Nickelodeon eyeing 15-17% growth in viewership during the summers

The Nickelodeon franchise ups its leadership game by launching innovative campaigns and offers to engage with kids this summer

Aanchal Kohli | Mumbai | May 6, 2015

Come summers and kids' channels go on an overdrive to woo kids and engage them in every possible way, especially during the annual vacations in schools. Kids' entertainment franchise Nickelodeon is all geared with a refreshed content line-up across Nick, Sonic, Nick Jr. and Teen Nick and a slew of interactive campaigns on-air, on-ground and online to woo the young viewers. The franchise is also buoyed by the BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) ratings unveiled last week, which show Nick as the No. 1 kids' channel with gross ratings of 61,287 (Ratings in thousands) (All India, 1 lakh+ HH, Week 16).

Nina Elavia Jaipuria

Nina Elavia Jaipuria, EVP & Business Head - Kids Cluster, Viacom18, commented, “It is about consolidating our position and making sure that we deliver on the needs and demands of the kids as they have declared us No. 1 through BARC, which comes back from the kind of content that we deliver to them. They are in love with all our characters, so we thought of going out and giving them something more innovative and engaging. We have always and continuously catered to the dynamic preferences, needs and demands by giving kids what they want on a platform of their choice.”

Nickelodeon franchises are available in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi languages apart from English. When asked about the response that the language feeds have got, she said, “We have received a great response in those languages and markets too. And now with BARC coming into play, we will have more specifications towards the language feeds as well.”

Nickelodeon had witnessed a growth of around 15 per cent during the summers last year. Speaking on the expectations this year, Jaipuria remarked, “Typically, growth of 15-17 per cent is seen in terms of viewership during the summers. We also see the quarter being fertile from the advertisers' point of view as it is peak season for them too. Thus, it is a win-win situation for all.”

Riding the 'Motu Patlu' wave

Banking on the popularity of its animated show 'Motu Patlu', Nick has launched a campaign called 'Motu Patlu Hero Hunt'. Several games and fun activities will be held for kids in malls in Mumbai and Delhi as part of this initiative. Jaipuria elaborated, “In a first-of-its-kind innovation, through augmented reality kids will get an opportunity to interact with the animated Motu and Patlu on a live screen at malls. They will get to see themselves in an animated avatar and have conversation with their favourite toons. I think this is one of our great innovations, which will bring a good experience for kids from television to on-ground.”

Motu and Patlu will also be seen walking the ramp with children at the upcoming Pantaloons Junior Fashion Week. This apart, a special microsite has been created, which will host a wide range of engaging initiatives like games, videos, contests, memes of the day and more.

Elaborating on further plans, Jaipuria said, “Since the first 'Kungfu King' movie worked well for us, we will be launching a sequel for the same this summer in June. This will be Motu Patlu's sixth exclusive movie, 'Motu Patlu Kungfu King Returns'. We will also launch all new episodes of the show this season. Then there will be 'Ninja' and 'Oggy' who are also set to entertain the kids.”

These apart, the latest SpongeBob movie, 'Sponge Out of Water', is all set for release across India on May 8, 2015.

Keeping in mind the fact that kids today are present on all possible mediums, Nick has planned a massive 360-degree rollout for their campaign across the country, including cross-channel television plan, print, ambient, digital and a whole host of experiential touch points to engage with kids wherever they are. According to Jaipuria, “We wanted to go all out, hence we will be using all possible platforms for this campaign, whether it is movie channels, GECs (apart from Viacom18's bouquet, including Sony Sab, Sony TV, Star Plus) to make sure that kids become aware of the big gratification that is coming their way. We have also partnered with McDonalds, Pantaloons (across 26 of their outlets) and Fun City.”

Sonic's engagement beyond television

Looking at the growing 'selfie obsession' among adults and kids alike, Sonic has launched a campaign to drive engagement with the digital savvy generation, called 'Selfie Kheecho Prizes Jeeto'. The campaign is slated to kick off in the middle of May, wherein kids nationwide will have an opportunity to click selfies with a freeze frame of their favourite toons from 'Pakdam Pakdai' and win gadgets every day across platforms like Whatsapp, Facebook.com/sonicgang and sonicgang.com.

“The whole idea with Sonic too is to engage the kids beyond just television.  Though the media mix will also include promotions on TV, print and radio, Sonic will take the BTL route with an extensive van activation that will reach out to over 15 smaller towns across Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Kids will be able to take selfies at the vans and win prizes with 'Pakdam Pakdai'. The whole idea is to build on the selfie obsession among kids,” Jaipuria added.

Sonic will also target malls with high footfalls, where kids will be able to engage with Sonic's Doggy Don from 'Pakdam Pakdai' by taking selfies with the characters and get a chance to win tablets, watches and other Sonic merchandise.

The channel will also connect with kids across multiple retail touch-points such as Fun City across 12 cities and numerous McDonalds outlets pan India. The Sonic 'Selfie Kheecho Prizes Jeeto' contest will be hosted on sonicgang.com. Meanwhile, the channel has also launched two new shows – 'Hubert Takako' and 'Mini Ninjas', with more new shows in the pipeline.

Commenting on the various initiatives, Jaipuria said, “This time, with campaigns like animating a kid in a 'Motu Patlu' episode and Sonic's Selfie campaign, we are creating new benchmarks of innovation and redefining engagement in the kids' genre. Through these campaigns we are sure that kids will continue to make our endearing Nicktoons a major part of their daily lives.”

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