET India) from 1995-1999. During her stint with Sony Pictures Television, she spearheaded, structured and developed the content distribution and licensing division for the company in India and South Asia.

    In her current role, as the business head – kids genre at Sony Pictures Networks India, she is responsible for driving the overall business and building the growth trajectory of the Kids’ genre for SPN by focusing on strategic content development and marketing initiatives.

    The kids channel – Sony Yay! has launched 140 hours of fresh programming, including new shows and movie premieres, and captured a significant share of viewership in the kids’ genre in October which saw the highest ad volumes of 2021. With 63.7 gross rating points (GRPs) in the Hindi-speaking market for week 43-45 (Avg, 24 hours, 2-14 ABC, BARC data), it reached the pole position in ratings compared to other kids’ channels.

    As the year draws to a close, Indiantelevision.com caught up Leena Lele Dutta to talk about the channel’s performance in 2021 and the key trends that shaped the kids’ entertainment space.

    Edited Excerpts

    Looking back at 2021

    It has been a stupendous year for us, especially the festive season. Every year we have two periods for our tentpole launches – summer (April-May-June) and the festive months. The festive period is the most potent time, in terms of ad monies and the revenue involved. So, this year, we had envisioned our programming line-up starting from Dussehra to Durga Puja, Navratri going all the way to Diwali, Christmas as well as the New Year. We actually had a lot of ammunition to fire so that we could get a share from the advertising market for our channels viz-a-viz the rest of the channels in the category.

    Unlike 2020, when the kids’ category was down by half in terms of inventory sold out because there was uncertainty and sales only picked up during Diwali, the mood of all our advertisers across all categories has been encouraging this year. Everything has opened up. Also, this year, since Diwali was in the first week of November, it gave advertisers a long four-week period in October to advertise. Barring FCT, advertising spots and sponsorships selling out, there has been demand from new clients that wanted to make their mark this season.

    On the launch of new shows, and programming line-up

    Kids genre is a highly saturated marketplace. So, when we entered the space, we knew we had to bring something different. We’re still relatively new, while our competitors are over a decade old. What we have realised, is that unlike any GEC, the rotation of audiences on the kids’ channel has become even shorter now. Kids between the age group of four to seven who land on our channel grow out of it in three years and you have a fresh set of audiences coming in.

    So, our differentiator has been local programming, indigenous characters and multi-language feeds. From a slate of four original IPs in a year we’ve ramped up and produced almost seven original shows by year, with the help of in-house scriptwriters and array of dubbing studios that are aligned to us.

    On any new innovation that the channel brought in this year

    The pandemic had first led to a surge in viewership during summer when kids and their parents were at home. There was a lot of co-viewing happening. We altered our programming strategy and introduced a variety of different characters that can appeal not just to kids but also to their mothers. This included ‘Oggy’, and a new anime show ‘Obocchama-kun’. We also revamped a show called ‘Horrid Henry’ for the Indian context and called it ‘Haste Raho Henry’.

    Through research that we conduct periodically, we understood that kids don’t necessarily want home grown IPs but want to be entertained by an array of characters that appeal to them and are a reflection of themselves. We followed it up with a 360-degree amplification including on-ground, digital platforms and through our association with network channels.

    What we’ve added because of the lockdown is a whole lot of digital innovation as kids are spending more time on devices. Whether it is a watch party, an online contest, or a digital workshop with videos from our creators and DIY activities, we’re doing all of those engagements as well on our digital platforms.

    On how the kids’ audience has evolved

    Today, a child has a lot of content choices that he/she can make. The child may go to gaming platforms, subscription video-on-demand players, YouTube, or ed-tech platforms. Right now, if you look at the ecosystem, it is not about creating the next ‘Tom and Jerry’ but also about what a new character can do to enhance your kids’ ability. We cannot satiate the kids’ appetite by just showing them content. It needs to go beyond that.

    On the trends that dominated the kids’ genre this year

    Today, OTT platforms’ acquisition of kids’ content is running into millions of dollars as they have begun to see the potential. The fact that so many players are investing in this genre is a great sign for us. That’s why at Sony YAY! apart from the production pipeline we’re also building a parallel ecosystem to make diverse content for kids and feed it into digital platforms. We have a couple of shows developed specifically for OTT platforms and YouTube that’s concurrently happening while we cater to our channel’s audiences.

    We also recently concluded our on-ground activation plan across 30 cities including metros. We’ve observed that people are going to markets and shopping with their kids so on-ground has come back and is here to stay as the more efficient form of engagement to grab a captive audience.

  • Sony Yay! leads ratings on kids’ genre during festive period

    Sony Yay! leads ratings on kids’ genre during festive period

    Mumbai: Kids’ channel Sony Yay! garnered 63.7 GRPs in Hindi speaking market (HSM) urban during the festive period (week 43-45), according to Broadcast Audience Research Council (Barc) India. The channel was consistently leading the ratings on the kids’ genre during the festive months.

    Sony Yay! had announced over 140 hours of fresh content and several new shows across multiple genres ahead of the festive period. The channel had introduced kids’ favourite shows such as “Oggy and the Cockroaches,” “Haste Raho Henry,” “Obocchama–Kun,” and “Taarak Mehta Kka Chhota Chashmah – Season 2” during the festive period. The channel renewed shows like “Ding Dong Bell Masti Ka Khel,” “Oscar Ab Bas Kar,” “Honey Bunny” films, and more – which have contributed to the success of the channel throughout the year.

    “We have promised our young fans an array of new characters, fresh new stories, rib-tickling humour, across a variety of genres,” said Sony Pictures Networks India business head – kids’ genre Leena Lele Dutta. “The success of the entire line-up that has taken us to the leadership position is an encouraging boost for us to continue serving our young audiences more of what they love.”

    (Source: HSM Urban, Wk 43’21-45’21 Avg, 24hrs, 2-14ABC, BARC).

  • Sony Yay! unveils its content lineup for festive season

    Sony Yay! unveils its content lineup for festive season

    Mumbai: Sony Yay!, the kids’ entertainment channel under Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), has announced to serve audiences 140 hours of fresh content during the festive season including six shows and eight telemovies.

    The channel has unveiled a slate of new launches, fresh programming and films for shows like “Oggy and the Cockroaches,” “Taarak Mehta Kka Chhota Chashmah,” “Haste Raho Henry,” “Obocchama-Kun,” “Honey Bunny Ka Jholmaal,” and “Paap-O-Meter.”

    “Sony Yay! has created and curated an expansive library of 550+ hours of animation content, 800+ episodes including six original shows, and 70 telemovies, successfully reaching over 50 million kids,” said the company in a statement.

    “Earlier this year, the channel also treated its young audiences with ‘Taarak Mehta Kka Chhota Chashmah’ which went on to become the most popular kids’ entertainment TV show of 2021,” it added.  

    “The current situation has transformed the content consumption pattern by creating a growing demand for fresh and varied content,” said Sony Pictures Networks India business head – kids’ genre Leena Lele Dutta. “While Sony Yay! continues to serve them with new narratives around its home-grown content it has also further increased its content offerings by introducing a wide range of new shows, endearing characters, and engaging activities.”

    The channel will launch a brand-new show “Haste Raho Henry” that will begin airing on 25 September at 1 p.m every Saturday and Sunday. “Honey & Bunny” franchise films will begin airing every Sunday at noon from 3 October. “Oggy and Cockroaches” created by French animation studio, Xilam Animation, will begin airing on 18 October and new episodes and films of “Paap-O-Meter” will be launched in December.

    “This festive season, each new narrative and character is handpicked to suit the ever-dynamic palate of Indian kids and our goal is to curate a wholesome experience of their favourite characters at one destination,” said Sony Yay! head of programming Ronojoy Chakraborty.

  • Sony YAY! to launch ‘Ding Dong Bell, Masti Ka Khel’ on 16 August

    Sony YAY! to launch ‘Ding Dong Bell, Masti Ka Khel’ on 16 August

    Mumbai: Kids’ channel Sony YAY! has launched a new show ‘Ding Dong Bell, Masti Ka Khel’ starting 16 August. The animated series is a chase comedy with a voice-over by Jaaved Jaaferi and Mubeen Saudagar.

    In every episode, the Kukkads – Ding, Dong, and Bell are chased by a hungry fox, named Bhukkad. The perennially hungry fox is forever on the prowl for these chicks who are always at the ready to foil his plan. Each chick equipped with a special talent of ‘brains’, ‘brawn’ and ‘beauty’ is in the race to outsmart the fox and hence creating a laughter riot for kids. Every failure angers the determined fox to devise even more elaborate plans to outwit them in each passing episode, which usually ends up being a wild chick chase.

    “‘Ding Dong Bell, Masti Ka Khel’ is our pre-festive treat to kids which is packed with a hilarious ride doubled with funny commentaries by the best artists of the industry. While we have a barrage of new content lined up for the upcoming festive season, this is to give our young audience a taste of what they can expect in the coming months and continue serving them all their favourite characters & narratives,” said Sony Pictures Networks India, business head, Leena Lele Dutta.

    “I have always loved working with kids’ content and with a show like Ding Dong Bell, it has been a laugh riot while shaping up the narrative around it. The show is a perfect mix of comedy and adventure,” said Jaaved Jaaferi.

    Sony YAY! will introduce the new characters of the show in an exclusive sneak peek on 14 August via Zoom.

  • With Taarak Mehta Ka Chhota Chashmah, Sony Yay! wants to get parents & kids co-watching

    With Taarak Mehta Ka Chhota Chashmah, Sony Yay! wants to get parents & kids co-watching

    MUMBAI: Four years after it made its foray into the kids’ genre with Sony Yay!, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) is all set to launch an animated version of one of its most popular TV shows- Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (TMKCC).

    The animated show titled Taarak Mehta KKa Chhota Chashmah (TMKCC) will hit the airwaves on 19 April. Set against the backdrop of Gokuldham, the show will witness iconic characters – Jethalal, Bapuji, Dayaben, and Tapu in their animated avatar.

    However, this time, the entire show has been created from the lens of kids’ favourite characters, Tappu and Daya, who will be the protagonists. "The characters will remain true to their original role, but we have moulded the entire show from the lens of Tappu and Daya, as Tappu is immensely popular among young kids. The situations will revolve more around children's issues," said SPNI kids EVP and business head Leena Lele Dutta.

    Animated show that appeals to parents and kids alike

    Produced by Asit Kumarr Modi under the banner of Neela Telefilms, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma remains one of the longest-running shows on Indian television after it crossed the 3,000-episode mark in October last year. It reached out to 22.7 per cent of the children's population in India and has recorded a higher viewership than any other show.

    The channel mainly caters to kids in the age group of 6-10 years. However, this time, the idea was to create a show which caters to both parents and kids even in the animated avatar,” said Dutta.

    The property will be jointly executed by Neela Telefilms and SPNI, where SPNI will manage the production, while Modi handles the creative storytelling. The show will be launched with around 40 episodes; the makers are already creating a bank for season two and have hired multiple scriptwriters to take it ahead. The animation production has been done by Hitech studio based out of Kolkata and Green Gold Animation.

    According to the channel, TMKCC will mainly target the Hindi-speaking markets of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The channel has also planned a Gujarati market feed three months before the actual launch to enable the state residents to watch it in their native language. Colgate has associated with the show as the title sponsor, Play House is the co-powered sponsor.

    Journey of Sony Yay!

    The kids' channel category has evolved ever since Cartoon Network, the first channel exclusively dedicated to kids’ content, was launched in 2014. The category has grown by eight percent during FY2018-2020 and according to BARC data, five channels –Nick, Sonic, Hungama, Pogo, and Disney – dominate the top share.

    However, according to Dutta, the growth of Sony Yay! has been three to four times more than the category, with some popular shows like Shinchan, Doraemon, Chhota Bheem, and its most successful homegrown series Motu Patlu.

    “We are the fastest-growing channel in the category. Sony Yay! has exponentially grown at the rate of 42 per cent since 2018. We have faced many challenges in these four years. In 2020, we were exposed to Covid2019 pandemic, the year before that was NTO implementation, but we managed to sail through all this,” she shared.

    According to the latest data, the Indian Kids entertainment industry reaches over 73.2 million kids and counting (India U+R, TG: 2-14 All NCCS, Universe 183 million). Due to the current situation and curbs, kids are expected to spend more time indoors which will further broaden their interest in all things new.

    “Overall, the kids’ entertainment category occupies eight per cent of the viewership pie of television but receives only 3.5 per cent of the revenue share of advertising, making it a highly under-indexed category. That said, incremental growth will also be led by licensing and merchandising followed by character/brand integrations,” said Dutta.

    New shows to bolster the summer slate

    The channel is also planning to tap into the ever-increasing demand for fresh content this summer and will offer viewers a wide range of choices of new characters and fresh narratives this year. This includes new characters and narratives with shows like Kikoumba, Chimpoo Simpoo, Bhaalu Yeh Bindaas Hai, Chorr Police, Obocchama-Kun, new movies, and episodes of its existing properties Honey Bunny ka Jholmaal and Paap-O-Meter.

    “In an average Indian family, the non-prime time is when kids gain control of the TV sets and we have always conceptualised our strategy around these time bands. It has also led us to constantly evolve and enhance our content strategy into a wide array of 16 shows to match the demand of fresh and differentiated content,” detailed Dutta.

    This summer, the channel will also curate special content for its audience which includes episodic snippets, interactive games, contests, a gamut of entertaining content in seven different languages along a barrage of exciting virtual summer workshops. The makers will also have a 100-city canter activation followed by nine-city mall activation covering key markets in Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh with some engagement touchpoints incorporated.

  • Kids genre becomes top gainer in Chrome DM week 53

    Kids genre becomes top gainer in Chrome DM week 53

    MUMBAI: Kids genre has become the top gainer in week 53 of Chrome Data Analytics and Media data. The genre grew by 4.98 per cent. In this genre, Discovery Kids channel gained the highest OTS with 91.1 per cent in all India 1 lakh+ market.

    OTS is the actual census-based percentage connectivity of a channel spread across 81 million homes, as reported by Chrome DM, across analogue cable, digital cable, and DTH.

    This week, Hindi GEC gained second position and grew by 0.13 per cent in HSM excluding <1 lakh market. In this genre, DD National channel gained the highest OTS with 99.4 per cent. Music genre stood in the third position by gaining 0.08 per cent in HSM excluding <1 lakh market. Sony Mix secured the highest OTS with 92.3 per cent.Religious genre stood in the fourth position and grew by 0.06 per cent in HSM excluding <1 lakh market . Aastha channel gained the highest OTS with 98.3 per cent.  

  • Sony YAY! to host ‘The Giant Wheel Festival’ in Kolkata

    Sony YAY! to host ‘The Giant Wheel Festival’ in Kolkata

    MUMBAI: Sony Yay! – The kid’s entertainment channel is all set to host its first ever funday for the entire family called ‘The Giant Wheel Festival’ (TGWF), which will be held in Kolkata at Nicco Park, Plaza III from 04 January to 05 January 2020. The initiative has been proposed for people to spend some quality time with their families.

    Sony Yay! Has consistently been working to evolve their consumer outreach programs with an intent of being more inclusive with kids and the key stakeholders in their lives. With TGWF, the channel has innovated with a proposition for every member of the family. The first of its kind on-ground initiative – ‘The Giant Wheel Festival’ aims to be the ultimate destination of fun and frolic for the entire family. The festival promises to be a vibrant mix of wide-ranging activities that promise to engage, interact and entice every member of the family.

    The channel, known for its fun mix of characters on its channel, with TGWF promises to bring together all the kids favorites under one roof. The carnival aims to bring the best of experience through adventure, learning and fun zones for a day-cation. The highlight of the festival is specially curated art-workshops for kids which will be hosted by the much-revered Lalon- kid’s favorite art genius. An array of workshops like pottery, science crazy lab and cooking workshops will enable the kids to learn something new. The flea market zone is touted to be the hub for shopping lovers. All the fun planned for the family will be served with Kolkata’s favorite handpicked scrumptious cuisines in the nibble corner.

    The channel has roped in Book My Show as their ticketing partner and the bookings have already started in full swing.

    Sony Pictures Networks India, Kids’ Genre business head Leena Lele Dutta said “Consumers often look out for a perfect opportunity to spend quality time with their families and crave for a one stop family destination. The channel’s endeavour with TGWF is to curate a property to help families create fond memories together and look forward to it year on year. With TGWF, we are taking a huge leap from being the ultimate entertainers for kids to creating an experiential platform that engages the whole family.”