MUMBAI: Advertisers need to forge strategic partnerships with kids broadcasters rather than just doing FCT deals to engage this extremely critical demographic. This was the key takeaway from a panel discussion at the recently concluded Ficci Frames 2013.

The panel comprising broadcasters, researchers and marketers deliberated on the reasons why kids channels are not able to monetise their content, despite being the defacto home of this target group.

Kellogg?s Marketing Director India & South Asia Harpreet S Tibb said the objective of an advertiser is to reach their target group through different mediums.

Kids consume a lot of content outside of children channels; they watch reality shows and movies on Hindi entertainment channels.

Today?s kids, he contended, are increasingly becoming screenagers consuming content not just on television but also online.

"In such a scenario, kids channels should come up with diverse and differentiated content that is valuable and meaningful for kids. Kids today are gravitating towards newer mediums. They behave differently in different age groups," Tibb said. "We are looking at long-term partnerships wherein we can co-create content."

Disney-UTV Executive Director Kids Network Vijay Subramaniam, however, feels that the advertisers have refused to see the true potential of the genre.

"Advertisers haven?t seized the opportunity to tap into this segment. Advertisers who have been on kids channels have reaped the benefits," he asserted.

He also believes that co-creating content is easier than done as kid?s content is based on storytelling and characters and not on the needs of an advertiser.

Subramaniam also underlined the fact that kids are now decision makers in many household purchases and advertisers can tap into the pester power of this influential TG.

Turner International India Senior Director and Head of Kids vertical Krishna Desai also feels that kids exert a strong influence on parents, even though it might not necessarily mean that their views are ultimate.

On the issue of investment towards content, Desai said the kids genre suffers from a double whammy of an under-indexed ad market and subscription revenue, whose value is yet to be unlocked. Licensing & Merchandising is too small at this stage and is built over period of time.

"With both the revenue streams constrained there is only so much that you can do in terms of investing in content," Desai contended.

Turner?s Desai pointed out that animated content transcends boundaries, otherwise kids wouldn?t be consuming so much of content on kids channels. He also pointed out that the Indian animation industry is still at a nascent stage which makes producing a local animation show a huge task.

Disney?s Subramaniam said the key part of any content is story-telling which is universal and cuts across geographies. Dubbing, he said, is also one part of localisation, which also demands that a content has to be locally relevant.

"There are concepts that kids embrace and not so much about international or local content," Subramaniam affirmed.

IMRB International Group Business Director, Media and Panel Group, Ashish Karnad said the dubbing indeed had a huge impact on ratings of international content.

"The ratings of international dubbed content went up post dubbing," he observed.

Karnad also opined that kids like other TGs are becoming platform-agnostic. They love characters and platform doesn?t matter, he said, while citing the example of Chhota Bheem and Doraemon.

Subramaniam had a different take. "You create stories using brand values of a channel. Characters are built over a period of time," he said.

MUMBAI: With the first phase of digitisation through excluding Chennai, the process of launching targeted channels has begun in the right earnest with The Walt Disney Company India making its preschool channel, Disney Junior, available in the Indian market.

Targeted at 2-7 age group, the pre-dominantly English channel will also have content in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Launched on 15 October, the subscription-led channel has been priced at Rs 13.3 on analogue cable and Rs 5.62 on digital networks. The ad-free channel will complete Disney?s kids network comprising Disney Channel, Disney XD and Hungama.

Disney Junior, previously Playhouse Disney, began as a one and a half hour preschool programming block on Disney Channel in 2006. The channel is available across 144 countries in 21 languages.

Disney UTV executive director and Disney kids network business head Vijay Subramaniam feels that the launch of Disney Junior will fill in the need gap.

"Disney Junior will have content that will be fun and imagination but at the same time will add value by helping in developing life skills amongst the kids because 2-7 is a very tender age. It complements the current offering that Disney has in India," said Subramaniam, who will steer the four-channel kids network.

"After extensive research we found that the 2-7 age-group has its own set of programming needs which is different from 7-14 age-group. The research also showed that kids would love to watch theme-based fun stories," he added.

Subramaniam says that the channel has been kept ad-free because the target audience is very young and requires a lot more responsibility in terms of the kind of ads that can be aired.

The channel is currently present on major multi-system operators like Hathway, InCable, Den, GTPL in Gujarat and Fastway Cable Network in Punjab. As of now it doesn?t have a presence on any of the DTH platforms.

Disney will be focussed on top eight cities in the initial phase with a special thrust on the Hindi Speaking Markets. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh Bengaluru, Chennai and Bengaluru will be the core markets for Disney Junior.

"The reason why we are focusing on the Hindi Speaking Markets in the initial phase is because we have a strong presence in that market. However, we also have three Southern cities as our core market outside of HSM in phase 1," Subramaniam explained.

Broadcasters are placing bets on the fast growing kid?s genre which is expected to yield good results in an addressable system. Recently, Zeel had entered the kid?s genre with the launch of its edutainment channel ZeeQ targeted at 4-14 kids.

ZeeQ will be a subscription-driven channel particularly since it has a strict ad policy wherein it won?t carry cola ads or the ones promoting junk food.

MUMBAI: Much of the ills that the kids channels faced in the last couple of years continued to prevail in the first half of 2012: revenue pressure, distribution bottlenecks, audience fragmentation, fierce competition, increase in costs and low advertising rates.

And yet the genre is attracting new channel launches. Viacom18 launched a channel dedicated to action to complement Nick and add to its bouquet strength, similar to Turner‘s two-channel pack and one behind Disney‘s. Later this month, Discovery Kids is going to make its appearance in India.

So what is exciting kids networks? The sheer demographics with 30 per cent of India‘s 1.2 billion population living in this age group, impending digitisation and 10 per cent yearly growth in viewership.

The ad market for the genre, though a meagre Rs 2.5 billion, has the potential to grow faster. The industry expects it to grow 10 per cent year-on-year with non-traditional advertisers like automobiles, consumer electronics, and mobile devices consciously targeting the genre.

Kids TV broadcasters are working on their content front to take away share from competition. The magic duplication of global franchises is not enough. Building strong, multi-dimensional characters is the most important element to attract kids across the globe.

Agrees Turner International India South Asia GM Entertainment Networks Monica Tata, "Whether it is animation or live action, kids need to be able to relate to characters irrespective of geographical, social and cultural diversity," she says.

Faced with the uphill task of satiating the entertainment needs of kids, broadcasters are increasingly experimenting with content. There has been a swift move from comedy to action-oriented shows. The logic of launching Sonic is to primarily tap this market.

The action genre has dedicated offerings from Pogo, Sonic and Disney XD. Local productions including live action and animation continue to rule the roost as far as ratings are concerned.

The Chotta Bheem franchise continues to be the tentpole property of Pogo, besides generating revenues at the box office for its producer, Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animation.

Nick has also placed its bet on Shaktimaan, the animated series produced by Reliance Animation, with the hope to tap into the legacy of the Indian superhero and attract the action-loving generation. The show will also air on Sonic, which is growing its reach steadily.

?Local content is substantially drawing kid‘s viewership, whether it?s live action or animation. All players in the category now have well established local shows on their grids. Action is slowly creeping into the comedy space that so far dominated the category,? says Viacom18 EVP and GM Sonic and Nickelodeon India Nina Elavia Jaipuria.

Disney is experimenting with local live action shows like Suite Life of Karan and Kabir and Best of Luck Nikki. The two shows contribute about 15-19 per cent of total programming hours on Disney Channel.

?Live action is a genre that is driving significant viewership and is increasingly becoming popular among kids and families,? avers Disney UTV executive director and Disney kids network business head Vijay Subramaniam.

Disney XD has taken the television rights of new animation series Mysteries & Feluda produced by Hyderabad-based DQ Entertainment. Feluda is a series of novels and short stories written by famous Indian director and author Satyajit Ray.

?We have several local animation shows that enliven the rich Indian storytelling heritage while remaining entertaining and relevant to today?s viewers, such as the famous Indian detective series ? Feluda by master storyteller Satyajit Ray, the story of twins ? Luv Kush, Suryaputra, The Adventures of King Vikram and Little Pandavas,? Subramaniam adds.

While the hunt is on for sourcing more local shows, kids channels need to just find a couple of flagship shows. Says Jaipuria, ?Most category players are led by one or two shows. The channel ratings are garnered by these shows spread across various slots through the day.?

Agrees Tata, "An interesting trend noticed is that kids prefer to tune in to fewer shows on kids channels than ever before. But their time spent per show is increasing, thereby ensuring that the viewership remains positive.?

Will the launch of Discovery Kids create further fragmentation in an already crowded space?

Jaipuria does not think so. ?The Sonic launch fueled the category‘s growth. Discovery Kids could aid in growing it further. Since its offerings could be unique, this will only lead to minimised fragmentation.?

The Summer Window

The January-June period was a significant window and a hectic one for kids channels as the summer vacation falls during this period, the only time of the year when kids have long, uninterrupted access to television. The channels across the board pulled out all stops to come out with top notch programming to grab maximum eyeballs.

Despite the fact that cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) also falls during the summer vacations, the kids broadcasters did not see much of an impact on their viewership. The genre viewership during the first the half of the year, in fact, has improved from 18 per cent to 20 per cent over last year, asserts Tata.

Source : TAM Media Research
Market : All India
TG : CS 4-14 yrs
Period : Yr 2011 to 2012 (Till Week 21 ‘12)

As part of its summer line-up, Disney Channel saw the launch of live action series The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir, an Indian adaptation of the American show, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. It also aired the second season of Best of Luck Nikki, another live action series which is an adaptation of the American show Good Luck Charlie.

Nick introduced classic American animated series Dennis the Menace during the evening band. The DIC Entertainment produced series will have a 52-episode run.

The show strengthened Nick?s evening band, particularly since it had lost a key property Oggy and the Cockroaches to Cartoon Network India. The switch happened as a result of an exclusive co-production agreement between Cartoon Network Asia Pacific and French animation studio Xilam.

Sonic entered into a deal with Saban Brands to air its adventure series Power Rangers Samurai and Power Rangers Super Samurai for two seasons in a deal stitched by Los Angeles-based producer-distributor MarVista Entertainment.

Cartoon Network launched a humorous show, Horrid Henry, in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, apart from building on its Ben 10 franchise by building ‘Ben 10: Ultimate Alien?.

Pogo ramped up its content offering by launching animated comedy series Mojacko. The channel introduced new seasons of its key franchise Chotta Bheem in addition to a new movie, Chotta Bheem and the Curse of Damayaan that collected Rs 20.5 million in the first five days of its theatrical release.

Marketing thrust

The first half of the year also witnessed a host of marketing activities that was directed at engaging kids. Nick brought the Power Rangers to India by conducting ?The Power Ranger Tour?, aimed at increasing the fan following of the iconic characters in the country.

The Power Rangers Samurai initiative was supported with a 360-degree marketing campaign which included the Power Ranger?s on-ground tour, van activations covering 15 key cities, print ads, radio and cross promotion across various television channels.

Similarly, Disney Channel had launched the Jet Set Go on-air contest in association with Jet Airways which gave kids and their families an opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to Hong Kong Disneyland. The campaign, which was driven completely on the kids network channels of Disney, generated six million entries from across India and culminated with the unveiling of Disney-themed aircraft.

?The success of our recent campaign ?Jet Set Go? is a witness to the fact that unique and innovative engagement which resonate wonderfully well with the viewers. While the kid is definitely the hero, these innovative campaigns involve and engage with their entire family,? avers Subramaniam.

Push to grow L&M

There was major thrust on Licensing & Merchandising too as all the major channels launched Back-to-School product range featuring popular characters be it Dora, Ben 10 or Winnie The Pooh.

However, the deal that grabbed the maximum attention was the one signed by Disney Consumer Products India, the licensing & merchandising arm of The Walt Disney Company India, with IPL team Mumbai Indians to launch Mickey Cricket Merchandise which includes apparel and accessories, footwear, stationary, home and toys, all featuring Disney?s Fab Five in fun cricketing attire.

Disney Consumer Products India has also done its first licensing deal in the real estate sector with Mumbai-based real estate company Sunteck Realty to launch Disney Inspired Homes in Mumbai. The project is expected to generate a turnover of Rs 100 billion to the company.

Nick was also not far behind with as many as 55 licensing deals already in its kitty which include partnership with Future Group‘s retail chain Big Bazar to launch the Spongebob SquarePants ? Back to School range of products for children. It has also partnered Metro Shoes to launch Dora co-branded footwear in addition to a deal with TI Cycles to launch co-branded cycles.

Cartoon Network Enterprises, the consumer products division of Turner, partnered Attano Media & Education to launch video-ebooks and interactive activity books.

However, the L&M is still a very nascent business for kids channels in India who see it as a long-term play that will evolve over a period of time. L&M contributes only 5-7 per cent of total revenues for most channels.

With the first half of the year over, kids networks are eagerly awaiting the rollout of digitisation in the first four metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai from 1 November. "Long under pressure and a weakening business model, digitisation could be a game-changer for a genre that has been struggling to grow in the last few years," says a media analyst.