It has been a long wait outside the ring. After building up verticals in the licensing, publishing and merchandising space, Spacetoon has launched its kids channel to combat against multinationals like Turner, Walt Disney and Viacom in the tough Indian market.
A licensing and merchandising deal with Emerging Media, owner of the IPL winning team Rajasthan Royals, has put the company on a totally different pedestal. Talks are also on with a few other sporting goliaths to expand the L&M portfolio.
Spacetoon Kids TV, however, will evolve as the prime property and will guzzle over 50 per cent of the company's Rs 1 billion investment plan.
In India, the group has floated Kids Media India (KMI), a company that will take care of the TV and licensing business. Kids Animation India is the other arm that will look after the publishing activities.
The shareholding has also been restructured with Japanese firm Animation International holding 51 per cent stake in KMI. Dubai-based Spacetoon Media Group holds the remaining with a small stake as sweat equity resting with Spacetoon India managing director and CEO Rajiv Sangari.
In an interview with Indiantelevision.com's Anindita Sarkar, Sangari talks about the company's growth plans across the verticals.
Excerpts: |
|
What took you so long to launch in India? |
|
The shareholding for the Indian venture has changed with Japanese firm Animation International (AI) holding 51% stake in Kids Media India. Was the delay partly caused by this? |
|
Spacetoon was in talks with investors to raise money. Is that plan still on?
Though we realise that for taking our verticals to the next level we require some support, we are equipped as of now to handle it on our own. But if we get an extra push in terms of a partner who can value our strength, experience and hard work which has gone behind making the company and the brand what it is today, we will definitely look at the possibility. India's economy and retail can only grow and we have 360 million kids. We require a partner who thinks and aligns with us for long term. |
|
Did you first focus on developing the licensing, publishing and merchandising platform before stepping into the kids broadcasting space?
We are glad that we did not divest then. We have done the tough job of laying out a platform for licensing and merchandising. After the launch of the kids channel, the time has come for us to scale up the verticals. |
|
How much is Spacetoon investing in India? We plan to invest Rs 1 billion over three years. Out of this, about 50 per cent upwards will be consumed by the TV operations. |
|
Why did KMI decide to launch a kids channel when the genre has actually shrunk a bit last year and the revenue size at Rs 150 crore is still too small to take in so many players? |
|
|
|
Earlier, Spacetoon Kids TV was looking at investing Rs 250 million for carriage in delivery platforms such as cable TV networks and DTH. However, that number has been scaled down. Why? |
|
The channel is still not well distributed. How are you planning to tackle this and by when do we see it more visible? |
|
What are the distribution deals you with stitched with the MSOs and the DTH operators? |
|
Spacetoon Kids TV will have to jostle with seven existing channels to tap into 360 million kids in India. How do you find space in this tough market? |
|
What is the different positioning you are taking? |
|
Do we also get to see localised content as part of the programming mix? |
|
What are your other marketing plans and spends for the channel?
We will also be having events from April onwards in high public areas like malls. |
|
What is the revenue Spacetoon is projecting and how does it break up in terms of the channel and other verticals? |
|
What are your expansion plans in terms of licensing and merchandising?
We observed that our portfolio was tilted more towards the boy category. But now with Hello Kitty and Garfield coming our way, I think we have one of the best characters in the girls genre. |
|
What are your plans with Rajasthan Royals?
We have a three-year deal with Emerging Media and are targeting Rs 200 million of retail business in the first year. Since the time is very short, we are channelising all our resources towards this.
We are also in discussions with few more goliaths from other sports, especially big international clubs. We hope to stitch deals with some of them soon. |
switch
switch
switch