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  • BARC data shows upward trend for kids’ viewership

    BARC data shows upward trend for kids’ viewership

    MUMBAI: Once upon a time, the kids’ genre was the most sidelined of them all but now broadcasters have figured out how to make magic work – localised content. At the ATF Kids’ Summit 2018 in Hyderabad, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) COO Romil Ramgarhia threw light on Indian kids and their viewing habits.

    According to BARC, younger kids in the age group of two to eight years prefer watching Indian content. As far as mixed content is concerned, Indian and international, Cartoon Network garners 49 per cent of viewership from 2-8 years of age group, whereas 51 per cent from the 9-14 years of kids. Talking about the international content consumed by the viewers in the age group of 2-8 years, 45 per cent of the viewers watch Disney channel, 40 per cent and 43 per cent viewership watch Disney XD and Hungama channel respectively. Moreover, Nick channel raked in 58 per cent from the kids on Indian content, followed by 56 per cent, 54 per cent and 62 per cent viewership for Pogo TV, Discovery Kids and Sony Yay channels respectively. 

    Ramgarhia also said that the regional flavour is catching up in the kids’ segment too. Sun TV is already broadcasting in this space. Kochu TV (Malayalam) gets 56 per cent of viewership, whereas Kushi TV (Telugu) and Chutti TV (Tamil) secured 24 per cent and 21 per cent viewership respectively in the age group of 2-14 years kids.

    The duration of home-grown content on national kids’ channels has grown by 18 per cent. In 2016, kids’ channels aired 33 per cent of Indian content and now in 2018, it jumped to 39 per cent.

    Despite the fact that kids spend about 26 per cent of their time on Hindi GECs, the time spent on kids’ channels have also witnessed a hike in the last two years.

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    29 per cent kids like watching Hindi GECs, followed by 18 per cent for Hindi movies and only 11 per cent kids consume kids’ channels. Since 98 per cent of Indian homes still owns a single TV, co-viewing is high.

     

    From week 1 to 32 of 2018, as per the BARC data, the total TV viewership of boys and girls in the age group of 2-14 years was 52 per cent and 48 per cent respectively. 61 per cent boys and 39 per cent girls watch animated content more on TV. Segregating the genre’s viewership on TV to rural and urban areas, urban viewership is 61 per cent while rural is 39 per cent for kids channels. The same shows a different side when it comes to overall TV viewership by kids with 46 per cent urban and 54 per cent for rural.

    The BARC data further showed that animation films on kids channels delivered higher viewership as compared to animated shows and games/quiz programmes.

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    When it comes to sports, according to BARC data, kids dig kabaddi. Apart from this, cricket is the universal game that is liked by 69 per cent of the population.

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    Also, the data stated that on weekends, vacations, festivals and cricket, kids tend to watch more television, especially during events like T20 World Cup, Navratri, Diwali and Christmas.

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  • Discovery Kids aims 35% reach with English audio feed

    Discovery Kids aims 35% reach with English audio feed

    MUMBAI: The kids channels have finally woken up to the importance of animation in regional languages.  

    Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam are the existing languages that are working quite well in the overall industry as well as in the kids segment. Keeping in mind the parents’ concerns for their kids to learn and grow, the broadcasters thought of launching English feeds as well. Recently, Sony Yay made its footprint in the English space and now, Discovery Kids has also added this feed in its bouquet.

    Discovery Kids was launched in 2012 and has already Tamil, Telugu and Hindi audio feeds that helped the channel to leap-frog to fourth rank in the existing cluttered market from ninth rank in the beginning of the year riding on 426 per cent growth in TV ratings. Discovery Kids head Uttam Pal Singh said, “Our channel’s reach has doubled from 9 million in week 1 to 18 million in this week (33) as per the BARC data.    

    He said that since the regional languages are important in the industry, Discovery launched those before entering the English segment. “For Discovery Kids it’s almost like a clean slate when we started it out with the launch of Bandhbuk aur Budbak and Little Singham. So first was definitely getting Tamil on board and as and when we added these regional languages, we got good response,” he said.

    The next step is to get maximum reach in the SAARC countries. “The addition of Telugu feed in April earlier this year helped increase our reach by over 50 per cent in the state of Andhra Pradesh/Telangana. We expect that the English feed will help us penetrate deeper in select pockets in India as well as SAARC countries,” he added.

    The mobile game of Little Singham hit the No. 1 spot in the Arcade section by garnering 3 million downloads within the first two weeks of its launch.

    The network claims to have a daily time spent of 82 minutes on the channel and has observed a significant hike in the ratings due to its programming on the occasions of Friendship Day and 15 August. “We released special content on Desh ka Sipahi Little Singham and focused on Bandhbuk and Budbak on Friendship Day. We gained 9 GRPs in the last week and now as far as the channel’s reach is concerned, we want to reach about 30-35 per cent.”

    As per the BARC data’s week 33, Nickelodeon stands at the first position with 135622 impressions (000s) sum. Disney Channel, Hungama, Discovery Kids and Pogo TV stood at second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 125920 impressions (000s) sum, 110826 impressions (000s) sum, 81728 impressions (000s) sum and 78145 impressions (000s) sum.  

  • Nick to target 500 hrs of original content in next 12 months

    Nick to target 500 hrs of original content in next 12 months

    MUMBAI: Viacom18’s kids cluster, Nickelodeon, is all set to launch its fifth original show named Magictoon and Prince of Magic ‘Rudra – Boom Chik Boom’, a magic comedy series. The show is produced by green gold animation and will be aired on Rishtey and Voot as well. This half an hour, break free show will telecast from 11 June 2018 between Monday to Friday at 7.25 pm.

    The repeat telecast of the show, written by Niraj Vikram, will be aired during two slots – 10 am and 7 pm every Monday to Friday. Gulzaar has once again penned lyrics for the title track, which is sung by Arhaan Hussain to the high-octane music created by Simaap Sen.

    Viacom18 kids cluster senior VP and GM Nina Jaipuria said that the show will be available on Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language feeds. “We could also think of other languages such as Kannada and Bengali audio feeds,” she said.

    Delving more into the clusters’ pockets, the network has also plans to roll out movies for Shiva and Gattu Battu and has also started creating games for Rudra. Pointing out that that locally made shows like Pakdam Pakdai contribute 30 per cent to the viewership, Jaipuria added, “Going forward, in the next 12 months we target to offer 500 hours of local content.”    

    Speaking about the syndication plans, the cluster has rolled up its sleeves to syndicate local IP shows such as Shiva, Motu Patlu and Gattu Battu to countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal and Mauritius.

    The channel stands just next to genre leader Disney, which has 30 per cent market share, while Nick has 28 per cent share, followed by Turner with 20 per cent, others with 12 per cent and Sun Net with 10 per cent, the company said.

    Jaipuria said, “I had promised to overtake Turner at some point. With Turner at 20 per cent and Nick at 28 per cent (market share), we now have our eyes on making sure that we overtake Disney. We hope that we try and succeed in the next summer.”

    However, she added that being number one is not enough and the company’s decisions have to make business sense at the end of the day.

    What about ad sales? Patting her team on the back, Jaipuria said, “Despite all the (after effects of) GST and currency demonetization, we had an exciting sales team which pulled out a top line growth of 15 per cent out of nowhere.

    Apart from ad sales growth, subscription revenue and the ancillary revenue streams too had increased contributing to the top line, Jaipuria said, adding, “Over three years, we had 9x growth in our profitability. We have increased our ad rates and today we are dropping (ad) spots on air as we don’t have enough inventories to play out.”

    According to Jaipuria, in an effort to increase monetization of content, which was earlier one per cent and increased to three per cent, Nick is trying to go “beyond the 30 second vanilla spot that is typically what advertisers put on air.” In terms of revenues, 90 per cent of it comes from ad sales and subscriptions.

    Considering Nick’s impressive growth in terms of viewership and revenues, the year 2019 is likely to have a plethora of new plans for its young audiences.

    Also Read :

    Nick’s school programme curates memorable experiences for kids, says Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Colors-Nick and KidZania to blend entertainment with reality

    ITV Network readies Punjabi music channel

    Enterr10 to launch two Bengali channels

    Industry optimistic about RPD technology for viewership

  • Summer of fun and excitement with india’s no 1 kids entertainment destination – Nickelodeon

    Summer of fun and excitement with india’s no 1 kids entertainment destination – Nickelodeon

    MUMBAI: India’s leading kids’ entertainment franchise Nickelodeon has kids beat the summer heat with a host of exciting and fantastic entertainment spread of new movies and new episodes starring favorite Nicktoons. Adding to the excitement are interesting and once in a life time opportunities for kids to chill with their favorite toons on-air, on ground and at the movies. 

    Adding to the summer time fun are the Nicktoons who are busy creating some entertaining moments for kids with a summer special programming line-up that includes: –

    · All new episodes of Motu Patlu on Nick and Shiva and Pakdam Pakdai on Sonic.

    · New series of Power Rangers Ninja Steel on Nick and all new season of Masha and the Bear, Team Umizoomi, Shimmer and Shine and The Blaze and the Monster Machine on Nick Jr

    · Taking kids into a new world of fun and excitement will be the premiere of the 2 made for television movies “Shiva and The Lost tribe” premiering on 3rd June followed by the movie on the awesome twosome Motu Patlu with Motu Patlu – The Dinosaurs Invasion.”

    Speaking about the high decibel summer engagement plan at Nickelodeon, Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Business Head, Kids Entertainment Cluster at Viacom18 said, “Kids are the center of Nickelodeon’s universe and our constant endeavor is to create money can’t buy experiences for them. It is this intent coupled with our desire to innovate that has made us favorites amongst kids and established our thought leadership in the category.  We will continue to curate engagement and initiatives that are pioneering, immersive and provide an unmatched entertainment experience for kids.”

    It will also rain goodies and specials on Nickelodeon this summer with the high decibel summer campaign that gives lucky winners a chance to chill with their family at the Nickelodeon Universe in Minnesota, USA! All kids need to do to win the Golden Ticket to USA is watch Nickelodeon Monday to Friday from 6.30pm – 7.30pm and answer some fun questions! 

    The summer fun extends to Sonic with kids getting the chance to be a part of the super cool “SHIVA Gizmo Gang Contest” – Powered by V Mart. Kids need to watch SONIC Monday-Friday from 5.30pm – 6.30pm and answer some questions. Up for grabs will be Segways and VR Headsets that will delight the kids.

    Capturing even the silver screen this summer in a first of its kind initiative, kids will also get to immerse themselves into the Nickelodeon world at the nearest Inox Theatre. The ‘Nickelodeon Children’s Film Festival’ will start on 26th May, every Saturday and Sunday across 21 cities in India like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Lucknow, Jaipur etc. which will screen the most loved Nickelodeon movies like Motu Patlu City of Gold, Pakdam Pakdai in Egypt, The Secret World of Vedas City, to name a few. Kids with parents in tow can pick up Motu Patlu combo treats while they enjoy the animated adventure movies of Motu Patlu, Shiva and Pakdam Pakdai.

    Adding scale to the campaigns, Nickelodeon and Sonic will engage with kids across the country with a a high decibel integrated marketing campaign spanning cross channel TV promotions, print communication in leading dailies, on-ground activations, digital and strategic alliances. Activations at high footfall malls like High Street Phoenix, Oberoi Mall, R Mall in Mumbai and Ambience Mall in Delhi, and brand presence at relevant touchpoints like Funcity gaming arcade and Central mall will increase the engagement with kids in metros and urban cities. Taking the engagement deeper into the country is a month-long van activation going across 30 cities and building affinity in the tier2 and tier3 towns.

    The campaign will also see a dedicated microsite for the kids to submit their answers, interactive posts on social media calling for entries along with an interactive App serving as another gateway for contest entries.

  • Aditi Bhatnagar to join Network18 as EVP special projects

    Aditi Bhatnagar to join Network18 as EVP special projects

    MUMBAI:  In a restructuring mode, Reliance Industries-controlled Network18 has not only been shuffling senior executives vesting in them newer responsibilities, but also bringing in professionals from outside. The latest is Aditi Singh Bhatnagar who is joining the group as EVP of special projects.

    Bhatnagar was previously COO-cum-head of special projects and events at NDTV.

    Earlier, Network18 announced the elevation of Avinash Kaul as the chief operating officer of the group with continued and additional responsibility as managing director at A+E Network at TV18 Broadcast, a subsidiary that runs and manages the TV channels of Network18.

    According to company sources, even as more restructuring in Network18 is gradually affected after the controlling stake in Viacom18, Bhatnagar will report to the group’s president for marketing and special projects Priyanka Kaul.

    Having spent about two decades at NDTV, Bhatnagar, an alumnus of Delhi’s prestigious SRCC, has held leadership positions in her previous company driving business and strategies in areas such as content development, revenue and business development, production and sales.

    Network18 Media and Investments Ltd is a media and entertainment company with interests in television, internet, filmed entertainment, digital business, magazines, mobile content and allied businesses. The company manages various digital businesses, including portals such as moneycontrol.com, ibnlive.com, burrp.com, in.com and firstpost.com. It also operates digital commerce properties like HomeShop18 and bookmyshow.com. In addition, Network18 is a leading player in the publishing space having under its wings titles such as Forbes India, Overdrive, Better Interiors and Better Photography. Network18 has also allied investments in Colosceum, Toppers, 24X7 Learning, Yatra and Ubona.

    Through its subsidiary TV18 Broadcast Limited, the group operates news channels such as CNBC-TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNBC Bajar, CNBC-TV18 Prime HD, CNN-News18, IBN7, ETV channels and IBN-Lokmat (a Marathi regional news channel in partnership with the Lokmat group).

    TV18 also operates a joint venture with Viacom, called Viacom18, which houses a portfolio of popular entertainment channels like Colors, Colors HD, Colors Infinity, Rishtey, MTV India, MTV Indies, Comedy Central, Vh1, Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr, Teen Nick and Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the group’s filmed entertainment business. TV18 operates a factual entertainment channel History TV18 and FYI TV18 through a joint venture with A+E Networks.

    Also Read :

    Network18 appoints Avinash Kaul as COO

    Turner appoints IndiaCast as exclusive distribution agent

    TV18 to increase Viacom18 stake to 51%

  • Kids genre grows on TV despite digital onslaught

    Kids genre grows on TV despite digital onslaught

    MUMBAI: There was no dearth of excitement in the kids’ entertainment space in 2017. Despite the digital onslaught, original content producers grew from strength to strength, keeping children enthralled on television. TV viewership grew during the year even as doomsayers predicted that the end of the good old box was nigh.

    Among the major events of the year, Toonz India Media Group struck a deal with ReachMe.TV in the US to enable streaming of Toonz TV through the latter’s mobile web platform. Green Gold Animation signed a deal with Netflix for creating a spinoff of popular character Chhota Bheem for snippets of Mighty Little Bheem.

    Here’s a look at what each channel did this year.

    Disney

    A favourite among young adults, the Disney channel is known for television programming for children through original series, movies and third-party programming. This year witnessed top-level corporate reshuffling. The company promoted Amit Malhotra as the country head for Singapore and Malaysia. Earlier, Malhotra was the general manager for media networks, responsible for businesses across all functions in the media networks in Southeast Asia (SEA). Abhishek Maheshwari was elevated to country head (India).

    There were reports that Doordarshan was in talks with Disney for kiddy content in evening slots. Disney also launched a three-week campaign for merchandise, celebrating the spirit of sisterhood, featuring two young daughters and how the Frozen sisters inspired them in their day-to-day lives.

    Furthermore, Disney’s sister channel—Hungama—came up with Chacha Bhatija who go on a new adventure in the second movie.

    Turner

    Turner India creates and manages the sales, distribution and marketing of entertainment brands in India and South Asia, including CNN International, Cartoon Network, Pogo, Toonami, HBO and WB.

    It turned out to be a fruitful year with great deals and partnerships. Turner India was successful in imparting a larger-than-life feel to its characters through a tie-up with Amaazia, an upcoming amusement park in Surat. The park is owned and operated by Gujarat-based Rajgreen group. Scheduled to open in 2019, the park will serve as a medium for Turner’s kids channel Cartoon Network (CN) to launch new products and conduct ‘meet and greets’ with its animated characters. Out of the four sections in Amaazia, only the theme park is branded by CN. The rest are a water park, family recreational hub, and serviced apartments and retail shopping area.

    Apart from having a chase comedy in the bouquet, Pogo came up with another indigenous slapstick comedy show for its fans. Focussing more on home-grown content, Tik Tak Tail was the chase comedy that it experimented with in September and then came the slapstick show Andy Pirki. It also announced the launch of a brand-new show, Grizzy and the Lemmings. Moreover, Cartoon Network came up with the fifth and sixth parts of Oggy and the Cockroaches.

    Discovery Kids

    The channel announced a deal with IM Incorporated, a London-based content distribution company, to premiere Sunny Bunnies in India. Angry Birds Sing the Blues came up for the first time in Indian television in a series format.

    Nickelodeon

    This year, Nickelodeon came up with the Halo Movement—a new year-round pro-social initiative celebrating kids who are helping and leading others. In terms of viewership, too, the channel has done pretty well for itself. In week 50 of Barc data, the channel was ranked number one with 127600 impressions (000s) sum. Another important event was the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2017, which honoured the best in the world of entertainment across film and television.

    Sony Yay

    On 18 April 2017, Animax Asia was replaced by Sony Yay. While the former focussed on serving young adults, Yay concentrated on children of all ages. Animax was handed over to SonyLiv.

    The channel is building local characters to monetise and launched four original shows Guru AurBhole, Sab Jholmaal Hai, Prince Jai aur DumdaarViru, and Paap-o-Meter and it holds the IP rights for all of them. The channel also associated with ‘animals matter to me’ to make Diwali ‘pawsome.’

    Although 2017 wasn’t an eventful year, there were plenty of nuggets of action with the latest entrant, Sony Yay, throwing its hat into the ring and fighting it out with the existing players in the kids genre. We will have to wait and see how channels gear up to take on the growing trend of digital in 2018 and whether OTT adds significant value for kids.

  • Nick and Colors Kannada among top FB, YouTube monthly views: Culture Machine analysis

    Nick and Colors Kannada among top FB, YouTube monthly views: Culture Machine analysis

    MUMBAI: Culture Machine, a subsidiary of The Aleph Group, Singapore, has established a leaderboard for publishers across multiple categories in India.

    Founded by Sameer Pitalwalla and Venkat Prasad in 2013, Culture Machine’s patent-pending tech IP ‘Intelligence Machine’ tracked the month on month performance of Indian channels on YouTube and Facebook to provide a comprehensive view of which publisher has a maximum engagement in terms of views, likes, comments, shares and subscribers.

    The partnerships with Google and Facebook, and with the use of proprietary algorithms, Intelligence Machine has the ability to track three billion videos, categorise the publishers and rank the publishers extensively.

    The current report provides insights on the entertainment and news category. Future analyses by the end of 2017 will include sports, fashion, beauty, automobile and food industry.

    According to Culture Machine’s report, the top five positions in Youtube ranking have been grabbed by Nick Jr. with 93.96 million monthly views, Nickelodeon with 62.94 million monthly views, Asianet with 31.33 million monthly views, Asianet Movies with 15.27 million monthly views and Colors Kannada with 8.47 million monthly views.

    In the Facebook ranking list, the top five positions were taken by Nickelodeon with 98.52 million monthly views, Colors Kannada with 25.53 million monthly views, Colors Infinity with 22.60 million monthly views, History TV18 with 19.66 million monthly views and The Epic Channel with 17.03 million monthly views.

  • Disney India launches a magical campaign for Frozen merchandise

    Disney India launches a magical campaign for Frozen merchandise

    MUMBAI: Disney India has introduced two magical Frozen TVCs’ on 7 September to celebrate the spirit of sisterhood, featuring two young daughters and how they get inspired by the Frozen sisters in their everyday lives. The TVCs’ showcase the happy conversations, secrets and promises shared between sisters. 

    A three-week campaign, during which the commercials will be aired across top television networks including kids channels, Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nick, Pogo, GECs, SAB TV and Colours, with as many as 18+ exposures a day on the channels and expected reach of 3Cr+ individuals, has been planned.

    The campaign will also bring alive the magic on social media as the ads simultaneously premiere on the Disney India Facebook page, which will be further enhanced with a Disney Frozen store during the Flipkart Big Billion Days sale. Disney plans to launch a wide collection of Disney Frozen dolls, apparel and exclusive offers on the e-commerce platform.

    All the fans and girls will also get an opportunity to meet Elsa at the Magical world of Disney in Hong Kong on purchasing Disney Frozen products on Flipkart during the Big Billion Days sale.

    Short format content around the Frozen theme will be published on social media, promising engaging contests with exciting giveaways. The products are available at Hamleys, Flipkart and all leading stores.

  • From Maya to a real super success, the Cosmos Maya turnaround story

    From Maya to a real super success, the Cosmos Maya turnaround story

    MUMBAI: When it comes to producing animation series, very few can hold a candle to Cosmos Maya. Founded in 1996 as Maya, the animation studio has progressed over the years from creating a single intellectual property Motu Patlu in 2012 to a handful of them in India and overseas.

    Operating out of Mumbai and Singapore, Cosmos Maya  has grown leaps and bounds over the years, always being the trendsetter in the Indian animation industry and now it is en route to rubbing shoulders with some of the prominent studios internationally.

    Following the resounding success of Indian animation productions like Motu Patlu (MP), ViR – The Robot Boy, Kisna, Shiva, Bure Kaam Ka Bura Natija, Kyun Bhai Chacha, Haan Bhatija (BKBNKBCHB) and Guru Aur Bhole (GAB), the studio also branched out into crossover Indian animation productions with Eena Meena Deeka (EMD) and the soon to launch Tik Tak Tail which are Indian shows for global audiences.

    And it’s not just domestically where Cosmos Maya is leaving its footprint… It currently has three international co-productions Captain Cactus, Atchoo! and Help Me Ganesha, in different stages of production and development.

    The journey started when Anish Mehta came in and took over as CEO of the company and he decided to get things moving at a blistering pace.  In the five years since he has been at the helm, Cosmos Maya has produced 12 shows and 1000 plus episodes. In the world of animation that kind of a performance is unparalleled – possibly for any studio not just in India but globally. And continuing on it’s growth trajectory, the company has confirmed contracts and execution plans for around 400 odd episodes within this year.

    What started off as a dream with a handful of team members, is now a fully evolved studio with equipped with systems and processes to handle continuous and simultaneous workflow on account of multiple projects; with a scalable model for growth, with 100% utilised production facilities, both in house as well through a multitude of vendors to whom production work is outsourced, within India and in several parts of Asia. Add to that a well-entrenched penetration in the global markets through its highly developed international distribution and marketing network, and Cosmos-Maya is all set on the growth path.

    The long term vision of the company entails a plan to produce an independent world-class Hollywood feature film, something that BlueSky did with Ice Age. This is the next target that Anish intends to achieve five years from now.

    “We have a great team out here. Be it creatives, production, operations, digital or marketing, each member in the super core team brings in the same passion that helps us create the difference. Then there is the core team which takes the vision to the next level from an execution perspective, while keeping the passion levels intact. And then there are over 600 odd people, each one again working with the same madness,” says a visibly proud youngish academic looking bespectacled Anish Mehta.

    “At Cosmos Maya, the way we approach an IP is keeping in mind what is going on in the market and how do we bring in the next new trend,” explains Anish. “Balancing both of these things is what we focused and continue to focus on, a perfect combination of creative and business acumen.”

    This includes selecting innovative subjects and concepts. The first IP that rolled out was a first of its kind for India as it featured two adult protagonists behaving like silly kids and was titled Motu Patlu. “It was India’s take on the evergreen franchise Laurel & Hardy,” says Anish.

    Cosmos Maya invested in creating a pilot for Motu Patlu and then approached broadcasters – a process which the studio follows to this day. Viacom18’s kids channel Nick bought into it. And Anish’s baby has not looked back since. The Motu Patlu franchise has only grown. Cosmos Maya has 300 plus episodes of the series (600 stories altogether) in its catalogue, 13 TV films and one theatrical film, Motu Patlu – King of Kings.

    And, why not?

    Motu Patlu over the past five years has been a TRP topper for Cosmos Maya and the channel’s creative & programming head Anu Sikka is happy that they have a winner on their hands. So much so that she has signed a long term contract for both Motu Patlu and Shiva with the studio, ensuring that many more episodes and films of the franchises continue to regale audiences. And Anish has a deal with Viacom18 to develop another one.

    Currently, work is on to spin off two series from the Motu Patlu franchise. Anish was willing to talk about one which is being driven by the studio and features characters who have gained popularity with Indian kids: the adorable police officer – Inspector Chingum & Guddu Ghalib – the timid circus lion who became the protector of the jungle in the feature film Motu Patlu – King of Kings. He did not disclose much about the other, cryptically saying that “the new shows will be with a major digital partner and will be digital first productions.”

    He points out that the company has a three pronged strategy:  keep domestic productions such as Motu Patlu, Shiva, GAB, and BKBNKBCHB which have an earthy Indian appeal going successfully. “Then there are shows like Eena Meena Deeka, Tik Tak Tail (which we will be launching soon) don’t necessarily look Indian because they have a wider appeal globally; and lastly there are the international co-productions” he further explains.

    The India centric shows which can travel to about 20 odd countries on an average fetch revenues in the range of around Rs 3 million per episode; while category toppers and milestone makers like Motu Patlu of course fetch at least a 30 per cent higher revenue than this average. On the other hand,  cross-over shows that can travel to over 50 countries have a revenue potential of Rs 5 million per episode. And then the third category of shows, the ambitious globally targeted ones like Captain Cactus and Help Me Ganesha hold a revenue potential of around Rs 10 million per episode.

    Amongst the more ambitious international projects is the one featuring a cactus called Captain Cactus which is at pre-prod stage and is being developed under the creative supervision of Olivier Jean Marie the creator of Oggy & the Cockroaches. An announcement about a worldwide distribution partner should be made by end-August, and Asian partners are expected to sign on the dotted line by end-September.

    Anish is hopeful that Captain Cactus will bring about a revolution in global co-productions since it has got the best of both worlds – that is a strong Asian studio, a European creator and European distribution partners. It is also in talks with a couple of broadcast or digital partners worldwide.

    “From a show perspective we have Olivier Jean-Marie with us who is known for a certain style of story-telling and people jump at the chance of working with him,” he expresses. “So we are quite confident that Captain Cactus will deliver.”

    Anish and team at Cosmos Maya are banking on a new IP inspired by Lord Ganesha which it is developing in a co-production with Gerhard Hahn of Hahn Films. The co-production with the German creator who is one of the more respected animators globally is tentatively called Help me Ganesha.

    “We are very confident that we, with Gerhard Hahn as a partner, will take it on a never seen before global level,” says a sanguine Anish.

    The company is doing well on the digital front too with its IPs on YouTube. Its channel WowKidz has been growing at a rapid clip despite being a late entrant. At last count over 1.5 million subscribers had clocked up around 1.6 billion views for the over 3000 videos that Cosmos Maya has on the channel.  Amongst its foreign imports is a show called Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 which is being promoted with the help of Motu Patlu and is raking in good views.

    “ViR – The Robot Boy has been one of the most important IPs on WowKidz, as per the data analytics from YouTube and we are creating spin-off content from this show for WowKidz,” says Anish. He mentions that because ViR, is a digital phenomenon, a further push for content creation will be given, and new episodes of it will be produced. With spin-off content and a digital first next season plan in place, ViR is going to be one of the key focus IPs in the days to come.

    Its second channel WowKidz Rhymes has 130,000 plus subscribers and caters to the pre-school kids need for freshly narrated nursery rhymes – a slot that the Chennai-based ChuChuTV has very cleverly exploited. Currently, its popular characters Motu Patlu and VIR the Robot boy have been used to recite the nursery rhymes in an engaging manner.  More content around Imli is in the pipeline. With innovation in mobile gaming industry, another focus is towards WowKidz mobile games, engaging kids more towards the popular IPs.

    WowKidz will also introduce another division- WowKidz edutainment for kids for toddlers and pre-school kids to learn alphabets, numbers, shapes, values and general awareness in form of rhymes and shows.

    With so much on its plate, the studio will need to scale up in terms of manpower and further strengthen its infrastructure. A dedicated new facility is coming up in Mumbai near its operational headquarters in Film City.  Additional captive satellite units are also coming up in Hyderabad and Kolkata. The goal is to add around 300 professionals to its 550 strong artist pool.

    Anish believes that the founders of Maya – Ketan Mehta and Deepa Sahi – wanted to do something; hence they set it up.

    “Their dream went on to become an industry,” he says. “I am hopeful that AR and VR (a content area that the company has recently started investing) too will help us polevault to another level. Our animation business too is looking very good.  With so many avenues for our content in place, it is indeed one of the best and the brightest phases for the animation industry.”

    Amen to that!

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  • Nick’s school programme curates memorable experiences for kids, says Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    Nick’s school programme curates memorable experiences for kids, says Nina Elavia Jaipuria

    MUMBAI: Nickelodeon has upped the fun and entertainment quotient for kids this quarter. The franchise has flagged off a high octane on air campaign “Nickelodeon Best Friendshake Forever” and “Sonic School with Toons” contest, presented by McVitie’s Creams and co-powered by Parle Cafechino, Parle Kachcha Mango Bite and Dabur Red paste.

    The campaign will be brought alive on-ground by a high decibel school contact programme across 650 schools spanning over 20 cities. Days spent at school are most memorable and Nickelodeon’s school contact programme is all set to make sure that children celebrate the best years of their life.

    Kids’ Entertainment Cluster business head Nina Elavia Jaipuria said, “Nickelodeon believes in actively engaging with kids outside of television by providing them with an immersive platform to interact with their favorite toons. Our robust school contact programme allows us to connect with kids and curate memorable experiences for them, thus forging an unbreakable bond. It is a result of such marquee initiatives that nickelodeon and its adorable toons continue to play an eminent role in every child’s daily life.”

    The school contact programme will engage with kids across the country from metros such as Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai to the smaller towns and cities such as Bhopal, Lucknow, Nashik, Jaipur, Chandigarh etc. Kids will be treated to interactive games, trivia questions, sampling and exciting goodies that will make a day at school both fun and exciting.

    Nickelodeon’s Best Friensdshake Forever will see kids create their version of the cool and edgy friendship shake. Adding to the excitement is the Friendshake Forever Contest that will give kids a chance to win fabulous goodies such as drones, hover board, Iphones and VR headsets by tuning in to Nick every Monday to Friday from 5:30 to 8:30p.m. All they need to do is watch their favorite shows- Motu Patlu, Ninja Hattori and Gattu Battu in action and count the number of times their amazing Friendshake is flashed on screen.

    The kids need to tune in to Sonic every evening from 6:30 to 8:30p.m, watch Pakdam Pakdai, Shiva and Oggy and the Cockroaches and count the number of times the characters are flashed on-air to get their exclusive time with the amazing toons.