Children of armed forces families stationed overseas are now able to stream Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons on BFBS TV Player. This latest addition to BFBS’ children’s channel line-up is a direct response to recent feedback from military family audiences overseas to say that they would appreciate more children’s TV content.
BFBS has been broadcasting to the UK armed forces community for over 75 years, bringing the best of UK TV, sport, music and entertainment to forces and their families worldwide, wherever they are stationed.
BFBS TV Player offers the UK armed forces and their families overseas access to 40 channels via mobile, tablet and connected TV devices.
Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons join CBeebies, CBBC and CITV on BFBS TV Player to keep armed forces children entertained and connected with their lives back in the UK.
Nicky Ness, Director of Broadcasting and Entertainment for BFBS says:
“Our core mission is to entertain and inform our armed forces and their families, and to keep those serving overseas connected with home. We know how tough it can be for military families posted overseas to entertain their kids, so we are grateful to Nickelodeon for joining the many other broadcasters, movie studios and premium sports providers who partner with us to keep our armed forces and their families entertained when they’re away from home. ”
(* Excluding UK, Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Ireland)
Nickelodeon Greece's (Ελλάδα) has been the number one TV channel with kids across the country for the last 10 years, however, thanks to a recent lockdown due to the on-going COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the channel has found a new audience!
As thousands of primary school-aged children across Greece return to school following a two-month shutdown, the channel has noticed that more adults are tuning in.
On Thursday 14th January 2021, during the morning block when SpongeBob SquarePants (Μπομπ Σφουγγαράκης) is normally shown, Nickelodeon was not only the most-watched channel by kids, but also climbed to third place in the dynamic audience (viewers aged 18-54) across Greece! Even in ratings charts of all demos combined, including older audiences, Nickelodeon is a market leader in Greece!
During the 7:00am - 8:00am, Nickelodeon was watched by 10.45% of the TV viewing audience in Greece, thus winning the third place slot.
Τηλεθέαση: Απίστευτη πρωτιά χθες για το Nickelodeon
Το Nickelodeon, το κανάλι που τα παιδιά λατρεύουν να παρακολουθούν και οι γονείς λατρεύουν να εμπιστεύονται, είναι εδώ και 10 χρόνια η νο 1 τηλεοπτική επιλογή για τα παιδικά κοινά.
Τον τελευταίο καιρό όμως φαίνεται ότι εκτός από τα παιδιά, το Nickelodeon το επιλέγουν πλέον και οι ενήλικες , έχοντας προφανώς βαρεθεί και κουραστεί απο την πλειοψηφία των υπόλοιπων τηλεοπτικών επιλογών
Χθες, Πέμπτη 14 Ιανουαρίου, και συγκεκριμένα στην πρωινή ζώνη του Nickelodeon που προβάλλεται ο Μπομπ Σφουγγαράκης, το κανάλι όχι μόνο είχε την αναμενόμενη και συνηθισμένη πρωτιά στα παιδικά κοινά, αλλά σκαρφάλωσε στην 3η θέση του δυναμικού κοινού (18-54 χρονών) πανελληνίως. Ακόμα και στο σύνολο των ηλικιών, συμπεριλαμβανομένων δηλαδή και των ηλικιωμένων, το Nickelodeon αφήνει πίσω του πολλά από τα λεγόμενα μεγάλα κανάλια!
Το νούμερο που εφτασε το Nickelodeon στο δυναμικό κοινό χθες μεταξύ 7:00-8:00 ήταν 10,45% κατακτώντας έτσι την 3η θέση. Στο γενικό πληθυσμό το κανάλι έφτασε στο 9.54% με το πρώτο κανάλι (ΣΚΑΙ) εκείνη τη στιγμή να βρίσκεται στο 18.79% και όλα τα υπόλοιπα να βρίσκονται σε απόσταση αναπνοής απο το Nickelodeon.
Το Nickelodeon δεν είναι απλά η πρώτη επιλογή των παιδιών αλλά και η πρώτη επιλογή όσων νιώθουν και αισθάνονται παιδιά, δηλαδή όλων μας
Μπομπ Σφουγγαράκης : Στο βάθρο της τηλεθέασης κάθε πρωϊ, ανάμεσα στα… θηρία
Τα δημοτικά σχολεία ξεκίνησαν ξανά με φυσική παρουσία των παιδιών και μαζί με αυτό τα παιδιά θυμήθηκαν την αγαπημένη τους συνήθεια, τον Μπομπ! Ο Μπομπ Σφουγγαράκης που προβάλλεται κάθε πρωϊ από τις 7 μέχρι τις 8 από το Nickelodeon μονοπωλεί το ενδιαφέρον όχι μόνο των παιδιών (που έτσι και αλλιώς επιλέγουν το Nickelodeon όλη τη μέρα) αλλά και των μεγαλύτερων.
Τα στοιχεία της Nielsen δείχνουν πως τόσο στο σύνολο του τηλεοπτικού κοινού όσο και στο δυναμικό κοινό το Nickelodeon φιγουράρει στις πρώτες θέσεις, πολλές φορές μάλιστα σε απόσταση αναπνοής από την πρώτη θέση.
Πολλά σπίτια επιλέγουν να ξεκινήσουν τη μέρα τους με αυτόν τον ευχάριστο τρόπο, με την παρέα του αγαπημένου σφουγγαριού που από το βυθό του Μπικίνι γεμίζει τις μπαταρίες μας με αισιοδοξία και χαρά.
Longtime Nickelodeon executive Jules Borkent was named Executive Vice President (EVP) for kids and family at ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) at the start of last year. The move keeps him as the brand lead for Nickelodeon International—including content strategy, acquisitions, original development and co-productions—while also opening up opportunities for the kids’ outlet to work with sister assets like CBS All Access (soon to be rebranded as Paramount+). Borkent recently talked to TV Kids about serving audiences during lockdown, launch strategies and new IP highlights.
TV KIDS: Tell us about the impact of the Viacom-CBS merger on your remit.
BORKENT: As CBS does not have a kids’ and family unit, there has not been an immediate impact as far as Nickelodeon is concerned. Where the opportunity is for Nickelodeon now is to work across the CBS portfolio. Looking at CBS’s extensive IP, we’ve announced a CG-animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy, which is being produced for Nickelodeon, and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, which will premiere on CBS All Access in the U.S. We’ll continue to explore further ways to partner with CBS on our kids’ content portfolios in the future. Other than that, the merger creates more opportunities to work across the different divisions, including production, consumer products and syndication.
TV KIDS: How did you approach serving viewers during lockdown? I imagine it differed across markets as shutdowns hit in countries at different times.
BORKENT: Absolutely. It all happened very quickly. Given that we work well in advance, a lot of our content was already produced. Launches went ahead as planned—we didn’t see an immediate impact on rollouts. Live action came to a sudden halt, though, and as most of it is produced out of the U.S., that did have an impact on new episode delivery. Internationally, we had one new production up and running in the U.K., the scripted series Goldie’s Oldies, and the fourth season of Hunter Street that was being filmed in Holland, so those had to go on hold for a couple of months. I am very happy to say that we were able to start production again on both these two shows. So while there has been a delay, we’ve managed to catch up.
As far as animation is concerned, we had 11 shows in production when the pandemic hit and we managed to keep all of them going, without missing the delivery dates. Working remotely became the standard for our animation teams around the world during this time. Also, as certain markets were opening earlier than others, we were working with animation companies around the world that were able to commence work on our productions sooner as they came out of lockdown and were ready to work again. So generally, while it’s impacted everybody, we have been able to keep our output to our audience pretty much intact.
Jules Borkent
We also produced some new shows that were shot during lockdown. One produced in the U.S. is called Group Chat, a nighttime talk show done from our talent’s homes, hosted by Annie LeBlanc and Jayden Bartels, the stars of our new sitcom Side Hustle. We also produced Nickelodeon’s Unfiltered, which is a new game show where celebrities hide behind 3D animated characters and the panel has to guess who the mystery guest is. We also restarted production on The Astronauts, which is shot in Canada and produced in partnership with Imagine Entertainment, and we’ll now hopefully be able to go back in production on our L.A.-based live-action shows as well.
TV KIDS: Were there trends that emerged during lockdown viewing that you think will continue, post the pandemic?
BORKENT: As expected, family viewing increased during lockdown. For us, being focused on international, we saw the rise of global platforms during this crisis and the popularity of international content has been quite phenomenal. We saw a lot of engagement with content from different markets as kids were just exposed to a lot more. They were, of course, coming in for their favorite shows—PAW Patrol, SpongeBob SquarePants, etc.—but what we noticed was a powerful trend towards borderless storytelling, an expansion of subject and style that has enabled kids to embrace diversity on-screen and behind the camera. That was a big takeaway for us, and that will absolutely continue. We’re focused on having as diverse a voice as possible, and the appetite for international content has been shown during this time.
TV KIDS: How have your launch strategies evolved as more viewing has transitioned to on-demand?
BORKENT: Everyone says this: We want to be everywhere kids are. That means we have to be incredibly focused on ensuring that new content is seen by as broad an audience as possible. While we still have a lot of viewing happening on our linear services, as everywhere, the engagement on other platforms is growing and continues to grow. We have quite a sophisticated rollout plan for all our content, whether that is through short-form on YouTube, long-form on our apps or VOD services, or our linear channels. It’s becoming a bigger puzzle to solve every year and my team is constantly working on ensuring our content is made available to our audience wherever they are and however they consume the content. We’ve announced the launch of our SVOD service internationally and that will be an additional opportunity for us to focus on. We are continuing to work closely with our free-to-air partners around the world to ensure our content reaches as wide an audience as possible.
TV KIDS: How are you and your teams around the world finding and nurturing new talent?
BORKENT: We have strong teams all over the world; they are constantly out in the market looking for new talent to work with. We have new projects coming out of India, Israel, Singapore, South Korea. We announced The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj, our first original co-production with Nickelodeon India, which will launch internationally in 2021. We also have a very successful shorts program through which we have discovered new voices and talent. One of the shows that came out of this program was It’s Pony, which has been incredibly successful and was renewed for a second series. I am also very excited about our new original series Deer Squad, a co-production with iQiyi that we produced in China but wrote out of the U.K. and it has successfully launched in China, with the international rollout following. Our international slate is constantly growing.
TV KIDS: What are you looking for as we head into MIPJunior and MIPCOM?
BORKENT: We aim to deliver shows with great characters, great storylines and relatable content that kids can enjoy and relate to wherever they are. Diversity is key; it has always been for Nickelodeon and we continue to do that. We’re looking at animation to fill the pipeline, whether that’s through co-production models or prebuy acquisitions, and we announced the acquisition of the new series of The Smurfs. Live action has also always been and continues to be a very big focus point. And we are also interested in new formats. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we noticed the engagement with talent through some of the shows we produced during lockdown, and we’re always on the lookout for new ideas and formats to keep our audience entertained.
This interview was originally published on TV Kids.
Classic Rugrats Comic Strip for Friday, January 15, 2021 | Nickelodeon
Rugrats, provided to Creators Syndicate by Nickelodeon, based off the popular animated television series has been created for children and family's to laugh and enjoy together.
Follow these comics and their take on real episodes of the show and their own spin on hilarious adventures.
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Danger Force Footage! (Behind The Scenes) | Danger Force
Get a real sneak peak of Danger Force and some behind the scenes footage! Check out some photos and videos from the show that your eyes were NOT supposed to see.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon, Henry Danger and Danger Force News and Highlights!
Noggin, Nickelodeon's interactive learning service for preschoolers, has launched its first-ever original long-form series Noggin Knows (5 x 22-min eps), a brand-new educational variety show hosted by actor and entertainer Emmanuel Carter. Available now exclusively on Noggin, the show follows Carter, an engaging instructor, as he uses his love for learning, dancing and singing to guide kids through a series of themed lessons, alongside their favorite Nickelodeon preschool characters.
Set in a unique classroom, Noggin Knows makes learning fun and interactive, and aligns with Noggin's educational approach which aims to help preschoolers build big hearts, strong minds and healthy bodies. Lessons focus on social and emotional skills, math, literacy, problem solving, movement and concepts that expand kids' horizons in a playful and engaging way.
The Noggin app is currently available for iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle as well as supported Roku, Android, Fire and Apple TV devices. For more information, visit https://www.noggin.com.
We had our viewers and advertisers back by Q3: Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Head - Hindi Mass Entertainment & Kids TV Network, Viacom18, talks about the industry making a comeback in Q3 with a bang after the pandemic disrupted first two quarters, and more
The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj
In an elaborate interview, Nina Elavia Jaipuria Head- Hindi Mass Entertainment & Kids TV Network, Viacom18, speaks to exchange4media about the industry making a comeback in Q3 with a bang after the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic disrupted the first two quarters. She also shared insights on the new trends in GEC and kids cluster, her plans for both the genres and a lot more.
How did Viacom18's Hindi and kids cluster cope with effects and after-effects of the pandemic on the business?
When we started off in March, we didn't realize that the lockdown was going to be so long. But from a kids genre perspective, by the time March came, we were already preparing for a big summer, and so when the lockdown happened, kids genre was the least affected and we were ready to entertain our little kids and families with new stories, new characters, new episodes, new movies and new contests. So, Nickelodeon, Sonic, Nick Junior and all our brands were ready with new content to engage with kids. And I am truly happy for that, as kids, I think, were deprived of two very big things in their lives-- school and friends. So as a responsible broadcaster, we were there with all new content and we continued to churn new content and fresh episodes for kids.
We really had a fantastic 2020 because we actually launched our 9th and 10th local IP in 10 years, Ting Tong and Pinaki & Happy-The Bhoot Bandhus, in the Diwali quarter. We lead the genre with a 32 per cent market share, with Disney and Turner following us. We were happy to be in a good space with original content.
The story wasn't the same at GEC, which is Colors, where we ran out of original content and shoots were suspended for a while. But staying true to our promise of wanting to connect and engage and entertain our audiences, we looked into our internal and external libraries to ensure that we continue to entertain, and we put out Mahabharat, and Om Namah Shivay. We looked into our own libraries and brought back nostalgic feeling with shows like Balika Vadhu, Na Aana Iss Des Laado, Sasural Simar Ka, and audiences started enjoying this content. We also tried some innovative stuff with our characters and artistes at home. We put out a show called Hum tum and quarantine, which was really done from the home to ensure that we have some newness on the channel as well.
As soon as the lockdown opened, Colors was the first to go out there with original content and we had a fabulous primetime line-up with all our blockbusters, from Choti Sardaarni to Barrister Babu and Shakti, coming back. We also had, for the first time, a Khatron Ke Khiladi version made in India. We shot it in India as soon as the lockdown opened. Despite all the challenges of the pandemic, we still managed to put out a fabulous show with Rohit Shetty.
Both the clusters that you handle are very critical for Viacom18’s topline as well as the bottom-line. So to what extent were the revenues of these two clusters affected?
We did see a very subdued Quarter 1 and Quarter 2, but I am very happy to say that we came back with a revenge in Quarter 3. It was a great festive October, November and December for us. We had our viewers and advertisers back. We actually managed 17 sponsors on Bigg Boss alone. We had full inventory consumption. We had great sponsorships and partnerships which is also leading into a very robust and positive Quarter 4. So on the whole, I think across all our genres, we are going to see a very healthy H2 (Oct 2020- Mar 2021). The second half of the year is going to be actually perhaps even slightly more than 2019. H2 is really going to be a very good comeback for all our genres. And a couple of categories that stood out for us in that quarter from advertisers’ perspective are gaming, edutech, e-commerce, and e-wallets. There were brands like PhonePe, Amazon Pay, Bijyus and Dream 11. Then there were the usual suspects of FMCG there as well. These advertisers stood out for us and partnered with us because there is this whole thing about trusting the partner, and both partners trusted each other. I think we really had a good Quarter 3 and fingers are crossed for a fabulous Quarter 4 as well.
Has normalcy returned to shoots? Are you running as per schedule?
The challenges continue on the ground. We do have scheduled shoots going on and we are entertaining our audiences with all our differentiated content which is fiction on the weekdays and impact properties like Bigg Boss and Salman on the weekends. So shoots continue, but with great care and great safety for the crew and the cast and there is very strict SOPs being followed across all shoots. Of course, it is challenging and has not been easy. We are working in bubbles where we ensure that the two bubbles don't interact, and therefore if one is out of action, the other one takes over.
So yes, shoots have happened, and most challenging of them was Big Boss. And we are happy to see that Bigg Boss continues as a live show every single day 24/7.
What have been the content trends in Hindi GEC and kids cluster across broadcasters?
One trend that emerged was that of nostalgia, and it actually fuelled our non-prime-time growth. However, though non-prime-time has gone back to its pre-Covid levels, for Colors particularly, non-prime-time has been very good and continues to show very robust growth. I think going forward, the trend will be about creating content and telling stories that are very inclusive, stories that capture the simplicity of human emotions, stories that help in family bonding and stories that could bring families together. We paid special attention in creating characters that were very relevant and relatable.
The other big trend that I see is the FTA space. We went back to the platform with Colors Rishtey in the GEC space and Rishtey Cineplex in the movie space. We are very delighted to be entertaining newer audiences on a platform that we had exited a couple of years ago. We have seen huge growth there with both the channels actually being at 15-14 per cent market share. That has given us tremendous growth in terms of viewership as well as in terms of ad sales and revenue.
From a very larger perspective, the other trend was the impetus of OTT, and we are not shying away from that fact at all. In fact, we believe that we are in a country where, unlike the west, linear television and digital are going to coexist. We are in an ‘and’ market and both are going to grow and that's a trend that will only take shape further in 2021. But what this really did for us, and we are very happy that it did, was it created a huge demand for content, and we are happy that we could satiate this increased demand and also experiment with content. There is all kind of content available today, long form, short form, episodic, and as content creators, we are really happy that today we are in a space where we are able to make choices and we are able to make content which is agnostic of pipe or screen. If you look at it from a Viacom18 perspective, all new IPs and the evergreen IPs of Nickelodeon are actually entertaining kids on Voot Kids. Seven of the top 10 titles on Voot Kids belong to the Nickelodeon IPs. So we are very happy that kids choose to see us on another screen.
There are some very popular shows on Voot. For instance, your Asur did very well. So can we have that show running on Colors or any of your TV channels?
That is a possibility, but I would imagine that the content that is typically viewed on some of the OTT platforms is not necessarily very inclusive and meant for families, and therefore, you would be careful as to what you want to put on your linear television. Not saying that it isn’t possible to do, but the reverse is very true. For example, Bigg Boss on Voot Select is doing very well. In fact, Voot Select viewers actually get to see Bigg Boss and a lot more of content around Bigg Boss even before television. So that strategy is working beautifully well for us. A lot of shows that are on Colors are doing fantastically well on Voot Select and Voot. So, we are very happy to therefore create content that is agnostic of the screen or the pipe. I truly believe that we are going to co-exist going forward.
Do you feel that there was a shift of revenue and viewership from GEC to movies?
Couple of genres grew outside of what would you call normal growth, and those genres are movies, news and kids. These saw a phenomenal growth in the lockdown.
Movies is a genre which is all about the titles that you play and it was about putting out our best foot out there and ensuring that Colors Cineplex delivers. We did see very good growth on the Nickelodeon franchise and the Cineplex franchise. Under two years, we actually managed a 7 per cent market share on Colors Cineplex. So yes, the movie genre did benefit and the kids genre for Viacom18 benefitted as well. In fact, we were the least discounted genre and franchise in the lockdown because we were dishing out original content, new IPs and we had a full house from an audience perspective. So these two genres did kick in. But now, as unlock is unravelling, it has gone back to the pre-Covid levels. However, it continues to be on a high because while the total TV grew at 9 per cent for kids, it has come back to 7 per cent. But since total TV is still growing, the number of people on the genre are actually higher than pre-Covid and kids are still at home and still online. So the kids category is actually still growing over the pre-Covid levels. But otherwise normalcy has returned across genres.
Coming back to kids, the category saw some new entrants. So can a Rs 500-crore market support so many channels?
I have always believed that the kids genre is here to stay because it offers custom-made, tailor-made content for kids. After general entertainment and movies, kids is one of the biggest genre at a 7% at 2+. So, I think it’s a genre that is here to stay for sure. Looking at the opportunity, we at Nickelodeon, just before the lockdown, made ourselves available in eight languages. We have all the four south languages and then we have Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi. So, as a franchise, there is a huge opportunity across and because we straddle all India 2+ audiences, the opportunity is huge. I also think that advertisers have come to realize that this is a great opportunity and a platform where they can reach out to their audiences from a family perspective.
So I think, yes, there is more than enough room and as you can see we all are launching local IPs and we already have three local IPs in progress.
What are the new launches for Hindi and kids cluster that we're going to see in 2021?
Kids cluster will continue to look at local content. We are very happy to say that we, for the first time in collaboration with Viacom International, Nick India and Nickelodeon International, are co-producing a show called The Twisted Timelines with Sammy and Raj and that we're going to launch it in 2021 over and above our two local IPs. We look for white spaces and gaps in the market to ensure that we cover those white spaces. Yes, we are looking forward to a couple of local IPs in 2021 and want to make sure that our width and depth of local content continues to grow year after year and look at over a 100 hours of new content.
From a GEC perspective, I can promise you that we will continue to create characters and stories that are relatable and relevant. But I think we are also going to look at a slightly more disruptive content coming in as well. We are considering new IPs that will look at different storylines and genres. It is to ensure that we stay true to our DNA and what Colors stands for--to give differentiated content and a fabulous mix of fiction and non-fiction.
I think OTTs will only supplement what we do. We don't really look at them as competitors. Like I said, we will coexist. TV still continues to be the primary screen of the household and family. And I think we will continue to be there but this is about being true to our promise of delivering great content on non-fiction and fiction shows. We are looking at making our weekends robust with non-fiction and impact properties. We are looking at bringing new impact properties on the weekends as the year rolls out. We will start off with Dance Deewane once Bigg Boss is over.
We haven’t seen a dance show since the lockdown. So we are looking forward to that because we did Khatron Ke Khiladi, Bigg Boss and now we are going to look forward to Dance Deewane. Post that, we are going to look at some very disruptive new IPs from an impact property perspective. So, yes, we will look at a very rollicking, robust weekend with new impact properties and will continue to weave the fabric of the society through our prime-time, new genres, where we look at social commentary, romance, family bonding. We will look at different genres that will continue to entertain and yes, we will have a very solid 7-11 pm prime-time line-up with fiction shows. We are in fact going to launch two new fiction shows in Quarter 4 itself. When Bigg Boss gets over, you will see two new fiction shows. Shows that are going to be telling very different stories.
How do you expect financial year 2022 to shape up for the broadcasting sector? Do you think we will recover in 2021 or will it stretch to 2022?
That is also a perspective of what is happening in the economy, and I can see that the economy is starting to pick up. Consumer demand is starting to pick up. The census has reached a peak of sorts, and from what we see in Quarters 3 and 4 of this fiscal, I am very hopeful of a great 2021. I do believe that we will go back at least to the fiscal of FY 20 levels. Of course it's a matter of time, but looking at how the two quarters of this fiscal have been, I am very confident that we will come back with a very robust topline and we will continue to deliver a very robust bottom-line as well.
The industry will take a little time because media platforms, other than television, are still recovering and are on a very slow recovery path, particularly from the theatre’s perspective or on-ground perspective. Print, and radio are seeing a slightly slower recovery than television. Television and digital are galloping and we will see a good robust comeback of these two platforms for sure. The other platforms will take some time to recover, but recovery is here.
A lot of our advertisers have shown a whole lot of growth in the last couple of quarters. If you look at the results of some FMCG companies, you will see how their sales have grown over the previous years. It looks very positive.
We as an organization are committed to continue our investments in content. We are storytellers at the heart of what we do and we will continue to invest and entertain our viewers. We are also in the business of business at the end of the day and we will ensure good toplines and bottom-lines for our organization.
There are a couple of things that stood out for us in the year and that is of resilience. And I think that it will continue to be with us. It has taught us to embrace disruption and it has taught us to think innovatively and out of the box.
The second one is that of gratitude. I think we cannot be more blessed and we have to be really grateful. We just took so much for granted and we need to get into the next year with a whole lot of gratitude and resilience and couple of these attributes will pay off. I think it's for all of us, individually, professionally, personally and as organization.
#Throwback2020: Investing in better content is our asset
Viacom18’s Nina Elavia Jaipuria on kid’s genre, investing in IPs, generating ancillary revenue str
MUMBAI: Looking back at 2020 I can say it has not been one of the best years. But I believe that there is always a silver lining and a lot to learn from what has transpired in the last few months. We have stayed true to our promise of keeping our viewers entertained, even in a situation like this. We ensured that we were there for our viewers when they needed us the most. Even the most basic entertainment outlets like stepping out for a walk or coffee or running in a garden, or even going to school, which is of course a very big outlet for children because they get to meet their friends, were unavailable.
During this time, we adopted different strategies across different genres to make sure that our viewers get what they want.
How kids’ genre has performed
It was a very different scenario because kids have been deprived of friends and of school. But, from a kids’ category perspective, Nickelodeon was on the top of the charts all over again because we were ready for summer. Through the last ten months, we have actually been ready with new stories, new episodes, new movies and we also managed to launch our two new IP’s - Bhoot Bandhus and Ting Tong, which are doing fabulously well. In fact, Bhoot Bandhus has entered the top ten of the category.
The kids’ genre continued to chug along because it is animation content. With the huge library that we have, we continued to maintain our leadership – Nickelodeon continues to be the number one channel for the seventh consecutive year with almost a 17 per cent market share. And we are the leading franchise as well, with a 32 per cent market share, followed by Disney at 23 per cent and Turner at 21 per cent. We have continued the good work by bringing characters and stories that we never told before to kids and made sure we entertain responsibly.
In fact, the kids’ category continues to be higher than what it used to be in the pre-Covid2019 era. And I am assuming that it is because kids are still at home and are still looking for outlets beyond just online schooling. So, the trend observed is that the morning prime time from 10 am to 2 pm actually grew, and mini-movies and movies continue to engage children. The genre also saw a lot of co-viewing and family viewing because of the ‘one television phenomenon’ in India which continues to date.
Investments into the kids’ genre
We will continue to invest in fiction and non-fiction properties and we will continue to create many more hours of animation content in the kids’ space. Even in a year which has seen the lockdown, we are hoping to create a hundred hours of animation and take our library to a good 700 hours, which is by far the largest. Not only that, we will also continue to invest in dubbed content in eight languages. Nickelodeon and Sonic are the only channels that are available in eight languages. We will look at white spaces and continue to work on newer IPs for kids as well.
In fact, we already have two IPs that are work in progress and one IP is very dear to us because it is our first co-production with Nickelodeon International, called Twisted Timelines of Sammy and Raj. We hope to launch this new IP in 2021. We will continue to invest in content because that is our asset. We will also try to ensure that we are able to sweat the assets as much as we can to enhance our ROI. This is working beautifully for us because now we are in the FTA space which gives us a good place to sweat the asset. On Voot Kids', all the Nickelodeon IPs are actually growing stronger and seven of the top ten shows on Voot Kids are the Nickelodeon IPs.
Generating revenue streams
We did see a very soft Q1 and Q2 because the economy had slowed down big time and now as the economy recovers and as unlock happens, we have had a great comeback in Q3. We saw a fabulous festive season, and might be able to slightly surpass Q3 of last year. A lot of advertisers have come back to us.
Ancillary revenue streams are here to stay and will only be more relevant in the years to come. Advertisers are looking at innovative ways of reaching out to their audiences and for me, brand integrations, product licensing, promo licensing and brand solutions and brand integrations are a win-win for all the stakeholders because the advertisers are able to convey the message to viewers in a very interesting and clutter-breaking manner. The viewer, also from a child’s perspective, sees the tool and gets very interested in that messaging. Also, there is a commercial benefit to be gained by the broadcaster.
There was a bit of a slowdown from a consumer products perspective because of the retail slow down. But I think as that opens up and as retail goes back to normal, we will see consumer products coming back. However, we have been having a steady flow of consumption on e-commerce platforms of Amazon and Flipkart particularly. It will come back in a way, but product licensing and promotion licensing are also here to stay because it's a win-win for all and all of that together will lead to robust monetisation.
