Delhi based Sprout Studios which is popular for its YouTube channel NuNu TV is all set to launch its new channels in regional languages including Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, and Gujarati. Animation Xpress got in touch with Sprout Studios CEO Rahul Rohilla to know his plans and ideas behind creating a channel in the regional languages.
Disseminating the idea behind creating new channels and how India is lacking when it comes to meeting the content demand, Rohilla said, “We identified that mobile usage and data streaming is increasing massively and according to the Statista data, there will be one billion mobile users within two to three years. From a business point of view I think it is amazing, so we decided to start producing content for India. When we compare India to the world, the kids, parents and everyone are under served. They are fed with western culture which is not relatable to them and everybody is finding it difficult to adapt to that content. So first we are going to start with Hindi, and then we will cover other major speaking languages.”
The Hindi channel will be launched in July. The studio is planning to launch an animated IP to reach and engage with kids effectively.
Rohilla gives an example of how western culture is portrayed to Indian kids. In western countries kids even newborns sleep alone or in their cots, but it is totally vice versa in India. Kids even at the age of five or six sleep with their parents. This is the cultural indifference shown to the kids. “When you look at the major platforms like YouTube, the content available is very mid-level quality. The content consumed by the kids in the west has good moral values and is high quality content. But in India we are teaching our kids violence, evil vs. good through every show. We want to create a better world and better culture. Kids learn quickly through audio-visual mediums and it stays with them for longer periods of time. We take this opportunity to fill the gap, and we want to make an IP which is culturally relatable to our audience,” added Rohilla.
According to reports, NuNU TV claims to have received its first round of funds worth Rs 1.2 crore in December 2019, from Risers Accelerator and the studio is looking forward to raising new fresh funds to expand it further.
NuNu TV is currently available in English, and the channel has witnessed 10,000 per cent growth and soon it will enter the Spanish territories and create content in Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin and French. Sprout Studios is also planning to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-based app for senior citizens by August 2022.