MUMBAI: Having completed two years now in the kids' segment, Sony Yay claims that it has managed to double its business in terms of engagement, content, language feeds and among others. During launch, it offered 95 hours of localised content but this summer the channel, with a bank of over 300 hours of content, will be giving a double fun-dose as it readies itself to release over 100 hours of fresh content this year. 

Sony Picture Networks India kids genre business head Leena Lele Dutta said that Sony Yay began its summer season from March with the launch of Guru Bhole’s new episodes. She added that the channel has extended the hours of fresh content from 10.30 am to 3 pm. Dutta also revealed that out of the six shows that were launched since the beginning, the channel has planned to pull down two shows—Fab Five and Jai Veeru.

 “We have increased our bank of movies. In fact, 20 per cent of our entire FPC is made up of movies. So here again, we have made a conscious decision to get into long formats just to increase the stickiness of the show,” she said.

The four new movies are – Kicko V/S Shrinko, Kicko and Super Speedo VS Benaam Woh, Kicko and Superspeedo in Return of The Devils and Kicko and Superspeedo in Future Man Attacks. She also revealed that the mischievous feline duo will undergo a revamp as Sab Jholmaal Hai which will be renamed to Honey Bunny Ka Jholmaal with the fresh set of episodes. In all, Sony Yay will air 13 new movies to enthral kids.  

The channel, with its completion of two years in the kids’ segment, has seen twofold growth. “In terms of stories, we have not only developed our IPS, but we have also delved deep in the genres like comedy, slapstick and among others. We have also doubled our bank of writers,” she said.

Dutta also noted that Sony Yay had three language feeds in its bouquet to offer to the viewers and now it serves seven languages in total - English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, Malayalam and Marathi, that helped the channel to consistently maintain its leadership position.

She concluded that with the emergence of digital platforms in the industry, Sony Yay is also leaving no stone unturned to be in the space. She added that its plan includes focusing on digital with the activation with Sony Liv app for long and short formats, digital games, etc.