TV for children: Viacom18 banks on local content

Having seen 20% revenue growth in 2016, their kids' cluster sharpens focus on home-grown characters

To maintain leadership position in the children genre, Viacom18 Broadcast’s kids cluster has announced a slew of initiatives to be executed in the current year. 

Significant among these is the launch of its fourth home-grown show featuring two new characters in the form of Gattu-Battu. To sustain its 20 per cent top line growth and consolidate the network’s position in the kids’ genre further, the kids’ cluster is banking on local content. It is taking the characters beyond television so that the audience can touch, feel and interact with them.

The cluster, which has a mixture of foreign content (Dora The Explorer, Oggy and the Cockroaches, Power Rangers and Peppa Pig, among others) and local content (Motu Patlu, Pakadam Pakadai, and Shiva) has identified locally cultivated characters and shows as the focus of its growth strategy.

Nina Elavia Jaipuria, head-kids entertainment, Viacom18, says: “We believe in putting our money where the mouth is and we are committed to creating local content and characters which we own the IP (intellectual property rights) to. This allows us to go beyond the TV screen. We have already extended Motu Patlu to the big screen and that has been possible because we own the IP. While Motu Patlu has led growth on Nick, our other home-grown character, Shiva, has helped Sonic (the second kids channel brand from the network) grow from a 4 per cent relative share in 2015 (of viewership) to 10 per cent last year.”

Shiva, a show centred on a superhero boy with a penchant for nifty gadgets, was launched by Jaipuria and team in 2015 on Nick. It shot up to number one spot in the genre within two weeks and once the viewership reached a certain mass and stabilised, the show was shifted to Sonic, so that the channel can attract the audience driven by the show. The strategy seems to have worked as the channel not only showed a spurt in market share but also saw 40 per cent growth in terms of ad rates. 

The new show, Gattu Battu, is an attempt to “fill a white space”, as Jaipuria calls it, in detective themed storytelling in the form of an animated show. The show follows the adventures of two friends who solve crimes in their home town, Vishrampur. 

Jaipuria agrees that the concept is a risk that the franchise is taking, but she believes that is the way to ensure growth. “While crime shows and crime novels (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys etc) are popular among kids, it is something that hasn’t been tried on Indian television in this way. Our previous initiatives have seen traction and we are hoping this one hits the mark as well,” she adds. The characters have been brought to life by Toonz Animation, an animation company that created Pakadam Pakadai. 

Having full ownership of the shows allows Viacom18 to take the characters out of the TV. This not only means a more immersive experience for the viewers as they can interact with the characters on various platforms like on-ground and digital, but also gives the advertisers more avenues to engage the audience. This has been crucial to making Sonic turn profitable in 2016 (Nick already was profitable) and to the cluster, showing top line growth of 20 per cent, says Jaipuria. 

“On TV, there are just 12 minutes per clock hour. To maximise the potential of the popularity these characters have, we have to think out of the box. So we have mall activations, van activities (a moving van with the show’s characters) and of course digital initiatives. The Nick website hosts close to 407 games that kids can play and of these, around 190 are based on local characters. Advertisers do see value in the holistic reach we offer, and we have been able to maintain a sturdy growth trajectory,” she says.

Demonetisation did prove to be a bit of a speed bump, impacting top line by around 15 per cent. However, Jaipuria says by February, advertisers were back and spending. 

Apart from the usual brands like FMCG and kids apparel, the cluster has observed a spike in advertising by traditionally non-kids categories such as automobiles and BFSIs. These companies have also become big spenders in this category.