Hungama of the year

A popular channel for kids, UTV's Hungama goes in for a makeover.

On October 30, 2005, nearly 17,000 children are expected to run in New Delhi. No it's not a marathon for a cause. Instead, it's a brand recall strategy that has been planned by kids channel Hungama TV as it completes one year of its existence. Called Hungamathon, kids in the age-group of 8-15 years will be part of Hungama's unique on-ground activity.

This is just the beginning for a channel whose parent company United Television (UTV), in a joint venture with Astro, is coming up with two new channels for kids in Malaysia and Indonesia that will be aired in January and March respectively.

Back home, Hungama's new logo is just a start-up to the changes that the channel plans to present to its young viewers. With the market of kids channels in India upbeat at Rs 150 crore, Hungama is obviously hoping for a larger share of the pie.

Armed with a slew of new shows, animation series, live programmes and a fresh weekend strategy, the channel hopes to increase its market share from its current 15-16 per cent. "We have sensed the appetite of kids and appropriately rationalised our programming," says Ronnie Screwvala, CEO, UTV.

He confirms the channel will not deviate from its local flavour, instead, "The channel will take the brand forward and make its presence felt in all age groups." Which explains why the channel has tied up with schools for interactive programmes like 'Hungama Zone', 'Captain Hunt' and partnered the 'Colgate Spread a Smile' show.

Rated as a close third after Cartoon Network and its sister channel Pogo, Hungama claims to be the first Indian kids' channel with localised content. Targeted at children between the age group of 4-14 years, Hungama TV has been experimenting in several genres like live programming, action, animation, game shows, ground activities and interactions with children.

Hungamathon, for instance, is an expensive ground activity costing anywhere between Rs 60-80 lakh. "While everybody seems to be wanting to do things out-of-the-box, we believe in doing simple things. So we came up with Hungamathon to make kids do what they love doing the most "" running," says Rajesh Chakrabarti, national sales head, UTV.

Meanwhile, some of the new programmes lined up for telecast in the approaching festive season include 'Yu Gi Oh', a popular Japanese animation with trading cards, 'Hungama Fungama' and a unique interactive show 'Sania'.

The channel will also launch a Tamil kids channel by mid-January with live content in Tamil as Hungama's parent company, United Home Entertainment (UHE ) finalises a joint venture with Sun TV.

With kids channels emerging as one of the fastest growth drivers in India, Screwvala says, "This space will see an unprecedented growth in the next three years primarily because in the past there has not been any exclusive content for kids."

He adds, "The incremental benefits of advertising are huge as children are influencing all buying decisions." On Hungama, kids products account for only 30 per cent of advertising while products like insurance, banks or white goods account for 70 per cent of advertising.

The company rakes anywhere between Rs 1-Rs 1.2 crore from advertising and nearly Rs 50-Rs 70 lakh from distribution. "With our new shows we're looking at doubling our revenues in the next six months. We'll triple our revenues further by the end of 2006," says Chakrabarti. UTV is currently investing about Rs 45-50 crore on its kids' channel, a major chunk of which it claims will continue to go into its programming.

Hoping to emerge as the number one channel for kids by next year, Hungama seems to be in sync with Screwvala's mantra: "We're a happy channel. We hope to stay that way."