Aimed at kids between the ages of 8-to-11, Shiva tells the story of the nine-year-old brave, fearless and intelligent boy who stays in Vedas city with his maternal grandparents. Every story in the show starts with an incident that threatens Vedas City. A true hero, Shiva, a super-kid with extraordinary talent, intellect and ability, along with his gang of friends sets out to save the day with the help some cool gadgets like the super bike developed by him.
Created by Maya Digital Studios under Suhas Kadav's direction, Shiva, Nick India's third locally produced series, comes as an answer to the channel's requirement for a home grown show that caters fun and action to their young viewers, and follows the success of "Motu Patlu" and "Pakdam Pakdai".
Unlike Nickelodeon's other shows, which range from 15-20 minutes, each episode of Shiva will be 22 minutes long.
"As per last year's Oremax Small Wonder study from a sample of 1800 kids between the age of six to 14 years, we were missing one of the key drivers that led viewership and kids engagement, among all of our shows. We needed a high octane action comedy series that completed our portfolio and Shiva is just what we needed," said Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP & BusinessHead - Kids Cluster, Viacom18.
Nickelodeon India carried out over a year of careful research to identify seven drivers that affected viewership and content consumption. While there are the obvious ones fun, action, fantasy and values, there are others which are more subtle like character traits, looks and intellect/resourcefulness. Shiva, an action-comedy property, satisfies drivers like fun, action, intellect and fantasy, all in one go.
Developed after over a year of planning, and conceptualising, Shiva is being touted as one of the expensive projects by the channel. "Any animated series episode costs four times than that of a live action series," shares Jaipuria.
Musicians Sajid and Wajid Ali have composed the title track for the forthcoming animated action-comedy series. Sung by Wajid, the song is said to be catchy.
"It was fun composing music for Shiva as it took a lot of effort and modulation to bring the best music that kids can relate to," Sajid Ali said in a statement. "The children are definitely going to enjoy the song and connect with Shiva through the song," he added.
Wajid said his daughter loves the channel and hence, being associated with the brand "was a lot of fun".
While an episode of a show like Chhota Bheem costs anywhere between Rs 26 - 27 lakh, Jaipuria pegs the cost of Shiva's episode anything above Rs 20 lakh.
With high hopes riding on the new show, Nickelodeon will be leaving no stones unturned to promote the show through a 360 degree marketing campaign.
To start with, the channel put out teaser promos of the show through their home network channels. Nickelodeon has also expand marketing and promotion measures through retail, van activities, OOH, digital and more.
"We plan to go below the line to put out the word through channels in other networks like a Sab TV or a Zee Cinema, which we know gets traction from kids. We will also be looking at utilising some of the movie releases, which are targeted at kids, thereby creating awareness in theatres. For the festive season of Dussehra and Deepavali everyone is out at the malls, so we will be undertaking a lot of on-ground mall activities happening through partnerships. We will also use radio as a reminder medium," she lists out, adding that the channel will also use social media and the digital platform to spread the word around on their new offering.
Nickelodeon, one of India's leading kids' entertainment brand and part of the Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd, is available in over 100 million households in the country. The Nickelodeon cluster in India boasts of a bouquet of differentiated channels that cater to kids from tots to teens – Nick, Sonic and Nickelodeon (with 2 programming blocks i.e. Nick Jr./ Teen Nick). Nick Jr. (www.nickjrindia.com), which is ‘the smart place to play” believes that ‘education’ and ‘entertainment’ go hand-in-hand and is aimed at young parents and pre-schoolers. Internationally acclaimed shows like Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies, Wonder Pets, Team Umizoomi and Go, Diego, Go! foster motor, memory, maths and language development in a child. The Nickelodeon channel also caters to teenagers in the latter half of the day with the Teen Nick block which showcases international sitcoms such as iCarly, Victorious and Drake & Josh. The Nickelodeon cluster has an ecosystem that extends beyond television into Consumer Products, on-ground and digital platforms.
Nickelodeon also plans to launch India's first HD kids TV channel, Nick HD+, very soon!
Original source: DaijiWorld.com.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon India and Shiva News and Highlights!
