Expanding the Nickelodeon franchise in India, Viacom18, the joint venture between Raghav Bahl-promoted TV18 and Viacom Inc, has today launched its seventh channel - Nick Jr.Targeted towards 2-6 age year group, Nick Jr is the third channel from the group in the kids space after Nick and Sonic, which cater to the age groups of 4-14 and 9-16 year old audiences respectively.
The pay channel will only be available on the digital platforms. It is available on Airtel Digital TV and Videocon D2H, while it will be on Tata Sky starting January next year. On all the digital cable, the channel is available, including Hathway Cable & Datacom, DEN, Incable, WWIL, Digicable etc.
Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP & Business Head – Kids Cluster, Viacom18 said, “Nick Jr. will be like a surrogate mother handholding kids and helping them learn and develop new skills and knowledge in a way that is entertaining as well as warm and caring – Nick Jr. will be the smart place to play for the child.”
A popular Viacom block, Nick Jr. is globally screened across 125 countries in over 25 languages. Th company claims that each show on the channel is created with clear curriculum goals and keeping a child’s growing needs in mind – be it motor, cognitive, creative or technical skills.
With properties like Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Team Umizoomi, the shows are well-researched and proven to aid learning amongst pre-school kids.
Nick Jr. will have a competition with recently launched Disney Jr, in the same space. Last month, BBC Entertainment had closed its pre-school kids channel Cbeebies, bowing down to distribution pressure.
Jaipuria further added that the channel will air content from 6 am in the morning till 7 pm in the evening. In the remaining time, the block was taken by another Nickelodeon franchise Teen Nick. “It is utilising bandwidth. We will not cross-promote the two blocks.”
She also added that Nick Jr will not have language feed as they company wants to keep it in English only, as it has more aspirational value to it.
The company is also looking at substantial revenue from the consumer products at retail, across categories, to build engagement with the kids, outside television as well.
As per FICCI KPMG 2012 report for the Media and Entertainment industry, the Kids genre is becoming an important television segment, reportedly delivering over 500 GRPs (gross rating points) every week in comparison with the industry average of 200 GRPs.