The leadings kids broadcasters in India have realised the need for regional feeds to their shows in order to reach out the multi-lingual population, most of them have only given Tamil and Telugu feeds mainly. The eastern part of the country stays largely untapped.
None of the main kids channels Disney, Nick, Cartoon Network etc have a Bengali feed. Taking advantage of this need gap, Bengali general entertainment channel Sony Aath has decided to fill the void themselves for kids aged 4-14. Starting 2 March, the channel launched a dedicated animation block Sunday Funday on Sundays between 10:30 am to 12:30 am.
The two hour slot will see shorts of the channel’s newly acquired show Gopal Bhar. He is a popular name in West Bengal whose stories are narrated to kids. “Currently none of the national broadcasters catering to kids have a Bengali feed. This creates opportunity for local content. There is a ready animation market, there is content available with local stories and local appeal and is possibly a gap we could bridge,” says MSM senior VP corporate and Sony Aath business head Tushar Shah.
Other channels such as Aakash Aath also show animated content blocks but Tushar says they don’t have animation on a large scale but it will ultimately lie on who can sustain in the long run. If the animation block is a success, the channel may consider introducing a daily slot for animation as well. He however rules out any question of a dedicated kids channel any time soon due to high cost of animation production.
“We currently have decent visibility among the 4-14 aged audience. So we will try to create shows or slots for them on the channel which they find as their destin
Gopal Bhar series has been created by Ssoftoons, from whom Sony Aath has acquired it entirely. The 2D clips are about 17 to 20 minutes long with stories of the protagonist narrated in Bengali. Gopal Bhar was in the court of Raja Krishnachandra, the kind of Nadia in the 18th century AD and stories about his wit are narrated even today. The shorts have been produced, scripted and dubbed by Ssoftoons.ation for the weekend,” he expounds.
Sunday Funday will have five stories of Gopal Bhar. For now, it only has a huge bank of Gopal Bhan episodes and any new acquisition or IP creation will depend on the success of this block. “Animated comic series based on an immortal character like Gopal Bhar has a universal appeal, making it a treat to watch not only for the kids, but for the entire family. With the launch of this show, we hope to expand our audience base and create a loyal patronage for the show,” he says.
When they do plan to expand, the focus will be primarily on local content, since it will give the channel an edge over others. The Sunday morning introductory slot is – according to Tushar – a good time band with good viewership ratings. For now, there are no plans to introduce any merchandising and the entire concentration will be only on the broadcast front.
In order to spread word about the newly introduced block, he is relying on word of mouth while alongside also having promos of it running on the Sony network channels and some cable channels. The channel is available for viewing to about 90 per cent of the people in the state.