Little Singham is an Indian IP, taking forward the Make-in-India agenda

Discovery Kids has joined hands with Rohit Shetty Picturez and Reliance Animation, a Reliance Entertainment company, to launch its latest animation series – ‘Little Singham’. The kids’ channel is leaving no stone unturned to create a huge buzz for the series, which is inspired by popular supercop brand and one of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters starring Ajay Devgn in the titular character. 

‘Little Singham’ will have 156 episodes and 5 tele-features. The animation series will be aired in 3 languages – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Dabur Red Paste has come on-board as the title sponsor of ‘Little Singham’. 

Meanwhile, Discovery India has also tied up with the Indian Council for Child Welfare National Bravery Awards to inspire young children across the country. As part of this tie-up, Discovery Kids will run a special ‘Little Singham’ episode based on the real-life stories of ICCW National Bravery Award winners. 

According to Uttam Pal Singh, Head of Discovery Kids, “The kids’ genre in India has been largely devoid of ground-up Super Heroes. ‘Little Singham’ is a very bold and at scale attempt to fill this gap. We have worked with a world class animation partner Reliance Animation to produce this masala faceted series rooted in action, adventure and comedy to attract attention of kids across the country.” 

In conversation with Adgully, Uttam Pal Singh speaks at length about the growth of the kids’ genre in India, how ‘Little Singham’ intends to fill in the gap in the genre, the marketing strategy and much more. Excerpts: 

How has Discovery Kids evolved as a brand over the last 6 years?
Discovery Kids has gone through a reinvention. Initially, we used to focus more on entertainment, but now, one can see that a lot of changes have happened in the kids’ genre. This category has also grown. Right now it is placed at No. 3 after GECs and Movies. Children themselves have made this genre strong enough. 

Talking about Discovery Kids, in order to be more competitive we thought of reinventing ourselves. And with the new content line-up that we have, which includes ‘Bandbudh aur Budbak’ and ‘Little Singham’, we have already entered the competitive zone. We have grown almost over 200 per cent in the kids’ genre in ratings in the past two months. 

What programming changes have you done for Discovery Kids?
We are focussing more on entertainment content now. For us, it is very important to understand what kids’ enjoy this time of the year (the summer days). We have been doing extensive consumer research/ kids’ research for the last few years to better understand what kind of content really appeals to them. 

How was the idea of ‘Little Singham’ developed?
We came across three major findings while we had our conducted research. Kids need something which is engaging, influencing and related to mythology. And for me, Bollywood is something that influences everybody and that’s why we got this show on board. 

Could you tell us about your association with Reliance Animation?
Reliance Animation and Discovery Kids are the co-producers, which means we are part owners of everything, including the content and the businesses that go around it. The main ‘Singham’ IP is with Reliance, but for the IP for ‘Little Singham’, we are the co-owners. 

How long will the licensing tenure with Reliance last?
It’s not a perfect platform to announce that. But, having said that, Reliance is an animation studio and is doing great business in licensing, while we are a strong broadcaster – hence, the synergies of both the partners are matching up greatly. 

How are you creating buzz for the new series through marketing and promotions?
I think with Rohit Shetty coming in and his association with this show itself is creating a lot buzz out there.

Will you also tap into the merchandising possibilities?
Right now, our only focus is to make this character works great. We want to create awareness amongst kids to come and sample the show and only later on will we have a line-up for merchandising. 

What are your plans to acquire new IPs for Discovery Kids in 2018?
This IP of ‘Little Singham’ itself is so big, and if you look at the current trend in the competition, they have one or two IPs and they run the show on it. For Discovery, we never had such a powerful IP, but with ‘Little Singham’, we are fully ready. 

How do you intend to maintain your uniqueness in a competitive field?
The best part of ‘Little Singham’ is that he is so relevant; it’s a Make-in-India show and kids can connect with him instantly. And for me, that’s its biggest strength. Currently, the industry is looking for more animated content and some top IP shows, and Discovery Kids is reinventing with ‘Little Singham’. It’s an Indian IP. 

Kids these days are more fascinated with cartoons on digital. What are your plans to take ‘Little Singham’ on digital?
That’s absolutely true. We have already discussed that initially, the show will rest primarily on linear channel, but after 3-4 months one can watch it on Netflix as well. Apart from this, Discovery Kids is planning to create its own OTT app, where we will include a lot of content and ‘Little Singham’ will be a part of that. We have not really set a date for that, but we are working on this. We, too, have noticed this growing digital trend and that’s why we want to be relevant in both linear and OTT space. 

For kids’ channels, do you think the advertising phenomenon has changed?
Yes, it has changed. But more than a broadcaster, I think that it’s an industry call. For me, the genre has developed a lot and today you can’t afford to avoid it. And with that I think the situation will change. 

According to BARC data, which are the markets that see a high number of viewership in the kids’ genre?
For us, HSM is a really big market. In the South, Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Andhra Pradesh are really big markets for us. That’s why we have added those language feeds.

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