Tag: Sony Pictures Network India

Sony Pictures Networks’ sports cluster’s year in review, road ahead

MUMBAI: In the tough two-horse race of Indian sports broadcasting, Sony Pictures Networks has had a slight edge over Star India when it comes to football events, while the latter holds the sway in Indian cricket. Currently, the NP Singh-led network is in charge of premier football properties like La Liga, Serie A, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

SPN India has also invested in domestic leagues, firmly believing that such products are not only gaining prominence but are bound to witness a formidable growth in the future. One such success story is the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), which will return to SPN for its fourth edition. Besides this, the network will also broadcast the inaugural edition of the Pro Volleyball League that has gained considerable steam of late.

Multi-sporting destination

2018 was a successful year for the broadcaster in terms of multi-sporting properties, with big-ticket events like Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup, NBA and Asian Games helping it differentiate itself from others.

“Multi-sports viewing is on the uptake and we will continue to provide our viewers diverse content across different sports categories along with innovative programming initiatives to increase our penetration in both urban and rural markets,” SPN India chief revenue officer and head – sports business Rajesh Kaul said.

SPN has been the home of La Liga for the past four seasons in India. However, last year Facebook won the media rights for the top tier of Spanish football for the Indian subcontinent for three seasons starting 2018-19. The deal with the social media giant was the first of its kind for La Liga.

While the 380 matches were to be available for free to people on Facebook in eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Facebook and SPN reached an agreement wherein the broadcaster earned the right to air over 100 games via its sports cluster.

The deal will allow SPN to broadcast key clashes including the El Clasico and Madrid Derby across its sports channels as well as SonyLIV.

Record-breaking show

The headline act for SPN in 2018 was the FIFA World Cup. There was a humungous buzz around the tournament this time as it aired during primetime in India after almost two editions. The broadcaster had four language feeds for the showpiece event, which was telecast on Sony Ten 2 in English, Sony Ten 3 in Hindi and Bengali and Malayalam audio feeds on Sony ESPN.

A total of 110.5 million viewers in India watched the quadrennial event, according to the broadcaster. The tournament had 64 live matches aired across Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 3, Sony ESPN channels and their HD versions.

The broadcaster, which had managed to attract more than 40 advertisers on television, is estimated to have pocketed close to Rs 200 crore in advertising revenue. The 2014 edition had fetched the network Rs 100 crore in ad revenue.

70 million viewers across India tuned in to watch the World Cup on SPN’s OTT SonyLIV. The average time spent per viewer was 15-16 minutes per match.

“Sports’ viewing as a trend is becoming participative and we saw an opportunity to launch interactive engagement for our viewers in both entertainment and sports. Second screen engagement and interactivity is moving to the forefront and we will continue with his trend as it gives viewers deeper insights and a more immersive experience. While TV is still the preferred choice for sports viewing, we have observed trends of a growing user base on digital platforms for sports viewing in 2018 and we see it strengthening its position further in 2019,” Kaul added.

Cricket rights play

When it comes to cricket, SPN currently holds the broadcast rights for eight boards – Cricket Australia, England and Wales Cricket Board, Pakistan Cricket Board, Sri Lanka Cricket, Cricket South Africa, Cricket West Indies, Cricket Ireland and Zimbabwe Cricket Board.

It had acquired exclusive media rights from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for the Indian subcontinent for a period of five years from 2018 through 2022. This agreement with ECB gives SPN the rights to both televise and digitally broadcast within the Indian subcontinent, men’s and women’s international matches, including Test matches, T20 Internationals and ODIs, played in England.

SPNI also acquired the media rights for T10 Cricket League for three years (2018-20) for the Indian sub-continent and Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The broadcaster also had the rights for T10 Cricket League in 2017.

The broadcaster currently has 10 channels in its sports bouquet after the network pulled the plug on Sony Ten Golf HD in the wake of TRAI’s new tariff order.

The Prasar Bharati problem

In October, MIB proposed to amend the Sports Act 2007 to offer ‘sports events of national importance’ on Prasar Bharati-owned free-to-air Doordarshan Network, an extended reach via private direct to home and cable TV Networks.

The move to amend the Sports Act 2007 has been necessitated due to a Supreme Court verdict which held that the public broadcaster Doordarshan cannot air events of national importance on private distribution platforms.

In the same month, MIB issued a notice for receiving feedback/comments from general public/stakeholders on the draft bill, 2018. The deadline for submitting the feedback was 15 January 2019, but there is no update on the date extension. The earlier deadline was 31 December 2018.

This may result in a preference change of the consumer, thereby pushing them to unsubscribe private sports network channels. This will also give the distribution platforms an opportunity to negotiate harder with the sports broadcasters.

A move of this nature could adversely impact the revenues of sports broadcasters, throwing the entire ecosystem into a tizzy.

Challenges in 2019

India’s historic win over Australia ensured that SPN kicked off 2019 to a rather glorious start. With the immensely popular Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni delivering match-winning knocks, SPN is likely to have posted big viewership numbers on its channels as well as OTT. However, the remainder of the year isn’t going to produce a lot of fireworks for the broadcaster especially when it comes to Indian cricket. Barring India’s tour to the West Indies, SPN does not have a lot to offer to Indian fans. Rival Star India, with the rights to the IPL and the World Cup, is bound to be the home of India’s cricket-crazy public in 2019.

January 22, 2019
Sony Marathi banks on fiction to be market leader

MUMBAI: Regional is the hot new space for broadcasters and they have taken big bets on vernacular languages to garner higher ratings. Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI), which already has its presence in the Bengali space, saw the potential in Marathi market and made a move to launch its channel on 19 August 2018.

The channel launched nine fiction shows and two non-fiction shows during its launch and now, the channel is adding yet another non-fiction show, Super Dancer Maharashtra, produced by frames production house in its bouquet. The channel claims to focus on fiction while non-fiction will also have a steady offering. Sony Marathi business head Ajay Bhalwankar said, “Sony as a cluster, is known for our non-fiction shows and for us, fiction will matter but non-fiction will also have a steady offering from us.”

The channel claims to have surpassed the established biggie in the market which is Star Pravah, bagging 30 GRPs with 21 per cent reach in the Maharashtra-Goa Urban 15+ market. “Nobody has opened as big as in the first week itself, we are ahead of the already established players like Star Pravah,” said Bhalwankar.

When asked about the challenges that Sony Marathi is facing in the already cluttered market, he pointed out that there were many but one was to figure out what kind of channel was needed as Marathi is a matured market since 20 years. “So our first and foremost position was to get a position ourselves, to create a space for ourselves in this market. Sony Marathi was the first serious launch of the regional channel, as we don’t have regional channels apart from Sony Aath which was more of acquisition and more of films and dubbed content. But our Marathi bouquet will be a full-fledged original content that we are making so that was the other challenge that we had of how we approach the regional channel and offering.”

Talking about Sony Marathi’s flagship shows so far, Bhalwankar said that it’s too early to analyse which shows are working well. He said that people are sampling their liking. People are watching throughout the day, during its primetime and also on Sundays. “The approach for us is to grow brick by brick, so our first step has been formidable and we are looking at how slowly and steadily we will grow. Going forward, we have exciting content for fiction. People have reacted positively for fiction, whereas in non-fiction we have got some big properties,” he said.

The Marathi segment, especially the GECs and the movies, have been garnering a great traction from advertisers. According to the reports, after Tamil and Telegu, advertisers are now banking on this segment, which contributes 4 per cent (Rs 800-1,000 crore) to the overall TV revenue and industry experts estimate that the top-line to grow by 10-15 per cent.

October 17, 2018
SonyLIV partners Amagi to grow OTT ad revenue

MUMBAI: Amagi, a media processing service that targets advertising for TV and OTT, today announced that SonyLIV is using its Thunderstorm cloud-based platform for targeted OTT dynamic ad insertion. As part of the deal, Amagi will monetise premium GEC and movie channels on SonyLIV OTT platform, generating additional ad revenues.

Using Amagi Thunderstorm, SonyLIV will be able to insert targeted mid-roll ads without the need to change its existing broadcast workflows. The service leverages new-age machine learning techniques to detect ads in channel feeds and replace them with new, targeted ads on the server-side.

Sony Pictures Network India business head-digital Uday Sodhi said, “SonyLIV is growing its subscriber-base at an impressive rate, making it an ideal digital platform for advertisers to target clearly defined audience segments. We are continuously looking to enhance value for our advertisers. Amagi is a pioneer in the targeted advertising space and this technology partnership provides additional options for advertisers to work with us.”

SonyLIV has integrated Amagi Thunderstorm with its in-house ad-decision system and partner ad networks. This allows SonyLIV to maximise ad revenue opportunities in real-time by serving ad spots to the highest bidder. Amagi CEO Deepakjit Singh said, “We are delighted to partner with SonyLIV, and deploy our next-generation ad tech solutions that create new revenue opportunities. The Thunderstorm platform is designed for high concurrency, and to deliver frame-accurate ad insertions at scale. These capabilities become vital for SonyLIV, especially since many of its premium channels have high number of concurrent users.”

September 14, 2018
Kedar Teny to move on from SPN India

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network (SPN) India senior VP marketing and OAP Sports Kedar Teny has decided to move on from the company and is serving his notice period, sources close to the development informed Indiantelevision.com. He will be with the organisation till October.

Prior to SPN India, Kedar Teny was the director marketing and digital at McDonald’s India (West & South) for around three years. He is planning to join a startup. According to Campaign India, Teny might join Tilt Brands, which was founded by Joseph George.

Teny has over two decades of experience in marketing and digital domains. He started off as a management trainee at iB&W Communications and went on to work as category head deodorants Hindustan Unilever; general manager, brand, Bharti Airtel; senior brand planning director South East Asia, Thailand (Bangkok), Lowe and Partners Worldwide and has worked with Lowe and Partners Worldwide in various capacities.

September 11, 2018
Four most watched channels on Indian television

BENGALURU: Despite many experts predicting the decline and ultimate death of conventional television, the medium is still one of the largest ones for entertainment, for news and for marketers in terms of viewers. Notwithstanding the fact that more channels have come under Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC), the moot point is that the number of television advertisements in India has increased says an industry watcher. So,which were the most watched television channels week on week in the country during until week 35 of 2018?
Analysis of BARC weekly data for the top 10 channels across genres NCCS: 2+ All for weeks 1 to 35 of 2018 (Saturday, 30 December 2017 to Friday, 31 August 2018, period under consideration) have revealed some interesting facts. The most notable one is that only four channels have appeared in BARC’s weekly across genres during all the first 35 weeks of 2018. All four are general entertainment channels. Two are free to air (FTA) and two are flagship channels of the networks of which they are a part of. Three are Hindi and one is Tamil. In alphabetical order they are: Star India’s FTA and renamed channel Star Bharat: Sun TV Network’s flagship Tamil GEC Sun TV, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) FTA Hindi GEC channel and its flagship Hindi GEC Zee TV.
Please refer to the figure below:

(The only parameter considered in this report is limited to BARC ratings. Reach, viewership share, have not been considered here. BARC weekly viewership data for the top 10 Channels Across Genres available in the public data is in terms of thousands of impressions (000s))

Sun TV is the most watched television channel in India. Period. Its average ratings during the first 35 weeks of 2018 are even higher than the average ratings of Star India’s sports channel Star Sports 1 Hindi during the weeks that IPL 11 was played in 2018, Sun is a regional channel with a major portion of its viewership limited to the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry markets.
Zee Anmol and Star Bharat are the first and second most watched Hindi GECs’ respectively in India. The viewership of both the channels is driven more by rural numbers as compared to urban. The fourth most watched channel in India is Zee TV. Zee TV’s ratings are driven more by urban viewers than rural viewers.
Until week 33 oi 2018, Sony Pictures Network India’s (SPN) women focused Hindi GEC Sony Pal consistently appeared in BARC’s weekly top 10 channels across genres. However, since the past two weeks (weeks 34 and 25 of 2018), the channel has missed BARC’s weekly lists of top 10 channels across genres bus.

September 11, 2018
SPN English cluster innovations for 2018

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Network India (SPN) is prepping to engage the world’s second largest English-speaking market where 60 per cent of the population is under 35. With an active English cluster, SPN has some global offerings for India in 2018.

It has picked up some of the best films from the biggest studios in Hollywood including Walt Disney, Universal, Warner Bros and PVR Pictures among others. SPN India’s English Entertainment cluster includes four channels catering to three genres – Sony Pix and Sony Le Plex HD for movies, AXN for English entertainment and Sony BBC Earth for English infotainment.

As per data shared by SPN for All India: NCCS 15-40 AB, Sony Pix, in the tier 1 space, is ranked second with an 18 per cent market share and time spent by viewers (TSV) of 23 minutes just behind Star Movies which has a 20 per cent market share and TSV of 24 minutes during the calendar year 2017.

SPN India classifies audiences into influencers and adopters – the influencers are the compulsive viewers, active across digital platforms and watch rated and recommended content. The adopters prefer watching TV with a relatively low awareness quotient and often seek advice on the content they need to watch.

Sony Pix reached around 34 million households in 2017. The content on the channel is curated from the top five studios in the world that included Disney, Warner Bros, NBC Universal, Sony and Lionsgate.

According to SPN India EVP of English channels Tushar Shah, the ad sales revenue for the whole of English entertainment and movies genre is upwards of Rs 700 crore. “We are extremely competitive as far as the ad rates are concerned,” says Shah. The prime time for the genre is 8-11 pm.

When asked whether the trend of content consumption on OTT has affected traditional media, Shah says that there is always a churn between different platforms around the world. But this hasn’t led to viewership shrinking. Instead, it has grown by 54 per cent for the English category between 2016 and 2017. The English movies genre overall has grown by 67 per cent in 2017. “Some of the new content which we have curated will be on the OTT platform for a period of time,” adds Shah.

“The launch of OTT has augmented the growth of TV channels in India,” says SPN India senior VP- marketing English entertainment Neville Bastawalla. SPN’s movie catalogue consists of 500 films with movies like The Fast and the Furious 8, the latest The Mummy, Despicable Me 3, which Pix will air for the first time on TV in India.

“There are no other channels in the market that offer such diverse content from the top five studios in the world,” Shah says. “Our distribution is very tight and best in the industry and is backed by excellent creative ideas and execution.”

SPN India’s premium English movie channel, Sony Le Plex HD, is at the top position with 29 per cent share in the premium category, according to the network. SPN India channels will showcase movies like Happy Death Day, Victoria and Abdul, The Red Turtle, Mary Magdalene, Dragon Heart etc.

AXN, SPN India’s twenty-year-old legacy brand, topped the charts with a 25 per cent market share and a reach of 26 million households in CY 2017, according to the network. Compared to 2016, the channel witnessed a spectacular growth of 118 per cent in viewership in 2017 claims SPN India. AXN will host the Indian television premiere of the show with two Golden Globes and eight Primetime Emmy Awards – The Handmaid’s Taleon 5 February. AXN will also have the much awaited new seasons of shows like Vikings and Billions and the return of popular reality shows such as Top Chef and Top Gears.

Sony BBC Earth is set to benefit from the quadrupling of HD subscription by 2030 according to a Chrome Data & Analytics HD report. “Sony BBC Earth airs extremely premium content. We don’t believe in thrills which are for the sake of being there and for attracting viewership. As of this week’s HD data, the channel has 14 per cent market share,” informs Shah.

BBC claims to have made the most expensive natural history series Planet Earth 2 which took three years across 40 countries. The channel has content for all types of audiences from 8 pm to 12 pm starting with science at 8 pm followed by nature and wildlife at 9 pm and adventure at 10 pm. Sony BBC Earth will air a new show Blue Planet 2, which took four years to make with underwater shooting filmed at depths of up to 8 kilometres. Apart from this, it will also cover the length and breadth of India and reveal some of its untold stories from a new perspective.

Also Read :

Content segmentation defines English entertainment, movies in 2017

Sony Pix signs content licencing deal with Warner Bros

Sony Pix and Le Plex HD brings special line-up this Christmas

January 27, 2018
Sony Pix signs content licencing deal with Warner Bros

MUMBAI: Sony Pix, the Hollywood movie channel from Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India, has signed a content licencing deal with one of the largest international television distributors — Warner Bros.

The movie content deal will further strengthen Sony Pix’s library by bringing films like Harry Porter, Matrix, Batman Vs Superman, Dunkirk, Wonder Woman, Hangover Series, Conjuring Universe, Final Destination series, Oceans series, Shawshank Redemption and more for its viewers.

SPN India EVP and business head English cluster Tushar Shah said, “SPN’s English cluster aims to bring the best international content for its viewers. With the new Warner Bros deal, Sony Pix – the destination for Hollywood blockbusters and premieres – will now also become the destination for biggest franchises in the genre. We will continue to invest in content that will delight our viewers.”

Warner Bros president television distribution Jeffrey Schlesinger said, “We are pleased to have completed this deal with Sony Pix enabling SPN to bring our films to television viewers in India. We are confident that the diverse selection of films will offer something different for fans of all genres.”

Sony Pix has exclusive rights in India to premiere all Hollywood movies released worldwide by NBC Universal. It also has strong tie ups with top studios like Lionsgate, Disney, PVR etc. The channel is home to some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises like Fast & Furious, Despicable Me, Jurassic World, The Mummy andTerminator to name a few.

Also Read:

Demystifying news television viewership in 2017

Sony Pix and Le Plex HD brings special line-up this Christmas

Viacom18 kicks off the international award season in 2018 with the 75th Golden Globe Awards

January 8, 2018
SPN India acquires TV, OTT rights for T10 Cricket League

MUMBAI: The newly introduced T10 Cricket league (TCL), which will be played at the UAE’s Sharjah Cricket Stadium, will be telecast live on Sony ESPN. The league is a four-day event running from the 14th to the 17th of December 2017.

TCL chairman Shaji-ul-Mulk told Indiantelevision.com that Sony Pictures Network (SPN) India has the digital rights as well. “The history is being made with the first ever 10-over-a-side match being played in the world with the approval of the ICC (International Cricket Council). Seventy international cricketers from different countries will participate in the league,” Mulk added.

The league will be live on ARY digital network for the US and UK markets, Channels 9 in Bangladesh, Ten Sports and Geo TV in Pakistan, and Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) in the Middle East and North Africa.

Virender Sehwag is the only Indian cricketer participating the league apart from current and former international players from Sri Lanka, England, West Indies, South Africa, among other countries.

The league will have six franchises—Punjabi Legends, Pakhtoons, Bengal Tigers, Team Sri Lanka Cricket, Maratha Arabians, and Kerala Kings. The inaugural edition of the league will have 13 matches, 10 overs a side, and 90 minutes of play in a single match.

The Heera Group from Hyderabad is the title sponsor for the tournament. The partnership was unveiled at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad as part of the Indywood Film Festival at the film city on 2 December 2017. The league is powered by the UAE’s Pacific Ventures and supported by the Rijas Group from Pakistan.

Speaking at the event, Heera Group founder and CEO Nowhera Shaik said, “As a business group, we have always backed innovative ideas. That has been a hallmark of our approach to business. So, when this concept came along, I was keen that we get associated with it as we ourselves come from the land where cricket is followed passionately.”

The brains behind the concept, Shaji-ul-Mulk, who is the chairman of TCL and a member of the Emirates Cricket Board, was also present at the event in India. He said, “Since the advent of T20 cricket, I always felt that there could be something else that our sport could offer the world. It was then that I sat down to discuss with my team. We came up with the thought that cricket needs to match the best sporting action in the world. Most of these sports last no more than 90 minutes.

“We need to evolve with times and nothing should signify this better than giving a product to the fans that they can relate to. So, here we are after months of planning to finally unveil to the world our dream.”

December 8, 2017
Max2 creates campaign to rediscover your cherished bonds

MUMBAI: Sony Max 2 wants to break the clutter with its latest TV campaign titled ‘Kuch filmon ka jadu kabhi kam nahi hota’ (some movies never lose their magic touch). DDB Mudra is the agency that has lent its talent to three-year-old baby from Sony Pictures Network India.

The TVC focuses on the captivating richness and quality of Hindi movies that never fail to add meaning to our lives. The channel’s objective through this campaign is to continue its brand differentiation and to create a bigger impact to reach out to more viewers.

Sony Max and Max2 senior VP marketing and communications Vaishali Sharma says, “We have grown a lot in the last three years but wanted to continue brand differentiation. Reaching out to more viewers was another goal.” This was achieved by creating a campaign with tremendous recall value so that viewers can emotionally connect and recollect.

Mudra was tasked with being creative and yet stick to the channel positioning. Sharma says that all previous campaigns have also stayed true to the brand essence of being an evergreen cinema channel. “We show cinema which is gratifying and will compel you to return. Max2 helps you relive special moments. The brief given to DDB Mudra was that there are some bonds you cherish in life and Max2 helps rediscover them,” she adds.

Within 3 months, the duo explored several stories and facets and finally hit the bull’s eye. The TVC will be promoted via the movie cluster and other channels like India TV, ABP News, Hindi channels, regional Marathi channels and Gujarati channels among others. Sharma claims that the channel has been a leader for 26 out of 30 weeks from this financial year.

Through the year, the channel conducts on-ground activities in different states in which it engages with families and help them express through their cinemas. This apart, Sony Max 2 is digitally active as well and has held two seasons of timeless digital awards.

The channel does a thorough analysis of an area before it considers investing there through marketing. “We look at the growth potential in a particular market and how we can increase our footprint. Depending on areas where we can expand our reach, we undertake marketing activities,” she says.

Campaigns and advertisements like these are the channel’s way to stay relevant in the minds of the public. This is why ads need to be memorable, distinct and relatable to viewers. Will Max2’s magic be as charming as its campaign claims its movies to be?

November 7, 2017
Sony Yay builds local characters to monetise

MUMBAI: The Indian arm of the Sony Network had it all – GEC, music, film, sports, you name it. What lacked was a brand for the children of the country. That gap was filled when it launched Sony Yay in April this year.

It’s not as if Sony was devoid of kids content. It launched Animax in 2004, a pure anime destination, but branded it as ‘animation for everyone – not just for kids’. In two years time, it dropped kids and plugged into the youth audience of 15-24 year olds and in 2006, it introduced live action.

Over time, the channel lost its lustre and the channel decided to convert it to Yay in 2017 and grab a share of the 2-14 age group. “Technically we didn’t replace Animax but it sort of gave way to our intention of launching into the kids space, which was the only missing genre for the network. Animax is still available for interested audiences online on SonyLiv,” says Sony Pictures Network India kids genre business head Leena Lele Dutta.

It was early 2016 when the network started researching on what Indian kids love to watch on TV and data pointed to three areas. “Firstly, they like to see funny, happy and laugh-out-loud animation; second they don’t want both animation and live action on the same channel and last was that local characters, local names, ‘takiya qalam’ words strike and instil a chord with children,” she shares. This led to picking 100 per cent animation over live action for Sony Yay.

Sticking to its principle, the channel tied up with local creators for four original animation series – Guru aur Bhole, Sab Jholmaal Hai, Paap-O-Meter and Prince Jai aur Dumdaar Viru, 52 episodes per show. A fifth show, The Fab 5 – Initial Tango, will release during Christmas and the sixth original will be launched next year. “Slowly we will build new stories and characters to resonate with kids of today,” says an excited Lele. Soon it will build a movie bank for the Sab Jholmaal Hai franchise, similar to what Nick does with Motu Patlu and Pogo with Chhota Bheem.

Kids tuning into the channel have become addicted to Sab Jholmaal Hai and Guru aur Bhole. Wasting no time, the channel has started displaying back-to-back episodes now so they can binge watch and connect with the characters. “Once kids start watching these existing shows, you will yourself see the movement of the channel,” she adds. Paap-o-Meter is a novel concept and the channel doesn’t expect it to shoot up instantly. Indeed, data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) indicates that for week 39-42 the two shows did top the channel with average Impressions (000s) of 115 and 110 respectively.

Sony owns the intellectual property (IP) rights for all the shows to squeeze out all the benefits, which cannot be done in acquisitions. Though Sony was ready to shed some bucks for dubbed or acquired content, they could not find one with a large repertoire of episodes (more than 100) and neither did any content fit the channel’s bill.

BARC data also shows that in its first four weeks of launch (week 20-23), the channel had 25,011 average Impressions (000s) sum while the number changed to 22,100 Impressions (000s) sum in week 39-42 for all India age 2-14. Despite the decline, it shows that the initial impression hasn’t faded away.

Keeping in mind the demographics, the channel abstained from keeping it English-centric. “We wanted to remain indigenous, home-grown and local,” she adds. Thus, the main Hindi channel is dubbed into languages of Tamil and Telugu too.

Speaking of advertisers, Dabur Red Paste, Hershey’s, Domino’s Pizza and Lifebuoy are some of the brands associated with the channel. Datta mentions they had 7-8 brands coming on board every week, from FMCG and even those targeting kids.

It will soon look at minting money through other areas and not depend solely on on-air advertising. “Once we make our characters popular, it opens up all avenues for us such as product licencing and digital distribution because we own the IPs,” she says.

Very soon there will be canter activations for kids in 50 cities in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

With big ambitions, it remains to be seen if the channel can fight the crowded kids market and see a significant jump in its claim.

November 6, 2017