Competition is always healthy and helps the genre grow says Monica Tata, Turner International

Adgully had an exclusive conversation with Monica Tata, Vice President and Dy. General Manager-Entertainment Networks, South Asia, Turner International India Pvt Ltd, who talks about the journey so far, the competition and the evolving Indian animation industry. Read on to know more.

Adgully (AG): For Cartoon Network, it has been almost 15 years in the sector, how has the journey been so far?

Monica Tata (MT): Our journey has been exciting, enriching and satisfying. First off all we are extremely proud of Cartoon Network's achievements in India. Turner's flagship kids' channel has shaped the kids' television entertainment of India, turning skeptics into loyalists and successfully creating an environment for others to invest and launch propositions just for kids. From being the first kids' channel to continuing to rule the roost with over nine kids' centric channels today, Cartoon Network has come a long way since it launched in October 1995.

In effect, we have more than achieved the goal we had set when we launched Cartoon Network. At the same time media is a dynamic and evolving business where you need to constantly re-invent yourself and your goal and vision to survive, else you can easily fade out.

We are happy with Cartoon Network's accomplishments, from creating a space for kids' television, to educating the industry on the importance of kids' as viewers, to establishing animation as viable entertainment options for all age groups, to promoting home-grown Indian animation, opening up the genre by launching a second network ' POGO, but as they say there are miles to go before I sleep ' thus for Cartoon Network & Turner 'the show always goes on.

AG: Has Cartoon Network always enjoyed the first mover's advantage or has it faced the heat from the competitors as the sector got populated with many players?

MT: Competition is always healthy and helps the genre growth. There has been a sea change in the kids TV space in India. We were the first kids channel to set foot in India with the launch of Cartoon Network in 1995 and since then there has been no looking back. Continued to cater to kids' entertainment needs, we recognized their growing appetite for more variety which marked the launch of POGO in 2005. As an industry leader for over a decade we have followed and studied the evolution of kids to the current web 2.0 era where the kid viewer is aware, tech-savvy, craves for variety and is discerning with a very short attention span. We have to consistently introduce fresh and innovative programming, introduce new content genres to consistently add variety and create content that addresses the viewers evolving interests.

AG: What is the general prime time for this genre? What percent change do you see in the TRPs from weekdays to weekend and exam times to vacations?

MT: Cartoon Network and POGO runs the best of content throughout the day to keep the children entertained at any point. The prime time for kids viewing is defined as 16:00 -19:59 during weekdays and weekends from 08:00-19:59. The viewership for the genre in the prime time is more than three and a half times that of the non-prime time dayparts i.e. Kids Genre viewership increases from an average of 0.73 TVR in the non primetime to 2.64 TVR in the prime time. (Source: TAM Media Research, TG: CS 4-14, All India audiences. Kids prime time: Weekdays 16:00-19:59 and Wekends 08:00-20:59 Period: 1st Jan -26th Dec 09)

With respect to weekdays vs weekends the viewership of the genre goes up by 12%. (Source: TAM Media Research: TG: CS 4-14 All India. Weekdays: Mon- Fri, Weekends: Sat+Sun, Period: 1st Jan -26th Dec 09)

During vacation months of April and May the viewership of the genre grows by 27% vis-à-vis exam time which is typically defined as the months of February and March ( From Avg TVR of 1.34 TVR to 1.7 TVR) Source: TAM Media Research: TG: CS 4-14 All India. Exam time: Feb -March, Vacation Time: April and May, Dayparts: All Days,24 hrs)

AG: Indian kids' channels have mostly relied on the content from overseas in the past. In the recent times there has been an advent of Indian characters, so how has been the response and how do you see this developing in the future?

MT: Indian content and Indian Animation remains a corner-stone of Cartoon Network and POGO's programming mix. It's local and enjoys a strong resonance with our audiences by kids and adults (CS 15+) alike and thus is always a huge hit on our networks. In fact, Cartoon Network was the first (started Indian acquisition in 2001) and for the longest time, the only International channel to acquire and offer a platform to Indian animators. As per TAM 2008 statistics, Cartoon Network ruled as the #1 national channel across all television genres in 2008 each time its Indian Animation line up aired *(Line up detailed below)

Indian animation has been runaway success on both our kids' networks. The success of which is evident by the ratings Indian content has garnered for example Bal Ganesha clocked a 1.8 TVR making it the highest rated movie transmission across All Kids Channels for Year to Date 2009 and Cartoon Network was the # 2 National Channel with a 5.5% share when Indian Animation Festival was aired in May.

Chhota Bheem, POGO's Indian animation hero packed a huge punch during the world premiere of the "Chhota Bheem Aur Krishna" movie with an ace rating of 1.6 TVR. Aired on the occasion of Krishna Janamashtami, the unparalleled performance made POGO, Indian kids' favourite channel, the number one national channel beating all other TV genres. During the telecast of Chhota Bheem on POGO on Sundays in the 9:30-9:59 timeslot POGO is the number one national channel with 8.2% channel shares and an average TVR of 1.04 in the CS 4-14 All India audience for the period of 1st Jan- 31st Oct 2009.

Cartoon Network has offered kids a window to India's vast and rich story telling heritage, with its showcase of mythological and legendary series, in the format kids enjoy the most - animation. We present these epic tales to our young generation in an entertaining format while retaining their original message. Not only kids, Indian animation content is a favourite amongst all-age groups and with them we offer healthy family entertainment to our Indian viewers based on age-old stories we all have grown up with.

AG: In India do we have enough content providers who can give you Indian content?

MT: Yes, there are enough content providers for Indian content in the market and the success of each of the home-grown Indian animation titles/shows on Turner's kids networks only go on to reinstate that Indian animation is thriving:

1. Indian Animation titles such as Bal Ganesha, My Friend Ganesha, My Ganesha II premiered across Cartoon Network and POGO by clocking a healthy 1+ plus TVR

2. The New Adventures Of Hanuman, latest Indian animation acquisition on POGO, made a smashing debut of 1.1 TVR with its premiere episode on 25 October, 10:00 a.m.

3. POGO's Chhota Bheem shines as the king of Indian television! During the telecast of Chhota Bheem on POGO on Sundays in the 9:30-9:59 timeslot POGO is the number one national channel with 8.2% channel shares and an average TVR of 1.04 in the CS 4-14 All India audience for the period of 1st Jan- 31st Oct 2009

4. The specially produced movie for the occasion of Krishna janmashtami - Chhota Bheem Aur Krishna clocked a 1.6 TVR

Over the years we have worked with most of Indian studios and production house such as Toonz, Green Gold, DQ Entertainment, Phoebus, ACK Media, to name a few.

Further, POGO Original productions is proud to have the largest bouquet of Indian original productions for kids with ten hugely popular and totally different shows, including multi award winning arts show M.A.D and India's first curiosity based show F.A.Q (Frequently Asked Questions).

AG: Indian animation characters is synonymous to mythology, 9 out of 10 characters are mythological. Don't you think it high time we should move on? Can we see Indian characters going global?

MT: Yes, definitely there is tremendous potential of Indian characters going global. An example that reinstates the potential of India is our network's Pan-Asian original content development initiative - SNAPTOONS (Short New Asia Pacific Cartoons).

The success of this initiative can be gauged by the fact that the first leg garnered over 300 entries from Asia Pacific out of which the five shortlisted entries from India. (Total of 10 entries were green lit for development). We had recently announced the first round of SNAPTOONS completed minsiodes ' which included Johnny Goes to Bollywood, Kul-Veera and Sulochana in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu languages.

We were extremely impressed and encouraged by the response and the quality of India entries SNAPTOONS received for the first leg.

AG: Merchandising has now become a very integral part of the business, does it helps in revenue generation or is it just a part of promotion and brand recall?

MT: Licensing & Merchandising is a dynamic, exciting and growing business vertical for Turner in India. It adds to the brand equity at multiple levels. It enhances brand recall, augments brand extensions allowing the channels to beyond television and is an important revenue source. Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE) which is our licensing & merchandising business has gained success and good revenues from all avenues. CNE will be targeting a 50% growth in licensing for 2010 on the strength of our channel, brands, engaged retail relationships and dynamic team.

AG: How do you differentiate between the target audience of POGO and Cartoon Network? What is the market share for both the channels?

MT: Cartoon Network is Turner's flagship channel and as its names suggests is all about cartoons. POGO launched in 2004 is the television entertainment for kids and their families, with diverse offerings such as drama, comedy, variety, movies, etc. POGO is a channel that is exclusively created for India.

It was launched as a result of research findings highlighting the evolving media habits of young kids in India that indicated that in addition to cartoons (their favourite genre), kids wanted live action shows and were watching shows on destinations not apt for young minds. POGO was launched to fill this gap.

Comedy and adventure form the backbone of Cartoon Network and POGO. From a brand point of view Cartoon Network is funny, feisty and animates your life while POGO is more global, off-centre and funny.

AG: Your predictions on the future of kids' channels in India? What are your plans to cater to new gen kids?

MT: The kids' genre has been very active in the last few years and the number of players has grown by leaps, benefiting the genre growth.

The key lies in keeping constant pace with this consumer ' the Kid's- changing interests and providing them with content that they stick to and come back to. I firmly believe that premium, quality content that is intelligently programmed will be the key differentiator. There is unending scope for growth and innovation - a key reason that both Cartoon Network and POGO are constantly working round-the-clock to ensure there is a novelty factor in whatever we do.

Digital space has tremendous potential for kids as Internet and broadband penetration catches up in the country. Moving ahead Cartoon Network will focus to ensure availability of its content across multiple platforms, Turner has made several innovative efforts in the Wireless and Broadband space in India such as video-on-demand, downloadable mobile content and live streaming. Our recent Asia Pacific initiative Ben 10 Game Creator got stupendous response with over 60 million games played, more than 315 thousand games created by 60 thousand kids in Asia Pacific. Coming to India- over 1/5 of contributions for game creator came from India. Further, the platform demonstrated its popularity with over 13 million games played and over 61 thousand games created by kids since launch in India alone!

AG: What are your future plans for the channel in terms of programming?

MT: Cartoon Network and POGO are constantly bringing exciting and innovative content to entertain the audience- be it classic shows or acquired shows from the International Market and home grown original productions from animation studios and production houses in India.

We believe that kids love variety from the best of international content such Ben 10 to home grown characters such as Krishna, Chhota Bheem etc. While we believe that Indian producers and creators have some great stories to tell that rate exceptionally well, we also sincerely feel that kids, need variety. Premium content and compelling content from across the globe are the best way to cater to the viewing preferences of our discerning audiences.

One of the key reasons of our continued dominance in the kids' space in India is because we offer the best available animated and multi-genre content from across the globe, including India. We have lots and more lined up with the timeless tales of the classic Tom&Jerry through Q1, we have exciting Indian animations such as:

· Partnered with ACK Media to create 2 features and acquire a 26-part series to bring alive Amar Chitra Katha on television for the first time with Cartoon Network to establish a synergy of two leading kids' brands in the country.

1. The Amar Chitra Katha series will premiere on India's favourite kids channels - Cartoon Network

2. The episodes are based on some of the best-loved Amar Chitra Katha titles. The animated stories are designed for family viewing ' enjoyable for both children and grown-ups

3. The first film - Tripura: The Three Cities of Maya, will be released in Summer of 2010 (Q1) and the second film ' Sons of Rama will be released around Diwali (Q3)

· A comedy adventure in the form of Kumbh Karan, a 13 part series which is being produced out of Cornershop Animation in Mumbai.

· Balla Bowl! where we have partnered with a Malaysian Studio, Animasia to create a 70 minute, slice of life comedy animated feature based on cricket,

· We are also in the process developing an action adventure series, a comedy adventure series and a few action features moving forward

· Development is a key part of any strategy that looks into the future and we are working closely with several production companies and together developing scripts, characters, story art etc and most importantly offering them insights into what works with Indian kids.